Snow was still falling — thin, scattered flakes that melted before they could touch the cobblestones.Elias sat by the window, one hand pressed against his chest.He could still feel that pulse — faint but unmistakable.Something had answered him… something deep below.
"Just nerves," he whispered to himself.But even his own voice sounded unconvinced.
The apartment was silent except for the slow drip… drip… drip of water leaking from the ceiling.Mira was asleep on the narrow bed, her face turned toward the wall.In sleep, she looked peaceful — almost like she belonged to another world entirely.
"You're lucky," Elias murmured. "You don't have to see how rotten this one is."
He rose from the chair and turned the wick of the oil heater higher. The flame sputtered and hissed, throwing long shadows against the damp wall.On the table lay his old notebook, open where he'd left it.The page was filled with strange scrawls — symbols, half-written words, lines that twisted together like veins.In the middle, one sentence stood out, written over and over:
"Something is breathing below."
He frowned. "Did I… write that?"His fingertip traced the ink. It felt warm.
Outside, footsteps echoed through the fog — slow, deliberate.He froze, peering through the cracked glass.A figure stood in the mist: tall, wrapped in a long coat, face obscured.
The man paused.Then, without warning, turned his head directly toward Elias.
Their eyes didn't meet — but Elias knew he was being watched.
His breath caught.For a few seconds, neither of them moved.Then the stranger disappeared into the fog as silently as he'd come.
Elias stepped back from the window. "Probably just a night guard," he muttered.But another voice in his mind whispered:No. He knew you.
He pressed his palms against his temples. "Shut up… I'm just tired. That's all."
The sound came again — not footsteps this time, but the faint rustle of paper.He turned.
The notebook was flipping its own pages.Slowly. Softly. As though an invisible hand were turning them one by one.
"Wind," he said under his breath. "It's just the damn wind."
But the window was closed.
He reached out, slammed the notebook shut —and caught a glimpse of the last page.A fresh line had appeared there, ink still wet:
"He watches from the fog."
Elias staggered back, the chair toppling behind him.Mira stirred in her sleep and murmured something.
"Brother… that man in the fog… he's still there…"
His heart stopped for a beat.He hurried to her side. "Mira? Hey, wake up."
She opened her eyes halfway. "I… saw him. In my dream. He was standing outside… watching."
Elias forced a smile. "Just a dream, little one. Go back to sleep."
But his chest was tight, his mind a storm.
She saw him too.
He sat again, staring at the notebook.Every thought tangled into the next.
"Since I fixed that mechanical raven… everything's been wrong. The hum, the pulse, the fog…"He looked toward the shelf. The brass bird sat there, silent and still.Yet for a heartbeat, he could swear its glass eyes flickered with faint light.
Elias stood up abruptly."If you're watching me," he said aloud, voice trembling, "then tell me why. What do you want from me?"
No answer.Only the endless mechanical hum of Eidengrad outside.
He dropped back into the chair, rubbing his eyes. "Maybe I should talk to Ardan. Or the priest. Someone. Anyone."
But the inner voice returned — calm, deep, ancient.They won't understand. You must.
He froze."That voice again…" he whispered. "What are you?"
The breath beneath the skin, it answered. The pulse that never stopped.
He stumbled back, heart hammering. "No… no, this isn't real."
The candle flame flickered violently, throwing his shadow long across the wall.For a split second, his shadow shifted — stretching into something that wasn't human.He blinked, and it was gone.
The city's bells began to toll in the distance — slow, deliberate, the sound echoing through the fog.Each chime vibrated through his bones.
"They say the bells drive away corruption…" he whispered."But every time I hear them…"
He looked at his trembling hands.
"…it feels like something inside me wakes up instead."