Chapter 9: The Silent Witness
The city slept beneath a blanket of mist. Streetlights flickered like dying stars, and the sound of distant waves echoed from the docks — calm, deceptive, as if the sea was holding its breath.
Andrew stood near the edge of an abandoned pier, his breath visible in the cold air. He had followed the scientist's trail all the way here, chasing fragments of information, whispers of experiments, and corpses that vanished before sunrise.
But tonight felt different.
The air was thick, almost alive. Every ripple on the water's surface seemed to watch him.
He knelt beside an old crate marked "Project N-13", brushing off the dust. Inside, there were broken vials, papers half-burned, and a strange recording device blinking weakly. He pressed play.
A distorted voice spoke through static.
> "They don't die. They… evolve. Once a Justicar consumes a soul, it remembers everything. Every face. Every sin."
Then silence.
And beneath the silence — a deep hum.
The sea trembled. The mist began to move, swirling like smoke.
Andrew turned sharply — a silhouette rose from the water. Not a full body, just a reflection forming where no figure stood.
Two glowing eyes appeared in the reflection — but not on the water's surface. They floated beneath it.
Andrew's instincts screamed to run. But something held him still, an invisible weight pressing on his chest. The reflection moved closer — even though no one stood before him.
> "You've seen too much," a voice whispered inside his head.
He fired his gun — the sound tore through the mist — but the bullet didn't touch anything. Instead, the reflection rippled, and for a fraction of a second, Andrew saw a human face within it.
A man's face. Terrified. Begging.
Then it was gone.
The waves fell silent again.
Andrew staggered back, clutching his chest. His mind echoed with the words he heard:
You've seen too much.
He didn't realize the recording device was still running — and that a second voice had been captured in the background.
A female voice. Calm, emotionless.
> "Observation complete. Subject Andrew has made first contact."