The next day felt different.
Maybe it was the way the sky seemed a little darker, or how the old ruins looked almost alive when Aria and Kai walked past them after school.
Kai felt it first—a chill crawling down his spine, like invisible eyes were watching.
Aria saw them. Shapes moving between the crumbling walls, half-hidden in the shadows. Spirits, silent and restless.
"They're here again," Aria whispered, her voice barely louder than the wind.
Kai glanced around. "Do they look… angry?"
Aria shook her head slowly. "Not angry. Just… waiting."
---
They stepped deeper into the ruins. Old stones lay scattered across the mossy ground, covered with strange markings neither of them could read.
The air smelled of damp earth and forgotten time.
Kai ran his hand over one of the stones. "I feel like they're trying to tell us something," he murmured.
"Maybe," Aria said. Her gaze fixed on a broken archway at the far end of the ruins.
It was just a pile of half-fallen stones, but for a moment, she thought she saw a faint shimmer—like a door waiting to open.
She blinked, and it was gone.
---
Suddenly, a cold wind swept through, carrying with it a low whisper.
Aria's heart raced. "Did you hear that?"
Kai nodded. "Words… but I couldn't understand."
Aria's eyes darkened. "They're getting closer."
Kai reached for her hand, his palm warm against her cold fingers.
"We'll figure it out," he said softly. "Together."
Aria nodded, gripping his hand tighter.
---
As they turned to leave, Kai's gift stirred within him—a pulse in his mind, warning him.
He turned back and saw, just for an instant, a shadow darker than the rest, standing by the broken archway. Watching.
The shadow disappeared before he could say a word.
"Let's come back tomorrow," Aria said, her voice steady but her eyes afraid.
Kai agreed. "Tomorrow."
They walked home under the fading light, neither of them speaking, but both knowing:
The ruins were hiding something.
And whatever it was… was waking up.