Ava froze.
The figure before her looked like Elira—same eyes, same voice—but something was off. Her movements were too fluid, too calm. Almost… rehearsed.
Rayen whispered, "That's not her."
The figure tilted her head. "What does it mean to be her? A collection of memories? A face stitched from sorrow?"
Ava stepped forward. "What do you want?"
The Elira-shade didn't answer. Instead, she reached out and touched the glowing sigil on the tree.
The forest around them groaned like it was breathing.
> "The veil was never meant to be broken," the figure said, voice layered with echoes. "But your blood—your bond—was the key."
Suddenly, Ava saw it.
Memories that weren't hers flooded her mind.
She and Elira—children—running in the woods.
The circle of stones lighting up.
Elira saying: "Promise you won't tell."
A voice whispering: "One opens. One stays."
---
Ava stumbled back, dizzy. "We did this. When we were kids. We opened something."
Rayen grabbed her arm. "We need to go."
But the figure stepped closer. "Go? There is nowhere left to go. The veil has thinned. They are coming through."
Behind her, shapes began to form from the shadows.
Tall. Slender. Wrong.
Their eyes burned gold, and their presence made Ava's bones ache.
Rayen lit a flare.
The red light made the creatures hiss and pull back.
"RUN!" he shouted.
---
They ran through the woods, branches clawing at them, the air around them humming with voices.
Ava didn't dare look back.
When they finally reached the road, Rayen's car was still there. They jumped in, breathing hard.
Rayen slammed the doors shut and locked them. "What the hell was that?"
Ava didn't answer. She just stared at her hands.
One of her fingers was bleeding.
From a tiny cut.
And where the blood touched her palm, a glowing symbol was forming—the same as on the tree.
---
Back at her apartment, Ava bandaged her hand and laid the photo of her and Elira on the table.
The back still read: "It began beneath the hollow sky."
She flipped it over.
But now, under the faded image, new words had appeared—written in her own handwriting.
> "You promised you'd follow me."
Her heart dropped.
This wasn't just about Elira anymore.
This was about her.
She looked up and caught her reflection in the mirror.
Behind her… a shadow moved.
---
To be continued...