Lily came to the office in a daze, her mind reeling in all directions. The office was dimly lit, the usual din of activity nowhere in sight. Benjamin sat at his desk, his face deathly pale, his hands shaking as he riffled through a pile of papers.
"Lily," he said without looking up, his voice strained. "I don't know what happened, but I think you're the only one who can make sense of it."
Lily drew closer, her pulse quickening. She looked down at the papers he had spread out. It was just another set of case files about disappearances—gruesome, unnerving stories from all over the city. But then she noticed something that chilled her to the core: they were all recent. And they all had something in common.
Each of the victims had the same symbol carved into their skin.
The same symbol she had seen at the warehouse.
Lily's blood ran cold. "No. It can't be. I closed the gate. The shadows are gone.
Benjamin shook his head, his eyes wild with disbelief. "That's what we thought too. But look at this." He slid another file across the table. This one was different. It was a photograph, a blurry image of an alleyway. In the foreground stood a figure—shrouded in shadow, indistinct, but there was no mistaking it.
It was her mother.
But that wasn't possible. Her mother was—"she had"—no, she couldn't still be alive. She had seen her mother's twisted form disappear into the darkness when she closed the gate.
"It's not her," Benjamin whispered as if reading her thoughts. "But it looks like her. The figure has been spotted near the places where the disappearances have happened. Whoever—or whatever—this is, it's connected to you. To the ritual you performed.
Lily's mind reeled. Her mom? No. This cannot happen all over again.
She paced the room, the weight of the realization crashing down on her. Her mother's twisted, hollow form hadn't been a product of the shadows—it had been something else. The ritual hadn't just closed the gate; it had fragmented the shadows, leaving remnants of them behind. And now, something had crossed through. A shadow was walking the city, and it wasn't the only one.
"Benjamin," Lily said firmly now, despite the fear chewing at her. "The shadows didn't just disappear. They found a way to live in the world. They're not gone—they've been reborn. And they want me."
"What are you saying?" Benjamin asked, his voice shaking.
I'm saying that the gate didn't close all the way. It's still open—just a crack. And every person who has disappeared since the ritual is. part of the price. They're becoming what I am—what my mother became. The shadows are inside them, but they're also inside me."
Lily's heart pounded, the weight of the truth sinking in like a stone in her chest. She hadn't just been the key to the shadows entering the world; she had been the vessel. The shadows hadn't left her-they'd found a way to survive through her, feeding off her, following her, leaving her with a part of them deep inside her soul.
And it wasn't over.
Her phone buzzed again, but this time, it wasn't a message. It was a call. She hesitated before answering.
"Lily," a voice whispered on the other end. It was soft, ethereal. "You're mine now. And soon, the city will be too."
Lily's blood ran cold. It's her. My mother. The shadows. they're alive. They're calling to me.
And then, the line went dead.
Benjamin's eyes widened. "Who was that?"
Lily didn't answer. She simply stared out the window, her mind reeling. The shadows were still out there, still alive, and they were coming for her. For the city. For everyone.
The battle wasn't over. It had just begun.
The door to the office creaked open, and Lily turned around, her heart in her throat. Standing in the doorway was a figure—a silhouette shrouded in darkness.
That's the mother, or what remains of her.
"Lily.", this figure was whispering to. "You know what you need to do."
The last blow was made. Shadows had never been gone. They are there now still. Inside of her, inside the city. And they're never gonna stop until everything is devoured.
End.