That night, **no one slept**.
Zera sat near the stone window, staring into the darkness swallowing the Black Forest.
Adam sat on the floor, his back against the wall, his eyes fixed on the pendant faintly glowing in his hand.
Lapopo was asleep, but his rapid breathing betrayed his turmoil... perhaps he was dreaming.
> "Did you love her?" Zera whispered suddenly, her voice like a soft fracture in the silence.
Adam looked up, surprised.
> "My grandmother?"
She shook her head.
> "No... the woman you saw in Nimora's memories. The one who held your hand before the storm."
He hesitated. Didn't answer right away. That image was etched in his mind like a piece of memory that **didn't belong to him**.
> "I don't know who she was… but I feel something. Like a loss I haven't lived through yet."
Zera slowly approached him, kneeling down, her face now very close to his.
> "Sometimes," she said, "we fall for someone through an image alone. Or a moment.
> And maybe… that's all we need."
She brushed her nose gently against his—like she was writing something **invisible** on his face.
But before he could respond, the place trembled suddenly—like a **minor quake** had struck the foundation of the house.
Lapopo jolted awake, startled, and cried out:
> "The shadow! It's moving… it broke the third seal!"
Adam jumped to his feet as the walls began **bleeding** a strange gray fluid… like ink.
They all rushed to the basement, where the three relics left behind by Adam's grandmother were kept:
**The Mirror of Passage, the Dagger of Time, and the Eye of Dawn**.
But something had changed.
**The dagger was gone.**
> "Impossible!" Zera yelled. "It was here *yesterday!*"
A strange sound echoed through the walls. A distorted laugh—soft, oozing like a rotting echo.
Then, a pale gray sentence **appeared on the wall**, written in fading strokes:
> **"The final key is in the blood of the grandson."**
Adam shivered, while Lapopo said with a pale face:
> "Adam… I think it's time you knew the whole truth.
> Not just about your grandmother… but about *you*."
Before he could continue, a loud crash echoed from the upper floor.
They ran upstairs—only to find a woman standing amid the debris,
clad in **shimmering black**, her long violet hair swaying, her back covered in **smoky wings** that moved slowly.
She smiled—tilted, cryptic.
> "Hello, Adam.
> You've taken your time summoning me."
Adam clenched his fists.
> "Who are you?"
She stepped closer, until her face was just inches from his. Then she whispered:
> "I carried you that night...
> and I'm the one who convinced your grandmother to build the *first gate*.
> My name is **Saïra**."
Everything inside him crumbled—questions stacked upon questions. Certainty melted like ice in a storm.
But Zera didn't remain silent.
She stepped between Adam and the woman, saying sharply:
> "Stay away from him.
> He chose *us*."
Saïra laughed mockingly:
> "And do you really think his heart is yours?
> Ask him who the blue-eyed woman in his visions is…
> and *who he really is*."
Other voices began whispering in the walls—the same voices his grandmother feared.
The whispers that build truths the way walls are built from shadow.
But before the scene could escalate, **all the lights went out**.
And only a single sentence remained glowing, traced in strands of blue light:
> **"Only those who pass the test may see the truth that comes."**
---
### 💠 Reader's Interactive Test: Human Test
Do you truly deserve to continue this journey with us?
📌 Copy and paste this link into your browser:
https://unlockcontent.net/cp/i/q8320?preview=1#
Then answer the test question that will appear—prove you are not one of the "shadows."
---
**Quote of the Day:**
> *"The most dangerous shadows aren't the ones around you—but the ones that live inside you."*
---
https://patrEon.com/Jabrane