The next evening, as clouds thickened in the gray sky like they were preparing to swallow the city, Kairn stood atop an abandoned building, overlooking the Sixth District from above. Everything was as he had come to know it: the noise mingled with poverty, the narrow alleys breathing violence, and the people dragging their feet as if walking through a heavy dream.
But Kairn wasn't watching the people.
He was watching the smoke.
A small black dot rose from the edge of the district, growing gradually. At first, it resembled wood smoke, but its smell, which reached him despite the distance, was different… chemical, burning, stinging the nose.
He descended from the roof quickly, heading toward the smoke. Alicia was waiting in the corner where they usually met, holding a bag of scrap in her hands.
– "What is it?" she asked, her voice worried.
– "Something unnatural… Come on, Niro is with Rosa, right?"
– "Yes."
– "Then let's go."
They reached the edge of the district, where smoke devoured half the sky, blurring their vision. Kairn traced its source and saw that a dilapidated building had collapsed, and in front of it stood a group of men wearing strange masks—not like those used by cleaners or firefighters. These were full-face masks, with glowing red eyes behind the lenses.
They sifted through the rubble in silence, moving broken walls and overturning the remaining furniture, as if searching for something specific.
Alicia whispered:
– "Who are they?"
– "I don't know… but they're not from this district."
Suddenly, a scream erupted from inside. A child's scream.
Alicia rushed toward the sound, but was nearly exposed. Kairn grabbed her arm and yanked her back behind a half-collapsed wall.
– "Are you insane?"
– "It was a child's voice! We can't just stand here!"
He looked at her steadily, then nodded and pointed toward a narrow passage behind one of the walls.
– "This way."
They slipped through silently, reaching the back of the burned building. They saw one of the masked men emerging, carrying an unconscious child wrapped in a gray blanket. He handed the child to another, muttered something in a language they didn't understand, then recorded something on a small device strapped to his wrist.
Alicia whispered in fear:
– "They're taking children?"
– "At least this child… we don't know why."
Suddenly, a mechanical voice spoke clearly:
> "Target two not found. Proceed to the next point. Scan the samples."
They exchanged looks, shock mirrored in both hearts: these people knew where they were going… and knew who they were searching for.
Then a small explosion sounded from inside the building, followed by a flash of green light. The men rushed out, and the small vehicle they had brought—a massive metallic insect among the alleys—vanished.
The two ran inside, even as ash still floated in the air.
Inside, debris was everywhere. What caught Kairn's attention was a burnt imprint on the floor… a footprint, scorched as if made of fire, but it had not burned the ground; it was etched into it.
Alicia touched the wall:
– "They used something not from here… these weapons aren't human, Kairn. At least, not of our making."
Then she looked at him:
– "Do you think… they came for us?"
He replied slowly:
– "Or for someone like us."
That night, as they sat beside Rosa, who was preparing a watery soup barely fit to drink, Niro seemed more anxious than usual. He sketched strange shapes in his notebook—all tall creatures with red eyes and twisted arms.
Alicia asked gently:
– "What is this, Niro?"
He looked at the drawings:
– "They were here… in my dream. I saw them taking people, then turning into smoke."
She stared at him, amazed, then said softly:
– "You saw them?"
He nodded slowly, adding:
– "I saw one of them standing behind the wall. But it didn't move. It just… stared at us."
Hours later, Kairn went alone to the rooftop again.
The place wasn't as quiet as usual. A faint whistle came from afar… as if something was calling his name.
Suddenly, at the far edge of the Sixth District, he saw a small red light.
It was not a lamp.
It was an eye… watching.
The night had swallowed every sound, leaving only the wind moaning between broken buildings, and the creak of roofs that no longer knew stability. Kairn stood on the roof, staring at the distant red light, fixed in the darkness like an eye that never blinked.
He hadn't closed his eyes since seeing it.
One red eye… glowing in the dark, then disappearing, only to reappear farther away. Not the kind of lamp or lens he knew. This light was something else… something felt before it was seen.
He whispered to himself:
– "It's approaching."
But before he could move, he heard a voice behind him. Alicia, standing by the rooftop opening, hair messy, face exhausted.
– "Kairn, Niro is acting strange. He says he feels… something bad."
He looked at her, then at the distance, and said:
– "I feel it too."
– "That light? You saw it."
She pointed west: – "It doesn't disappear… it only moves. Watching us."
They hurried back inside, where Niro sat on the rickety bed, hugging his knees and shivering silently. He wasn't crying, but his face was pale as if he had seen a ghost.
Alicia sat beside him, placing a hand on his hair, speaking gently: – "Are you okay, Niro?"
He shook his head, then whispered:
– "It's coming."
Kairn froze.
– "Who?"
The boy's voice was strangled: – "The one without a face… the one I dreamed of."
Suddenly, a strange sound echoed outside the building. Closer to a pulse, as if the earth itself throbbed once. A faint tremor followed in the walls, and bits of dust fell from the ceiling.
Kairn immediately stood, grabbing his small iron pick from behind the door.
– "Stay here. Don't open the door until I return."
– "Kairn, no!" Alicia clutched his arm.
– "I'm only looking. I won't go far."
He opened the door quietly and stepped into the alley.
The air outside was heavier than usual, as if the ash had turned into a living mist seeping into the lungs. The street was empty… no beggars, no dogs, not even the moan of old women from windows. The district seemed to be holding its breath.
Then he saw it.
Something stood at the crossroads, impossibly tall, a thin black body like a column, featureless, but with two fixed red eyes, glowing like embers.
It didn't move.
But Kairn's heart raced wildly, as if his body understood the danger before his mind did.
He raised his pick silently, taking a step back.
Then the creature moved.
One step… yet it felt as if the ground itself contracted beneath it. It made no sound, no breath, no roar… only slow, terrifying movement, its eyes fixed on Kairn.
He ran.
Kairn ran with all his strength, heading back inside, closing the door, and shoving a rickety couch behind it.
He shouted: – "It's here! Something… something has entered the district!"
Alicia grabbed Niro and pulled him to a corner, while faint footsteps approached the door… or were they footsteps? They were pulses, as if the ground itself moved with it.
But nothing happened.
The door didn't open.
It didn't break.
Suddenly… everything stopped.
Then… silence.
They stared at the door for minutes, no sound, no movement. Even the pulse vanished.
Kairn muttered: – "Gone?"
He approached slowly, pressing his ear to the wood. Nothing.
He opened the door slowly—the street was empty. No trace of the creature. Only air, and shadows.
But when he looked at the wall opposite the door… his blood ran cold.
There, on the wall, etched in a strange, twisted script:
> "I see you."
Back inside, he said nothing. He sat quietly near Niro, placing the pick beside him.
Alicia said: – "We have to leave. This district… it's no longer just ruin. It's changing."
– "No. It's not changing… something has entered it."
– "Kairn, what was that?"
– "I don't know. But it's not human."
The next morning, people started talking.
A house on the far side of the district had burned—but without fire… it had simply decomposed.
Three men died, their faces erased, as if something had absorbed their features.
And the walls… each dawn revealed words, in languages no one understood.
In the back corner, Alicia sat flipping through the notebook where they had recorded everything they had seen. She turned the last page… and found a new sentence written in handwriting not her own.
> "Ash does not hide. It waits."
She looked at Kairn, saying fearfully: – "We need to run."
He lifted his head, speaking firmly: – "No. First, we need to understand what we're facing."