The following night, Lily returned to the warehouse with a sense of urgency. She walked the narrow dark streets under air thick with fog. In her pocket, her phone buzzed once more-the message from her editor not yet erased from her mind.
"Lily, the disappearances go back farther than we thought. We're talking decades. It's not just random. These people were all connected. And I think the Keepers—whatever they are—are still active."
Streetlights seemed to flicker as Lily approached the warehouse, its silhouette stark against the city skyline. The familiar sense of foreboding returned as she reached out to push open the creaking, rusted door. The silence slammed into her first, deep and heavy, like some kind of building breathing it in.
Inside was close to absolute darkness, and it sent a shiver along her neck: hairs stood on the back of her neck. The shadows knew she was there, watching, waiting.
She made her way to the second floor, to the room where she had seen the symbols. The space was still as cold as she remembered, the air thick with something ancient and wrong. The chair in the center of the room was still there, the marks on the floor still visible. But now, there was something else.
A presence.
It was faint at first, a whisper just at the edge of hearing. Her name.
"Lily…"
She turned sharply, but the room remained empty. Her heart rate accelerated, but she didn't run. She couldn't. Not now.
As she drew closer to the symbols etched into the floor, the whispers grew louder, closer. They seemed to bounce off the walls, swirl around her, and push in on her. She knelt down, hands shaking as she ran her fingertips along the lines of the symbols. This was the core of it-all-the rituals had been held here. The cult had come here and summoned something-dark and powerful.
But what was it? And why had her mother been involved?
"Lily…"
This time, the voice came from behind her. She spun around, her heart leaping into her throat.
A figure stood in the doorway, cloaked in shadow. It was too dark to make out any details, but she could feel its presence, like a weight pressing on her chest.
"I've been waiting for you, Lily."
The voice was familiar, yet alien. Cold.
She knew that voice. Lily's blood ran cold.
"Who are you?" she demanded, voice shaking despite her best attempts to calm down.
The figure stepped forward into the dim light, revealing a face she had never expected to see again. Her mother. But it was not the same woman in the photograph. This one was older, her features hollow and gaunt, her eyes sunken deep into her face, glowing faintly with an unnatural light.
"I told you," the figure whispered. "I never left."
Lily's chest contracted, breath shallow. "What happened to you? What are you?"
Her mother—if it could even be called that—smiled a thin, knowing smile. "I am what remains. What was left behind when they took me."
"Took you?" Lily repeated, mind racing. "Who took you? And why did they want you?
The smile of the dark figure disappeared, and a deep sadness took its place. "They wanted me because I was chosen. Chosen to be their conduit. To bring the darkness into the world. But I couldn't do it. I ran. I tried to protect you."
Lily felt a cold shiver run through her. "The darkness? What do you mean?
Her mother's eyes seemed to glow brighter. "The Keepers believed they could control the shadows. They thought they could summon them, use them as a power to reshape the world. But they didn't understand. They didn't understand that the shadows don't just follow orders. They consume. They devour. And now they're after you, Lily."
Lily stumbled back. "Why me? What do they want with me?
"Because you're the one who can see them," her mother said softly. "The shadows. They're inside you. They've always been inside you. You're the key, Lily. The shadows are tied to you."
Lily's mind spun. She had always felt like there was something off about herself, something in her that didn't quite fit. But this? This was beyond anything she could have imagined.
Your mother's story is only one piece of the puzzle, Lily," the figure continued, her voice barely a whisper now. "The shadows want you, but they also need you. You were born to finish what was started. To open the gate."
"The gate?" Lily repeated, her throat dry. "What gate?
The figure's eyes flared with a terrible understanding. "The gate to the darkness. The portal that the Keepers tried to open all those years ago. The one they failed to control. You have the power to open it. And when you do, they will come.
The walls of the room pulsed with life, the air growing thick and heavy, the shadows in the corner writhing as though they were alive, stretching out to her.
Lily could feel the pull, some sort of magnetic force pulling her closer to the symbols on the floor. But her body refused to respond, as if something inside her wanted to break free.
"No," she whispered, her voice shaking. "I won't do it."
"You don't have a choice," the figure said flatly. "It's already started. You can't stop it now. But you can control it.
Shadows whirled around her, closing in. Energy cold, biting, flowed into the room, invading her very pores. She reached to try and move, feeling her legs heavy, a weight tied to her soles that rooted her firmly to the floor as if darkness could stretch out further to touch her and whisper her name.