Apostles' War

Tagaytay City – 10:52 PM

Elian ran.

He keeps on running...

Passing shuttered fruit stalls.

Passing flickering streetlamps.

The town was asleep but there is something behind him that keep on whispering.

"Elian…"

"We remember…"

"Why did you leave us?"

His heart was beating like a wild animal trying to escape his chest as he stumbled toward his door, keys clattering in his grip.

He barely managed to unlock the front door before throwing himself inside and bolting it shut.

Silence followed.

But the sigil burned faintly on the back of his hand — a soft, golden mark pulsing beneath his skin like an unspoken truth.

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12:04 AM – Inside His Room

He lay on the bed, fully clothed.

Too tired to undress.

Too scared to sleep.

The laptop on his desk glowed faintly, playing a muted music that no longer soothed him.

He lifted his left hand, staring at the symbol.

"It's just an imagination" he whispered. "It's just exhaustion."

The sigil pulsed once in again in silent night.

-------

1:41 AM – Kitchen

He woke up a minute a go and his throat felt dry. He needs glass of cold water, that's all he needed.

He stepped into the kitchen and get a bottle of water inside the fridge. 

The hum of the fridge and the drip of the faucet grounded him — momentarily.

Then — a creak.

Not inside.

Outside.

Near the garden.

And he froze.

Slowly, Elian walked to the front window and peeled back the curtain.

There—

Just outside the gate, beneath the misty streetlamp—

Three tall figures stood.

Unmoving. Cloaked in a haze that the night couldn't explain.

"You came back."

"You used to sing to us, Elian."

"Why don't you remember?"

His hand fell from the curtain.

The bottle of water slipped from his grip and the water splattered in the floor.

--------------

1:45 AM – Inside the House

Elian backed away from the window. Every curtain was yanked shut.

Every door locked. He turned off the lights and sat in the dark, heart pounding.

He didn't dare breathe too loud.

Didn't dare look outside again.

But he felt them.

Right there.

Watching.

-------

3:12 AM – His Room

He hadn't meant to fall asleep.

But exhaustion claimed him — curled on the bed, arms folded tightly across his chest.

Outside, beyond the fence, the Wailing Hordes stood in silence.

They made no move.

But deep in the night, something whispered through the walls of the world:

"Soon."