Chapter Eleventh: The Awakening Breach
1237 Words
Salim jolted awake as if someone had screamed inside his mind.
His room was dark, lit only by a faint line of light slipping through the window. He looked around. Everything was where it should be, yet a heavy, unnatural pressure weighed on his chest.
He stood slowly and approached the mirror. His face looked normal, but in the depth of his eyes he saw a shadow. A faint reflection, like another person staring back.
The shadow was awake.
A voice echoed inside him, quiet yet unmistakable.
We have finally awakened.
He froze. The second identity he faced in the Silent Passage had not vanished. It had simply hidden inside him, waiting.
Salim whispered, Not now.
A cold laugh filled his mind.
There is no later. Someone is coming.
He fell silent, listening.
He could hear it now.
Engines. Footsteps. Silent devices.
He went to the window.
Low whispers. Comms. Professional voices.
The house was surrounded.
---
Outside, three matte-black trucks stood a short distance away.
Unmarked.
No insignias.
Men in black tactical suits with thermal gear moved in silence.
“The target is inside,” one said.
“Energy readings increasing. Breach in thirty seconds.”
Another voice followed.
“No lethal force. We need him alive.”
A pause.
“If he resists, use second-level measures only.”
---
The pressure tightened.
The mark on Salim’s arm glowed darker, nearly black.
The shadow murmured,
They aren’t here to talk.
Salim replied, And I’m not here to kill anyone.
The shadow chuckled.
I never said kill.
I said defend.
Salim pressed his hand against his chest, breathing, trying to restrain the shadow. But power inside him stirred without his permission.
Calm down.
I decide.
Not you.
Silence.
Then the entire front window shattered.
Silent flash charges burst inside.
Salim stumbled back, raising a hand.
Before he could summon a portal, the shadow moved.
A veil of dark, translucent energy formed in front of him, swallowing the light and neutralizing the charges instantly.
Stop.
I don’t want this.
Let me drive for one minute.
Or we die.
---
Three agents stormed in.
Energy weapons raised.
“On the ground!
Now!”
Salim’s hand lifted.
Not by his choice.
The shadow’s.
A wall of black light materialized, absorbing their fire as if it meant nothing.
“Threat level higher than expected!” one agent shouted.
Another fired an energy-binding cuff.
The shadow caught it mid-air and flung it aside.
It stuck to the wall like it had been swallowed.
Salim gasped. Stop.
I don’t want to hurt them.
They hurt you.
And you forgive.
That’s why I exist.
I decide.
The shadow receded, slowly.
More agents entered.
Among them, a woman stepped forward holding a compact device. She activated it.
A blue mist spread through the house.
The mark on Salim’s arm dimmed, nearly extinguished.
The shadow hissed, What is that?
Weakness overtook him.
His knees buckled.
The woman spoke calmly.
“Eiadno…
or Salim.
We don’t want to kill you.”
Who are you? he asked.
“We are the High Research Division of the Council.
We study and monitor supernatural anomalies.”
He tried to respond.
Then the floor shook.
Everyone froze.
The shadow whispered,
Careful.
The woman turned sharply, speaking into her device.
“He’s not the only source.
Another energy signal approaching.”
Cracks spread along the walls.
A sound crawled from within them.
A figure emerged.
Humanoid.
But faceless.
A shifting red mist taking human shape.
“Not in the report!” someone yelled.
“Open fire!”
Energy blasts passed through harmlessly.
The creature raised an arm.
A shockwave threw the agents across the room.
The house trembled.
“What is that?” Salim whispered.
Not from this world,
the shadow answered.
Nor from Armania.
A threat with no classification.
The creature moved toward him.
Silent.
Air warped around it.
Salim tried to summon power,
but the mark was weak.
Only a faint flicker answered.
Let me act,
the shadow warned.
Or we are finished.
No.
The creature reached him.
Its hand passed into his chest.
It touched his soul.
Salim screamed.
Memories were pulled from him.
Names.
Faces.
Moments.
Slipping away.
He tried to hold onto them,
but they fell like water between his fingers.
The shadow exploded outward,
a dark energy surging at the entity.
It passed through without effect.
The entity turned
and consumed a piece of the shadow.
A silent scream tore across Salim’s mind.
The shadow was wounded.
If the shadow vanished,
a part of Salim would die with it.
The creature expanded,
pulling everything inward.
Agents fell.
Devices died.
The house began collapsing.
Salim rose with what little strength remained.
He opened a portal.
Small.
Chaotic.
Unstable.
He didn’t know where it led.
But he jumped—
taking two agents,
the creature,
and the shadow.
The house collapsed behind them.
---
He opened his eyes in a desert.
Black sand.
A fractured sky,
split by burning threads of light.
The agents were gone.
The creature—gone.
The shadow remained.
Changed.
Weaker.
But alive.
Where are we? Salim asked.
Between worlds,
the shadow answered.
A place without name.
And that thing…
what attacked us?
It belongs to no law.
Not even the laws of shadow.
If it remains,
it will feed until nothing is left.
Without purpose.
Without reason.
The desert breathed beneath his feet.
Then a soft voice echoed.
I’m here.
A small boy stood a few steps away.
Around eight years old.
Clothes torn.
Gray eyes.
“You’re the worlds’ savior… right?”
Who are you? Salim asked.
The boy smiled—
too wide
to be human.
He melted,
reshaping into the red mist creature.
A disguise,
the shadow warned.
A trap.
The entity lunged.
Faster this time.
Before it reached them—
an arrow of blue light struck it.
It didn’t kill it
but slowed it.
A figure appeared.
Long hair.
Glowing green eyes.
Lyrin.
She stood before Salim.
“You always manage to drag me into the strangest places,” she said.
Salim forced a small smile.
“You show up exactly when I need you.”
“That’s my duty.”
She rushed forward.
Fighting the entity.
Fast. Fluid.
Not strong enough to kill it,
but enough to slow its advance.
Salim raised his hand.
Power still weak.
Shadow,
he said.
Help me.
This time,
no resistance.
Energy flooded him.
Light and darkness together.
Salim, Lyrin, and the shadow struck as one.
Blow after blow.
Cracks formed.
The creature fractured,
shrieked,
and vanished.
Leaving only a single echo.
We will return.
Silence fell.
Salim collapsed.
Breathing hard.
Lyrin reached him.
Lifted him.
“Are you alright?”
He shook his head.
“Not really…
I think it took something from me.”
The shadow spoke.
A small piece of your identity.
Some memories.
Salim trembled.
“What memories?”
A pause.
Your mother’s.
Fire tore through his chest.
He screamed.
No.
He tried to remember—
her face,
her voice,
her words—
Part of her
was gone.
He sat in silence,
as though the world had lost a color.
Lyrin didn’t understand,
but placed her hand on his shoulder.
“I’m here,” she whispered.
This,
the shadow said,
is only the beginning.
Salim lifted his head.
His eyes shone
with both light
and darkness.
“We have to find it,” he said.
“Before it takes more.”
- Writer
