Chapter 4
The voice slithered through the room like cold breath against the back of my neck.
"Found you!"
Mrs. Dalren gasped and stumbled away from the spreading shadow under the door. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back just before the darkness stretched too far.
It reached like fingers across the floorboards.
"Stay behind me"I whispered.
But my voice shook a little.
The shadow pulsed once, deep like something inhaling. Then it retracted suddenly and slipped away beneath the doorframe.
A rush of cold air followed and made the candle flame shudder violently on the table.
Then stillness came.Dead, suffocating stillness settled in.
Mrs. Dalren covered her mouth and tried to stop her sobs. "Elias,"what was that thing??she asked.
I did not answer yet,I pressed my ear to the door.Silence filled the air.
No footsteps sounded.
No scraping happened.
No breathing came through.
It was gone, or maybe hiding somewhere close.I slowly unbolted the door and cracked it open an inch.
Fog spilled in right away, thick and pale, filling the doorway like it had been waiting for the chance to enter. It curled inward and brushed past my boots while creeping along the floor.
Mrs. Dalren backed away fast. "Close it!" "close it!" she said.
Wait, I whispered to her,I stepped outside into the chill.
The village street lay in front of me, empty and swallowed in a fog so heavy it looked almost solid. Shapes blurred within it, too tall and too thin and too still for comfort.
The creature was not alone out there.The Citadels darkness had seeped into the entire village somehow.
Mrs. Dalren clutched my arm tight. "We cant stay here" Elias. Something horrible is happening right now.
"I know,"I replied.
A hollow ache tightened in my chest pretty much like a warning.
The Citadel had followed me here,not physically with its walls and halls and mirrors.But with its shadows still clinging.
"Its children lurking"
"Its hunters on the prowl"
"Come with me,"I told her and forced my breath steady. We need to reach the bell tower soon.
"Why there?"she asked.
Because it is the only place high enough for us to see what we are dealing with. And maybe find a way to stop it all.
She hesitated and trembled a bit.
Another whisper floated through the fog then.
"Elias."
Not the shadows voice.Not something monstrous exactly.
"Liora??"
Her voice was thin and ragged, drifting like a memory through the mist around us.
Mrs. Dalren stiffened up. "Who said that? she asked.
"Just move"I muttered under my breath.I did not want her to hear the truth just yet.
We kept close together and our lanterns barely pushed the fog aside. Every sound felt amplified, the crunch of our feet on gravel and our uneven breathing and the creak of old wood from the houses around us.
Then a figure appeared in the fog just ahead.I froze in place.
It stood with its back turned and motionless. Too still for anything normal.
"Elias"Mrs. Dalren whispered. "Is that a person??"
"No"Not with those long crooked arms,not with that tilted head.
"The shadow from before"
"The hunter waiting"
It shifted slightly like it had sensed our presence there.My heart slammed painfully in my chest.
The creature turned around.
Its face was smooth.
Empty..
Flat like a piece of carved stone, yet shifting as if something pressed against it from the inside.
Mrs. Dalren stifled a scream somehow.
The creatures neck stretched, literally stretched, elongating toward us as if sniffing the air.
"Found you!"
"Run!"I said and grabbed her hand and pulled hard.
We sprinted down the path between houses. The fog churned wildly behind us as the creature followed, not running but gliding with its limbs dragging across stone in a sickening scrape.
It moved faster than it should have.Faster than we could keep up.
"Left!"
"Go left!" I shouted.
We dashed behind the old bakers shop and nearly slipped on the wet stones. The fog thickened and turned the world into a white maze pretty much everywhere.
The shadows voice slid closer now.
"Eliassss...."
Mrs. Dalren sobbed out loud. "Please tell me we lost it, please."
"We did not."
The fog parted for a moment and revealed the bell towers silhouette at the far end of the street.
"There!" I gasped for air.
We sprinted toward it fast.
Something cold brushed my back then,I whipped around quick.
The shadows arm, too long and too thin, dragged across the ground inches behind us, reaching and stretching out.
