The lantern flickered, casting uneven shadows across the wooden walls.
The room wasn't bright enough to feel safe, but not dark enough to hide in.
The masked man stood perfectly still.
Cold metal hid his face, but not his focus.
Alex's legs trembled as he faced him.
The man finally spoke.
"Tell me your name."
Alex swallowed, throat dry. "Alex."
"Just Alex?"
The man crouched until they were eye-level.
"I… don't know my family name," Alex said. "I was left at Saint Lumen Orphanage when I was too young to remember anything else."
The man nodded once. His tone shifted from curious to sharp.
"Then tell me, Alex. What happened there?"
Alex's chest tightened.
Memories pressed forward—bits and pieces, sharp sounds, white emptiness.
He breathed slowly, then spoke.
---
1. The Calm Before the Storm
"Things felt strange… long before that night," Alex began.
"How strange?" the man asked.
Alex looked at the floor. "Cold. Even when it wasn't winter. The halls felt colder than outside."
"And the whispers," he added. "They came every night. Only I heard them. Quiet… but close."
The man didn't react, but he listened.
"Animals sensed it too. The dogs refused to enter the chapel. They would bark at the doorway, then run."
Alex clenched his fists.
"People changed, too. The sisters were tense. The children didn't laugh as much."
Sister Iris had been the only one who didn't pretend everything was normal.
"She always told us, 'Stay close to the light.' She said something was coming. She didn't know what, but she felt it."
"And Mary?" the masked man asked.
Alex nodded.
"She was the spirit. The girl who died before I came. Her soul stayed in the orphanage."
Alex hesitated, but continued.
"She wasn't scary. She just… watched me. Sat by my bed. Whispered warnings. She said I had to leave."
"What warnings?" the man asked.
"'Alex, leave before it comes.' She repeated that for weeks."
Alex shook his head slowly.
"I didn't understand. I thought she meant a bad person. Not… whatever actually came."
---
2. The Night Everything Changed
Alex's voice dropped to a whisper.
"That night… everything stopped."
"Stopped?" the man repeated.
"No wind. No sound. Even the old building felt like it was holding its breath."
Alex closed his eyes.
"Then a loud crash came from the chapel. Not like something falling. More like something being forced open."
"Children screamed. Sisters shouted. Doors slammed shut on their own. Windows shattered without wind."
The masked man leaned forward slightly.
"And you saw it?"
Alex paused. Long enough that the room felt smaller.
"Not clearly," he said finally. "Just shadows. Moving like smoke."
"But I felt it before I saw it."
"How?" the man asked.
Alex touched his neck unconsciously.
"Its hand wrapped around my throat."
The masked man stiffened.
"It didn't choke me," Alex said quickly. "It just held me… like it wanted me still."
"And then its other hand pressed against my chest."
He breathed once, slow.
"And it went through."
The man's fingers curled, metal joints clicking faintly.
"It wasn't like being struck," Alex said. "It was like cold fire. My chest froze and burned at the same time."
"I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even think."
Everything had collapsed into one impossible sensation—
cold, fire, pressure, emptiness—
Then nothing.
"Everything turned white," Alex whispered. "Completely white."
---
3. Awakening in Chaos
"When I came back… I was in the chapel again."
The masked man didn't interrupt.
"The curtains were burning. The smoke was thick. Wood cracking everywhere."
Alex's voice tightened.
"Sister Iris was lying on the ground."
A pause.
"She was bleeding," Alex said quietly. "A lot."
He didn't describe how. He didn't have to.
"She reached out," Alex whispered. "She touched my face."
He swallowed hard.
"Her last words were… 'Alex… live. Survive.'"
Alex shut his eyes.
"She smiled. Even then. Then she… stopped moving."
The masked man exhaled slowly, almost silently.
"The others came in after that," Alex continued. "They saw me next to her. Covered in blood."
"They screamed 'monster.' 'Demon.' They pulled the other children away from me."
Alex's shoulders shook faintly.
"Someone knocked over candles. The fire spread fast. The whole chapel went up. The walls collapsed soon after."
He looked down at his trembling hands.
"I ran. I didn't even think. I just ran."
"I remember stepping outside. Snow everywhere. But all I could see was the fire behind me."
He rubbed his chest.
"I still don't know how I'm alive."
---
4. The Strange Mark
The masked man's voice softened for the first time.
"Was there anything else? Anything you haven't said?"
Alex nodded slowly.
"Mary told me something. The orphanage… it was on a thin boundary. Between worlds."
The man froze.
"She said I don't 'smell' like others," Alex said hesitantly. "That's why the creature came. She said something hungry was looking for me."
The masked man's hand tightened into a fist.
Outside, a gust of wind rattled the window—but neither of them looked away.
Alex lifted his eyes.
"Why did it come for me?"
The room fell silent.
Not empty.
Not peaceful.
A silence that waited.
A silence that listened.
A silence that felt like someone—something—else was standing just outside the door.
The masked man didn't answer immediately.
His voice, when it came, was low.
"Alex… something in that chapel didn't just touch you."
He stared at the boy's chest, as if he could see through it.
"It marked you."
Alex's breath hitched.
"Marked… me?"
The masked man didn't finish his sentence.
Because something outside the window moved.
And this time, both of them felt it.
---
End of Chapter 2