“The Nameless Dead Shades” Part # 1

Chapter #06: The Hunter Becomes the Prey

leep never came.

Detective Halt remained seated in his office long after midnight, the only light in the room coming from the oil lamp resting on the edge of his desk. Reports covered every inch of the wooden surface. Victim reports. Medical records. Witness statements that contained nothing useful. Sketches of the strange symbol. A drawing of the black stone. Even the report Kael had submitted after copying the carving behind it.

Everything was connected. He simply didn't know how. Eight victims.

Then a ninth. The black stone. Mr. Knight's grave.

Ace.

The masked figure. And finally...

The shot fired at Kael.

Halt leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. It wasn't the murders that bothered him anymore. It was the order in which everything was happening.

Almost... As if someone was placing clues in front of him one after another.

Not hiding them. Leading him.

A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.

"Come in."

The door opened slowly. Lucien stepped inside.

"I thought you would've gone home, Sir."

Halt didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked toward the window where the first signs of dawn were beginning to appear beyond the rooftops of Necthera.

"I tried."

Lucien followed his gaze.

"You couldn't sleep."

"No."

Lucien walked closer to the desk.

His eyes moved across the scattered reports.

"So many papers..."

"They all tell the same story."

Lucien picked up one report.

"The Seventh Victim."

He placed it back down before reaching for another.

"The Eighth Victim."

Then another.

"The Ninth."

His eyebrows slowly furrowed.

"They're... different."

Halt nodded.

"Different deaths."

"Different crime scenes."

"But the same investigation."

Lucien looked confused.

"How?"

Halt stood from his chair and walked toward a map hanging on the wall. Small black pins had been placed across different districts of Necthera.

"The victims have nothing in common."

"No family."

"No occupation."

"No social status."

"No connection."

He pointed toward the first pin.

"But every crime moved us somewhere."

His finger traced a line across the map.

"The seventh victim led us to the Archive."

"The eighth..."

"...led us to the black stone."

He moved again.

"The symbol behind the stone led us to your father's grave."

Lucien's expression darkened.

"And my father's grave..."

"...gave us Ace."

Halt folded his arms.

"And yesterday..."

He looked directly at Lucien.

"The killer stopped leaving only bodies."

"He started watching us."

Silence settled between them.

Lucien finally spoke.

"Do you think the masked man is the killer?"

Halt answered immediately.

"No."

The certainty in his voice surprised Lucien.

"Why?"

"Because killers hide."

"He didn't."

"He wanted us to see him."

Lucien remained quiet.

The more he listened to Halt...

The less this felt like a serial murder investigation.

It felt like someone had planned every step.

A loud knock echoed through the office.

Before either detective could answer, Kael walked inside.

His left shoulder was tightly wrapped in fresh bandages beneath his coat.

He looked exhausted.

But he was smiling.

"I leave the medical wing for five minutes..."

"...and nobody comes to welcome me."

Lucien let out a relieved laugh.

"You shouldn't even be standing."

Kael shrugged.

"The physician said I'd survive."

"He also said you should rest," Halt replied.

"I rested."

"For nearly three hours."

"You call that resting?"

"It's a personal record."

For the first time since the attack...

The room almost felt normal again.

Almost.

Kael walked toward the desk and picked up one of the reports.

"So..."

He looked between Halt and Lucien.

"What impossible theory are we discussing today?"

Halt answered calmly.

"I'm trying to understand why someone wanted you alive."

Kael's smile faded.

"I've been asking myself the same question."

Lucien looked at him.

"Do you remember anything now?"

Kael leaned against the edge of the desk.

"Bits and pieces."

"What kind of pieces?" Halt asked.

"I remember checking the rooftops."

"I remember seeing people."

"Guards."

"The crowd."

"The victim."

He closed his eyes.

"And then..."

He stopped.

His hand instinctively touched the bandage covering his shoulder.

"...nothing."

"You don't remember being shot?"

Kael slowly shook his head.

"No."

"I only remember the pain afterward."

Halt studied his partner's face carefully.

"You've used Regret many times."

Kael nodded.

"Have you ever forgotten something immediately afterward?"

Kael looked away.

"Sometimes."

"What kind of things?"

He laughed quietly.

"Little things."

"What I ate."

"Where I placed a report."

"The name of a street."

Lucien frowned.

"So the memories really disappear."

Kael smiled bitterly.

"I told you."

"Every Shade wants something."

The room fell silent again.

After several moments, Kael spoke.

"...There's something else."

Halt immediately noticed the change in his tone.

"What is it?"

Kael looked toward the window.

"When I was standing beside the body..."

"I had a strange feeling."

Lucien nodded.

"You mentioned that yesterday."

"It wasn't just a feeling."

Kael's voice had become quieter now.

"It felt...familiar."

