Chapter 2
The room seemed to shrink around her, the walls pulsing as if they were a living organism, breathing in sync with the rapid beating of her heart. The air was dense, almost solid, impregnated with a dry metallic-blood smell mixed with the putrid aroma of something ancient and forgotten.
The entity spoke again, its voice reverberating inside Lenore's mind like a creeping whisper, something that crawled across her skin and oozed into her skull.
"So, what do you say, child? Do you desire this power? Will you accept it?"
Lenore tried to speak, but her lungs refused to expand. The invisible pressure squeezed her chest like sharp claws, digging into her flesh, trapping her there.
"I..."
The word escaped, weakly, a thread of voice that seemed to get lost in the darkness.
The shadow advanced, molding and twisting itself into impossible shapes, never entirely human, never entirely monstrous. She felt its presence around her, a weight on her shoulders, a whisper in her ear, invisible fingers brushing the back of her neck.
"Say it, child. I see the hesitation in your eyes, but I also see the emptiness in your soul. You're hungry. You want more."
Lenore closed her eyes tightly. It was a lie. It had to be.
But... why couldn't she move?
Why was that presence so terrible and yet so familiar?
The silence stretched on, and Lenore realized the truth-this wasn't just any question.
It was a call.
A path of no return.
Her bones tingled. Something inside her-something deep, instinctive, ancestral-awoke, as if it had always been there, waiting for the right moment.
The shadow didn't hurry. It just waited.
Patiently.
Lenore swallowed.
"What do you want in return?"
The answer came like a broken echo, like intertwined voices, distant and choked.
"Ah... Smart. Good girl."
The darkness moved, briefly revealing what appeared to be a black stone altar covered in grotesque inscriptions. They glowed faintly, pulsing, as if they were still alive, as if they were feeding on their own shadow.
"I want continuity."
Lenore's stomach churned.
"Continuity?"
The entity took on a form that resembled a black cloak floating above the ground. Something squirmed inside it, hidden figures struggling, trying to emerge.
"Your father locked me in here. But the power that runs in your blood is mine. It always has been. Thaddeus wasted it with brutality, with blind fury. But you..." The voice sank in, slipping between his thoughts like poison. "You can be so much more."
A chill ran up his spine, settling at the base of his skull like a parasite.
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
The thing leaned closer, and Lenore felt putrid ice run down her skin.
"Learn from me. Be my heir. Let me mold you... show you what power really means."
Her mind screamed to run. To escape.
But her feet wouldn't move.
She thought of her father. The empty look, the crushed bones of his victims, the way he saw the world: something to be consumed, dominated, destroyed.
She didn't want to be him.
But what if there was another way?
What if power didn't have to be just a hammer?
The shadow seemed to sense the conflict in her heart.
"You don't have to answer now." The voice sounded almost gentle, but it carried something dangerous. "But when you're ready... look for me again."
Lenore hesitated for a long moment.
Then, without saying another word, she turned and left the room.
The door closed behind her with a dull thud.
But even when she returned to her bed, with the blankets pulled up to her chin, she felt the chill of that presence still clinging to her skin.
And, worse than that...
She felt that part of her wanted to go back.
Lenore left the forbidden room breathing heavily. Her heart was still pounding, but not out of fear. No. Fear would be easy to deal with. What she felt was something different - a weight on her mind, a presence that wouldn't go away, as if the thing had left an invisible mark on her.
She hoped that when she closed the door, everything would return to normal. But it didn't.
The voice was still in her head, creeping into the deepest corners of her mind. A low, insistent whisper.
"You feel it, don't you? Something burns inside you."
Lenore squeezed her temples, trying to expel the sensation. But it wasn't something she could simply push away.
When she got back to her room, she noticed that her hands were shaking slightly. He had never felt so... aware of his own body before. As if her senses were heightened in a way they shouldn't have been.
She threw herself on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Her father had failed.
Was that voice telling the truth or just trying to manipulate her? Her father was a monster, but he was powerful. If he failed, what did he fail at?
Sleep came late, and when it did, it brought dreams.
Dreams of fire and shadows, of a power that whispered its name.
Lenore dreamt of eyes in the darkness.
They opened around her, blinking at irregular intervals, as if they were alive, as if they were waiting. The air was heavy, saturated with the smell of something old and rotten. She wanted to move, but the ground felt sticky, gripping her feet, pulling her down.
"You've already started to feel it, haven't you?"
The voice came from everywhere. Soft. False. Like icy fingers brushing against her skin.
"You belong there."
Lenore wanted to deny it, wanted to scream, but she couldn't find her voice. Instead, the shadows began to creep over her skin, crawling up her arms, wrapping around her neck. The cold seeped into her bones, rooted itself in her.
She tried to fight it. But part of her... part of her didn't want to resist.
She woke up suddenly, her body stiff and sweaty. Her room was plunged into darkness, and for a moment, she could still feel the shadows crawling under her skin.
Then the sound came.
𝘛𝘢𝘱. 𝘛𝘢𝘱. 𝘛𝘢𝘱.
Lenore froze.
Someone was knocking on the window.
She turned around slowly, her heart pounding. The curtain swayed slightly in the night breeze, but behind the glass...
A figure.
Tall, motionless.
His eyes shone in the dim light. A pale, dead glow.
𝘛𝘢𝘱. 𝘛𝘢𝘱. 𝘛𝘢𝘱.
Lenore couldn't breathe.
The masked man was there.
Waiting.