"Faster!" I yelled.
Mrs. Dalren stumbled but I caught her and pulled her upright without slowing down. We burst onto the final stretch toward the tower. The wooden door loomed ahead with its iron handle glinting faintly in the fog.
But the shadow lunged forward.It moved with terrifying speed now, a blur of black limbs slicing through the mist.
"Get inside!" I shouted.
Mrs. Dalren reached the door first and shoved it open. She rushed inside quick. I spun just as the creatures hand swept toward me.
I ducked low.
Its fingers grazed my hair, cold like death and like ash falling in a ruined hall.
I bolted into the tower and slammed the door shut. The creature hit it a moment later with a bone rattling thud.
Mrs. Dalren cried out in fear...
"Move!" I shouted and threw the heavy metal bolt across the door.
The wood shuddered hard. Something scraped along the outside, slow and deliberate, like claws carving through the surface.
But it did not break in,not yet anyway.The tower settled into silence after that.
Mrs. Dalren collapsed onto a step and gasped for breath. "Elias"we are going to die.
"No!" I said firmly. "Not today"
But I was not sure deep down.
Something about this fog and this hunt felt coordinated in a bad way. The Citadel was not simply sending random nightmares out.
It wanted me back.And it wanted to clear everything in its path to reach me.
"Come on"I said quietly. We need to get to the top now.
We climbed the narrow stone staircase and our lanterns cast trembling shadows on the walls. The air grew colder the higher we went. At times I could swear I heard whispers leaking out from the walls themselves.
"Not alone"
"Help"
"Elias"
"Liora"
Those whispers threaded through the stone like a faint heartbeat still.
At the final step I pushed open the hatch and stepped onto the rooftop.
The village below was drowned in fog.
"Rolling!"
"Breathing!"
"Alive!"
"On rooftops!"
"In alleys!"
Between houses,Shadows moved around.
"Tall ones"
"Crawling ones"
Some stretching across rooftops like spiders made of mist.
Tall shapes loomed in the distance. Others crept along low to the ground. A few even stretched out over the rooftops, almost like spiders woven from drifting mist.
Mrs. Dalren gripped my arm tightly. "Dear heavens" she said.
"This was just the start" I murmured back.
Down there below us, one shape flickered into view. It blurred at the edges. It shifted constantly. It moved way faster than any person could on foot.
That was a hunter. Then came another one. After that, three more appeared.
"They are out there searching"I whispered.
"For us??" she asked.
"No" I said. I swallowed down the lump in my throat. "Just for me"
Mrs. Dalren faced me, her eyes wide with horror. "Then why did you even bring me along" she demanded.
Because you would have ended up dying all by yourself, I told her straight. And because once those things get into a village, they keep going. They spread everywhere. They go after anything that moves.
She put a hand over her mouth. Tears started welling up in her eyes.
"So what are we supposed to do now??" she said.
I held onto the railing hard. I made my thoughts focus sharp and clear.
Running was not an option anymore.
Liora was lost somewhere in all that darkness. She was still alive. She was reaching out toward me. She was begging for help.
I would not leave her behind this time.
"We fight them off" I said in a quiet voice.
Mrs. Dalren stared at me in shock.
"Fight them??" she repeated.
"Elias" what in the world could stop creatures like that??
I looked right at her.
"Not me"I said.
"Then who could do it??" she pressed.
I gazed down into the heavy fog.
"The Citadel!" I whispered.
If it managed to open a doorway into our world from its side, then I could open one going back the other way.
A cold shiver ran through the air around us. It felt like something distant had picked up on my words.
Mrs. Dalren stepped away from me. "Elias"she said. Please tell me you are not planning what I think.
"I am going back there" I told her.
Her breath hitched in her chest.
"No"she said. "No,you absolutely cannot"
"I have no choice"I replied.
"Is it for Liora??"she asked.
"For everyone??" I said.
The fog down below started churning hard. Shadows lifted up and spread out along the streets.
The hunt was starting up now.
This time around, I was the one being chased.
"This time, I would go after them!"