Halt narrowed his eyes.

"Familiar?"

Kael nodded slowly.

"I've felt it before."

"When?"

"I can't remember."

Those words lingered in the room. Not because they were mysterious.

Because Kael couldn't remember whether he truly forgot...

Or whether his Shade had taken that memory from him. Another knock interrupted them. This time it was one of the physicians.

"Detective Halt."

"What is it?"

"We recovered the projectile."

Halt's expression immediately changed.

"The bullet?"

The physician nodded.

"It has been cleaned and we've placed it in the evidence room."

"I thought you'd want to examine it yourself."

Without another word, Halt reached for his coat.

Kael straightened.

"I'm coming."

"No."

Kael frowned.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking."

"I know."

"Then why?" Halt looked directly at him.

"Because if the attacker wanted you alive ...there's no reason to believe they've stopped watching."

For the first time...

Kael didn't argue.

Lucien noticed it immediately.

Even Kael... Was beginning to understand.

The attack hadn't ended yesterday. It had only begun.

Halt opened the office door. His eyes remained fixed on the long corridor leading toward the evidence room.

"If that bullet carries even the smallest clue...we're about to learn something the killer never intended us to."

And with that, the three detectives walked into the silent corridors of the Silent Eyes headquarters. None of them noticed the shadow standing behind a distant window.

Watching. Waiting.

The corridor leading to the evidence room was almost deserted.

The only sounds that remained were the steady footsteps of the three detectives and the occasional crackling of the lanterns hanging from the stone walls.

No one spoke.

Each of them was thinking about the same thing.

The attack.

Halt walked in front.

Lucien followed quietly.

Kael walked last, one hand resting unconsciously over the bandage on his shoulder.

Every few steps, he glanced behind them.

Lucien finally noticed.

"You've looked back six times."

Kael smiled faintly.

"I counted too."

"You think someone's following us?"

Kael didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he looked down the empty hallway.

"...I don't know."

His answer surprised both detectives.

"You usually know," Halt replied.

Kael nodded.

"I do."

"But ever since yesterday..."

He stopped walking.

"It feels different."

Halt turned.

"In what way?"

Kael searched for the right words.

"Imagine standing in a crowded room."

"You know someone is staring at you."

"You can feel it."

"But no matter where you look..."

"...you never find them."

Silence followed.

Lucien rubbed the back of his neck.

"I hate that feeling."

"So do I," Kael admitted.

A pair of guards stood outside the evidence room.

The moment they saw Halt, both stepped aside.

"The projectile is inside, Detective."

Halt nodded.

The heavy iron door slowly opened.

Unlike the Archive, the evidence room was small.

Shelves stretched from floor to ceiling.

Every shelf held carefully labeled boxes collected from investigations spanning decades.

Broken knives.

Old revolvers.

Bloodstained clothing.

Fragments of letters.

Pieces of shattered masks.

Every object represented a case someone had never forgotten.

Halt walked toward a table in the center of the room.

Resting upon a dark cloth...

Was the bullet.

No one touched it immediately.

Even Kael remained unusually quiet.

Halt reached into his pocket and put on a thin pair of protective gloves.

Then he carefully lifted the projectile.

It was unlike any bullet he had seen before.

Its surface wasn't silver.

Nor black.

It reflected almost no light at all.

As if the metal itself absorbed it.

Lucien stepped closer.

"It doesn't look ordinary."

"It isn't," Halt replied.

"There are no markings from any weapon I've seen."

He slowly rotated it between his fingers.

Then...

Something caught his attention.

"Lantern."

One of the guards immediately brought the flame closer.

Halt narrowed his eyes.

"There..."

Lucien leaned in.

At first...

He couldn't see anything.

Then...

A tiny line appeared.

Not a scratch.

A carving.

"So small..." Lucien whispered.

Kael stepped beside them.

"Can you read it?"

Halt cleaned away a thin layer of dried blood using a soft cloth lying nearby.

The carving became clearer.

Not a word.

A symbol.

Exactly the same one carved behind the black stone.

The same one beneath Mr. Knight's grave.

The room fell silent.

Again.

Lucien slowly stepped backward.

"It can't be..."

Kael's jaw tightened.

"They wanted us to find it."

Halt didn't answer.

His eyes remained fixed on the bullet.

He wasn't looking at the symbol anymore.

He was looking beyond it.

Thinking.

"If they wanted to kill you..."

He spoke almost to himself.

"They wouldn't carve this."

Kael looked toward him.

"You think it's another message?"

"No."

Halt slowly placed the bullet back onto the cloth.

"It's an invitation."

Neither Lucien nor Kael understood.

"Invitation?"

Halt walked toward one of the walls where dozens of old evidence tags hung neatly in rows. He stared at them without really seeing them.

"Think about it."

"The black stone."

"The grave."

