The sound of rain returned first....soft, steady, real. Then came the cold. It bit into Taye's skin as he gasped and stumbled forward, his knees hitting solid ground. For a moment, he didn't know where he was. Then his eyes adjusted. They were back at the riverbank. The mist was gone. The water flowed quietly, as if nothing had ever happened.
Nnena was beside him, coughing, her clothes soaked. "What… what just happened?"
Taye tried to speak, but his throat felt dry. He looked around the stone arch, the light, the voice.... all gone. Only the calm river remained, silver under the rising sun.
He stood slowly, glancing at his hand. The pendant was still there, but dim now, like a dying ember. "We crossed," he whispered. "And we came back."
Nnena pushed herself up, brushing off her jacket. "We came back? From where, exactly? That place.... it wasn't real, Taye. It couldn't be."
Taye didn't answer. He stared at the river. The word Eran still echoed in his mind like a whisper that refused to fade.
"Welcome home,Eran"
He touched his chest. His heartbeat felt strange...uneven, heavier, like something was moving beneath his ribs.
"Let's go," he said finally. "We shouldn't stay here."
Nnena gave him a long look before nodding. "Fine. But you're explaining everything on the way."
The drive back was silent at first. The city had begun to wake, but it felt different now....quieter, duller, as if part of it hadn't come back from the river either.
When they reached the station, Nnena parked and turned to him. "Taye," she said firmly. "No more running circles. I saw light, symbols, that… thing calling your name. You know more than you're saying."
He rested his head against the seat, eyes closed. "I don't know, Nnena. Not completely. It's like pieces of me are trying to remember."
"Remember what?"
He hesitated. "Who I was."
Nnena blinked, unsure whether to be angry or scared. "You sound like one of those people from the cult files," she muttered. "You're saying you lived before?"
He didn't respond.
Instead, he opened the door and stepped out. The pendant flickered once, faint gold under the morning light.
Inside the station, whispers filled the air. Someone had left the news on, another body was found, this time near the old bridge that crossed the river.
Nnena froze. "Another one?"
Taye's stomach tightened. "Show me."
They hurried to the briefing room. A young officer was talking fast, nervous. "Victim's male, mid-thirties. No visible injuries, but his eyes…" The man swallowed hard. "They turned gold."
Taye's head snapped up. "Gold?"
The officer nodded. "Like light trapped inside them."
He exchanged a look with Nnena. "We need to see the body."
At the morgue, the air was colder than before...too cold. The man on the table looked peaceful, like he'd fallen asleep. But his eyes glowed faintly through the lids.
Nnena whispered, "This isn't human."
Taye touched the man's wrist. The same spiral mark was there...the mark of the River Gate.
"Eran," a voice whispered.
Taye froze. The sound hadn't come from Nnena. It came from the corpse.
He stumbled back, heart racing. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Nnena asked, frowning.
But the whisper came again, clearer now. Eran, the gate remembers you.
He gripped the edge of the table. "No…"
Then the man's eyes opened....fully gold, glowing bright. The lights in the morgue flickered violently.
"Taye!" Nnena shouted, drawing her gun.
But Taye stepped closer, trembling. "What are you?"
The man's lips moved slowly, almost painfully. "The seal… is breaking."
Then his body convulsed, golden light bursting from his chest, throwing both Taye and Nnena backward. The windows shattered. The alarms wailed.
When the light finally faded, the man's body was gone. Only ashes remained... glowing faintly before turning dark.
Nnena coughed, pulling herself up. "What the hell was that?"
Taye stared at the ashes. "A warning."
That night, he couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw flashes, fire, screaming, the sound of metal and water colliding.
He saw himself standing before the river, holding the same pendant, but his clothes were not his own. They were white, ancient, marked with gold.
In the vision, he was not Taye. He was Eran.
He was standing beside two figures, a woman with silver hair and a tall man in black armor.
"The shadows are spreading," the man said. His voice was the same one Taye heard at the Gate. "If we don't seal it now, the light will fade."
Eran looked at the river... golden and burning. "Then seal it," he said.
The woman touched his arm. "You'll be trapped on the other side."
"I know."
"Then let me go with you."
He shook his head. "No, Lira. If I fall, you must guard what's left."
Her eyes filled with tears. "And if you forget who you are?"
Eran smiled faintly. "Then remind me when the light returns."
The ground shook, fire rising from the river. The man in black turned, drawing his sword. "It's time.
Then the memory cracked....shattered.... and Taye woke up gasping, sweat covering his face.
The pendant on the table was glowing again.
A knock came at the door.
"Taye?" Nnena's voice.
He opened the door. She looked tired, her badge hanging loosely around her neck.
"You okay?" she asked.
He hesitated. "Not really."
She stepped in, glancing at the pendant. "It's still glowing?"
He nodded. "It reacts when something happens."
"Like what?"
He looked at her, eyes distant. "Like a door opening."
Before she could ask more, a sudden tremor shook the floor. The lights flickered again. Outside, dogs started barking in the distance.
Nnena reached for her gun. "Earthquake?"
Taye shook his head slowly. "No. It's him."
"Who?"
"The Shadow Lord."
The name felt heavy in the air. Nnena didn't understand, but she could feel it...the same chill from the river, crawling back into the city.
Taye picked up his coat and the pendant. "We need to move. If he's awake, he'll come for me first.
"Then we fight," Nnena said.
He gave a small smile. "You still think bullets can stop shadows?"
She smirked back. "Then it's a good thing I brought more than bullets."
Outside, the streetlights flickered, one by one, until the city fell into half-darkness. In the distance, thunder rolled again, not from the sky, but from beneath the earth.
Taye felt the mark on his wrist burn. He looked down at it, glowing faintly gold.
"The light remembers," he whispered.
And somewhere deep under the river, something answered with a growl.