Darkness doesn't always come through shadows.
Sometimes, it whispers where you least expect it.
—
On the sixth night, the artifact lit up on its own.
No commands. No movement nearby.
Its light projected images across the walls of the Silent Anomalies Room.
Not records.
Memories.
Fragments of what seemed like ancient lives, lost lands, battles that had never been spoken of.
Helena was the first to see it.
Passing through the west corridor, she felt a vibration under her skin — as if her very bones knew something was wrong.
She called Kael on the communicator.
— Something has changed.
He didn't answer immediately.
When he arrived at the room, he stopped at the threshold.
He watched.
And for the first time in centuries, he hesitated.
—
Across the base, other phenomena began.
The witches saw hallways stretching.
Cabins shifting places.
Rooms vanishing for minutes at a time.
It was as if the Command Base was losing its anchors.
— The structure isn't unstable, — said Elizabeth. — It's time inside the base breaking down.
Kael knew.
And he knew the cause.
—
That night, Otrho confronted Kael on the rooftop.
— You need to destroy it.
— Not yet.
Otrho stared, stunned.
— Why?
Kael gripped the stone railing so tightly that the surface cracked under his hands.
— Because I need to hear what it came to say.
—
And at dawn on the seventh day, Kael finally heard it.
Not words.
But a sound — deep, low, dragging.
The sound of something moving in the dark, waiting for ages.
And in his dream, or perhaps while awake, one single phrase echoed inside his mind:
> "You were called not to change time... but to find what was lost within it."
Kael woke up drenched in cold sweat.
He knew he no longer had a choice.
Something had awakened.
And now, it would not sleep again.
—
End of Chapter.
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