Volume 2 – Chapter 11: Breaking the Silence

The shadow behind the sent passed out until that cloak of cloistered silence regressed the air out of everyone, the cloud honed the room as if it had lost its oxygen supply. Rika gripped my arm tighter, frozen beside me. Her breathing was shallow, staccato, but I could feel her whole body shaking against me.

I had no idea who or what this was, but one thing was clear: we had stepped into something much murkier than we had planned.

And the only sound was the figure’s soft, rhythmic breathing. It did not stir, did not speak again. It just… waited. I inexplicably felt its eyes on me, that pressure penetrating my bones.

“What do you want?” I insisted, my voice husky, but firm.

The figure’s head inclined just somewhat, as if pondering the question, before it spoke, its voice barely a whisper, but with words both filling the void and slicing through the silence like a knife. “What I want… is irrelevant. Really what matters is what you want.” What you need.”

I felt Rika move next to me, but she didn’t say anything. She was comforting, a reminder that we weren’t going through this alone, but in my mind questions spun out that I had no way of answering. What was this thing? And why had it come for us?

“You don’t need to do this,” I said, low, not shaky. I didn’t know if I was trying to convince myself or the figure, but I refused to let it dictate us. Not now.

The figure stirred then, warily, as its body flowed like liquid shadow. It didn’t walk — it shimmied across the floor, gliding toward us until it was only a couple feet away. Its eyes glowed pale and unfriendly pale as it looked at us with understanding unsettling interest.

“Tell me, Kaito,” it said, using my name with a familiarity that made my skin crawl. “Do you really know what you’re running from?”

My heart raced as I swallowed hard. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You think you’re running from me, from the solid thing,” it continued, its voice now smooth, almost coaxing. “But you’re not. You are running from yourself, from the truth. “From the choice you’ve already made.”

The words sat in the air like smoke, and I wasn’t sure in that moment if I had even heard it right. “Choice?” I said, almost in disbelief. “What choice? We’re just trying to survive,.”

The figure had a faint smile, scarcely visible. “You’ve been surviving the whole time, haven’t you, Kaito? Fleeing from one threat to another, without pausing to consider why. Never pausing to see what lies beneath it all, what you have become in the process. It’s not the flood, or the city, or even me who’s hunting you. It’s your own choices. The ones that led you here.”

I stepped back, dragging Rika with me as I fought to clear my head. What was it saying? I had made choices, sure. I’d fought to keep Rika safe, to save us both, but this? This was different. This was not only about survival. It was about more than just that. Thing that was beyond my comprehension.

I managed to ask through my constricting throat, my voice a little weaker than I wanted.“Everything you’ve done has led you to this moment. The flood didn’t happen by chance, Kaito. It was not the result of a natural disaster. It was set into motion long before you ever saw Union City.” The ground beneath my feet shifted, and I grasped for my racing mind to find some way of understanding what the figure was saying. “You’re lying,” I choked for air. My voice was thick with disbelief. “the flood – how could you possibly – “ “The flood was a means to an end,” the figure cut through my protests. Its voice sounded like shards of glass cutting into my thoughts. “A catalyst, and you were chosen. The flood was the start.”My heart was racing, and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead. “Chosen for what?” I managed to choke out. The figure’s eyes shone brighter, an unnatural light that drilled into me. “The truth of the path you are meant to walk. And the choices that lie ahead.” I shook my head fervently, but its words were already wrapping my thoughts in a vice grip, squeezing the breath from my chest.“What do you want from us.” Rika asked, her voice was shaking, but not with fear – with vehement desperation, with steel. “We’ve done nothing to you.” The figure glanced at her before staring back at me. “I have nothing to want from you, Rika. I am only a messenger. I show you what you have sought to escape.”

I had no words. It felt like the very air was growing thick, suffocating, trying to suffocate me, as if the very walls surrounding us were closing in. its words were heavy, the weight of them hovering between us, unseen but pressing down on my chest, threatening to crush. “Listen to me,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady, however, all of me shivered. “I have no idea what you are and who you are, but I am not going to let you do what you want with us. We are not competitors for you.” And then it tilted its head, and for a fleeting second, I saw it flicker in the back of my eyes, something that almost seemed like… amusement. “Do to you? No, Kaito. I do not need to do it to you. I am here to give you a choice. The choice that has been waiting for you. The choice that you cannot escape.” Rika was by my side, close to me, holding onto my wrist too tight. “A choice?” It did not reply immediately though it stretched out a long and bony hand to me. “The choice to know.” It sounded almost as a whisper. “The choice to know why you are here. Why it happened. And what is next.” For a single minute, I was hesitant. Every cell of my body screamed about running, fleeing, about never stopping. But there was something within those words, something that dug deep into my core, ripping me towards the door I knew. Rip me towards the path I had only seen from the inside. What was it in the door? Without grasping it, I reached for and stepped ahead. “Let us see what is beyond this,” I said.