"The wall behind yesterday's victim."

"The bullet."

He turned back toward them.

"How many times have we found this symbol?"

Lucien answered immediately.

"Four."

"And every time..."

Halt continued.

"...someone wanted us to."

Silence.

Kael folded his arms.

"So..."

"They're controlling the investigation."

Halt nodded once.

"Exactly."

Lucien felt a chill run through him.

"Then..."

"...every clue we've followed..."

"...was left on purpose."

No one answered him.

Because no one wanted to admit it.

One of the guards suddenly entered the room.

"Detective."

Halt looked over.

"A messenger from Head Eren."

He handed over a folded letter.

Halt opened it immediately.

There was only one sentence written inside.

Come alone.

No signature.

No explanation.

Only the Head of the Silent Eyes ever wrote like that.

Kael noticed Halt's expression.

"What is it?"

Halt folded the note.

"The Head wants to see me."

"Now?"

"Immediately."

Lucien looked confused.

"Shouldn't we all go?"

Halt shook his head.

"He specifically asked for me."

Kael frowned.

"That isn't like him."

"No."

"It isn't."

Halt looked once more at the bullet resting on the table.

Then back toward his partners.

"I want both of you to stay here."

Lucien nodded.

"And if someone comes?"

"Don't trust anyone without a Silent Eyes seal."

Kael smirked.

"You think someone's already inside headquarters?"

Halt met his eyes.

"I stopped deciding what was impossible yesterday."

The door closed behind Halt. His footsteps echoed through the corridor as he made his way toward the Head's office. The headquarters felt different now. Not because it was quieter.

Because every shadow suddenly seemed deeper. Every passing detective looked unfamiliar. Every corner felt capable of hiding someone.

For the first time in years... Detective Halt questioned the one place he had always believed to be safe.

He stopped walking for a brief moment. His eyes drifted toward one of the tall windows overlooking the city.

Necthera looked peaceful from above. Smoke rose from chimneys. Merchants opened their shops. Children chased each other through the streets.

Life continued. Completely unaware... That somewhere among them...

Someone had declared war on the Silent Eyes.

Halt resumed walking. He didn't know what Head Eren wanted. But one thing had become painfully clear. This investigation was no longer about solving murders.

It was about surviving long enough... To understand why they had begun.

The note remained folded in Halt's hand as he stopped before the heavy wooden door at the end of the corridor. Two Silent Eyes guards stood on either side, their expressions hidden beneath their masks.

One of them stepped aside without a word.

"The Head is waiting."

Halt gave a slight nod before pushing the door open.

Head Eren Vire stood beside the tall window overlooking the city of Necthera. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the office, painting half the room in light and the other half in darkness.

Without turning around, Eren spoke.

"You found something."

Halt closed the door behind him.

"We found the same symbol again."

Only then did Eren look back.

His expression remained calm, but Halt noticed something unusual.

For the briefest moment...

The Head looked disappointed.

Not surprised.

As if he had hoped this day would never come.

Halt stepped closer and placed the recovered bullet onto the desk.

"The projectile that struck Kael."

Eren lowered his eyes toward it.

He didn't touch it.

Instead, he stared at the tiny symbol carved into its surface.

After several silent seconds, he quietly said,

"So... they've started leaving signatures again."

Halt's eyes narrowed.

"Again?"

The room fell silent.

Eren walked past the desk toward an old bookshelf resting against the far wall. Unlike the others in the headquarters, this shelf held no investigation reports. Its books looked far older, their leather bindings cracked by time.

He pulled one of them free. Not to read it.

To reveal a small iron lever hidden behind it.

A dull metallic sound echoed through the room.

The bookshelf shifted sideways, exposing a narrow stone passage concealed within the wall.

Halt stared at the opening.

"I've worked here for years..."

"...and never knew this existed."

"Only the Head knows about it," Eren replied.

"And now...so do you."

Without another explanation, he stepped inside.

After a brief hesitation, Halt followed.

The passage was narrow and cold. Their footsteps echoed against the stone as they descended a short flight of stairs.

At the end stood a single iron door. Older than the headquarters itself.

Eren unlocked it with a heavy key hanging beneath his coat.

As the door slowly opened, the smell of old paper filled the air.

The chamber beyond was small. There were no shelves.

No desks. Only a single stone pedestal standing in the center.

Resting upon it...was an aged document protected beneath a sheet of glass.

Halt moved closer. His breathing slowed.

Drawn across the center of the document was the very same symbol.

The symbol from the black stone. From Mr. Knight's grave. From the alley wall. From the bullet. It was all the same.

Below it, written in faded ink, were four familiar words.

THE NAMELESS CAN'T BE FORGOTTEN.

Halt looked toward Eren.

"You've known about this all along."

Eren remained silent for a moment before answering.

