The clearing fell into an eerie silence, the only sound the labored breathing of Kai and Ray. The shattered mark on the altar still glowed faintly, pulsating like a dying ember. The cold wind carried the faint stench of burnt wood and something far more sinister.
Kai leaned on his knees, trying to steady his breathing. "One mark down," he muttered, more to himself than to Ray. "But how many more are there?"
Ray wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, his gun still clutched tightly. "If every mark takes this much out of us, we're not going to last long."
Kai straightened, his legs unsteady. "We don't have a choice. We can't leave these things intact. If the Harbinger keeps feeding off them, more people will die."
Ray glanced around the clearing, his flashlight sweeping over the trees. "Yeah, but we don't even know where the rest of the marks are. Doyle's journal doesn't exactly come with a map."
Kai frowned, pulling the journal from his jacket. The leather cover was worn and cold to the touch, its pages filled with Doyle's frantic scrawl. Flipping to a section near the middle, he pointed to a passage underlined twice in red ink.
"'The marks act as a network, connecting the Harbinger to this plane. Disrupting one will weaken the others, but they will grow restless in retaliation,'" Kai read aloud.
Ray snorted, crossing his arms. "Restless? That thing already looked like it was ready to rip us apart. How much worse can it get?"
Kai didn't answer immediately. He scanned the rest of the passage, his frown deepening. "Doyle mentions a 'rebound effect.' The more we disrupt, the more unstable the Harbinger becomes. It's like cutting the strings on a puppet—eventually, the whole thing collapses."
Ray raised an eyebrow. "And that's supposed to be good news?"
Kai met his gaze, his expression hard. "If we can destroy all the marks, the Harbinger will have no choice but to return to wherever it came from. But if we stop halfway..."
"It stays," Ray finished, his voice low.
---
The drive back to town was quiet, the tension between them palpable. The forest thinned as they approached the outskirts of Stowntown, the dim glow of streetlights breaking through the trees. Despite the late hour, several houses still had their lights on, their occupants too afraid to sleep.
As they pulled into the station's parking lot, Kai glanced at Ray. "We need to go back to the farmhouse tomorrow. There might be more clues in the basement."
Ray grimaced but nodded. "I'll make sure we're stocked up. Let's hope that woman in the holding cell doesn't mysteriously vanish overnight."
Kai stepped out of the car, the cold air biting at his face. He hesitated, staring up at the station. A strange feeling gnawed at the edge of his consciousness—a sense that something was watching him.
Shaking it off, he followed Ray inside.
---
The interrogation room was quiet, the robed woman still sitting where they had left her. Her hands rested on the table, her eyes closed as if in meditation. She didn't react as Kai entered, her expression serene.
"You're awfully calm for someone who just witnessed a piece of their god get obliterated," Kai said, pulling out the chair across from her.
Her eyes opened slowly, locking onto his with an unnerving intensity. "The Harbinger is no god. It is merely a vessel—an echo of something far greater."
Kai leaned forward, his elbows on the table. "Then why defend it? Why go along with this madness?"
The woman's lips curved into a faint, bitter smile. "Do you think I had a choice? The Order is not kind to those who question its purpose. I was raised to believe that the Harbinger's presence was necessary—that its wrath was a price we had to pay to protect the balance."
Ray, standing near the doorway, snorted. "Balance? You call a monster killing people every December balance?"
She looked past Kai, her gaze settling on Ray. "You don't understand. The curse is not a punishment—it's a ward. The Harbinger is a guardian, keeping something far worse at bay."
Kai's jaw tightened. "Worse than a creature that tears people apart for twenty-seven days?"
The woman nodded solemnly. "Yes. The Harbinger's presence ensures the seals on the true darkness remain intact. Without it, the town would be consumed."
Kai exchanged a glance with Ray, both of them processing the revelation.
"So if we destroy all the marks," Kai said slowly, "we're not just getting rid of the Harbinger. We're breaking the seals entirely."
The woman inclined her head. "That is why a sacrifice is necessary. The Harbinger must be replaced to maintain the balance."
Ray threw up his hands. "Great. So it's either let the monster keep killing, or summon something even worse. Fantastic options."
Kai stared at the table, his mind racing. If the woman was telling the truth, their fight against the Harbinger was far more complicated than they had thought. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to believe there was no other way.
"There has to be another solution," he said, his voice firm. "Doyle thought so, and I'm not giving up until I find it."
The woman's gaze softened, a flicker of sadness crossing her face. "I hope you do, Officer. But I fear the truth will only bring you more pain."
---
Kai spent the rest of the night poring over Doyle's journal, his desk littered with scraps of paper and half-empty coffee cups. The woman's words weighed heavily on him, but he refused to let them deter him.
At some point, Ray appeared with a blanket and tossed it over Kai's shoulders. "You need to get some sleep," he said, his tone gentler than usual.
Kai didn't look up. "Can't afford to. If we miss something, people die."
Ray sighed, pulling up a chair. "You're no good to anyone if you collapse from exhaustion. Just take a break, Kai. We'll hit the farmhouse again tomorrow, fresh and ready."
Kai hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. "Fine. A couple of hours. But wake me if anything happens."
Ray smirked. "Deal."
As Kai closed his eyes, his mind continued to churn with questions. The Harbinger, the marks, the seals—every piece of the puzzle felt just out of reach. And yet, he couldn't shake the feeling that the answers were closer than he realized.
Somewhere in the darkness, the Harbinger stirred. Its chains had been weakened, its rage building with each passing moment. The hunt was far from over, and the clock was ticking.