"I knew the symbol."

His voice became quieter.

"But I never thought I'd see it return."

Halt's gaze returned to the document.

"How old is this?"

Eren's eyes remained fixed on the faded page.

"No one knows."

Another silence settled between them.

Then Eren spoke again.

"This investigation isn't the beginning, Halt."

He looked directly into Halt's eyes.

"It's only the beginning...for us."

Halt's eyes remained fixed on the ancient document beneath the glass.

The faded symbol was identical to the one carved behind the black stone... the one engraved upon Mr. Knight's grave... even the one etched into the bullet that had struck Kael.

It wasn't coincidence anymore.

It was a trail.

After a long silence, Halt finally looked toward Head Eren.

"How long have you known about this?"

Eren didn't answer immediately. Instead, he carefully closed the glass case protecting the document.

"The truth..." he said quietly, "...is that I don't."

Halt frowned.

"You don't?"

"I know the symbol."

"I know what follows it."

"But I don't know who created it."

His eyes remained on the ancient document.

"Or why it always returns."

The room fell silent once more.

For the first time since the investigation began, Halt realized something unsettling.

Even the Head of the Silent Eyes didn't have the answers.

Eren slowly turned toward him.

"I've seen detectives spend their entire lives chasing this symbol."

"They found fragments."

"They discovered names."

"They uncovered forgotten records."

His voice grew quieter.

"But none of them ever reached the end."

Halt folded his arms.

"What happened to them?"

"They disappeared."

The answer came without emotion.

"No bodies."

"No reports."

"No final messages."

"They were simply... gone."

A cold silence settled over the hidden chamber.

Halt looked back at the document.

"So this isn't just about the recent murders."

Eren shook his head.

"No."

"It never was."

He walked toward the hidden doorway before stopping beside Halt.

"You're no longer investigating a serial killer."

"You're investigating something far older."

Halt remained silent.

The weight of those words settled heavily in his mind.

The murders.

The black stone.

Mr. Knight.

The symbol.

None of them were the beginning.

They were only the latest chapter of a story that had started centuries ago.

Eren reached for the hidden mechanism beside the bookshelf.

Before sealing the chamber, he spoke one final sentence.

"From this point onward..."

"...trust evidence."

"But never trust the person who leaves it behind."

The stone passage closed once again.

As though the chamber had never existed.

Halt stepped out of Head Eren's office and quietly closed the door behind him.

The headquarters had grown calmer as night settled over Necthera.

Most detectives had already left.

Only a handful of guards remained patrolling the corridors.

Near the main entrance, Lucien and Kael were waiting.

Kael's shoulder was still wrapped in fresh bandages beneath his coat.

The moment he saw Halt, Lucien stepped forward.

"What did the Head say?"

Halt looked at the two of them for a moment before answering.

"Nothing that changes today's investigation."

Kael sighed.

"I knew you'd say that."

A faint smile crossed Halt's face.

"You should both head home."

Lucien looked surprised.

"What about you?"

"I'll stay a little longer."

Kael adjusted his coat.

"Don't spend the whole night reading reports again."

"No promises."

The three exchanged a brief nod before Lucien and Kael walked toward the eastern gate of the headquarters.

Halt watched until they disappeared beyond the stone walls. Only then did he turn toward the main gate himself. The massive iron doors slowly opened. Cool night air greeted him as he stepped outside.

The streets of Necthera were almost empty. Only the sound of his footsteps echoed through the quiet city. His thoughts refused to leave the hidden chamber.

The ancient document. The symbol.

The Nameless Can't Be Forgotten.

A cold breeze swept across the street.

Halt slowed his pace. Something... felt wrong.

Not danger. Presence.

As though someone had been walking only a step behind him.

He stopped.

Then a voice whispered just behind his shoulder.

"...Mr. Dead."

Halt's body froze.

The voice had been so close... he could almost feel someone's breath against his neck.

He turned instantly.

Nothing.

No footsteps. No shadows.No movement.

Only the empty street behind him. His breathing became uneven.

Impossible.

Then something drifted gently through the air. A single folded note. It landed silently at his feet.

Halt bent down and picked it up. There was no seal. No signature.

Only one sentence written in neat black ink.

Until next time... Dr. Orion Smith.

For the first time... The legendary Detective Halt's expression broke.

His eyes remained fixed on the final two words.

Dr. Orion Smith.

Not...

Detective Dervan Halt.

His fingers tightened around the paper.

"...Doctor Orion Smith. ?"

He whispered the word to himself.

No one in Necthera. No one within the Silent Eyes...

Had ever called him that.

A sudden gust of wind swept through the street. The note slipped from his hand and disappeared into the darkness before he could catch it. Halt remained standing alone beneath the moonlight. The streets were silent once more.

As though whoever had spoken...had never been there at all.