The Midnight Key

The moment the seals shattered, the air shifted.

Like something ancient had stirred.

Something that had been waiting.

The faint blue glow of the symbols flickered—then went dark. The room pulsed with a sudden, suffocating pressure, as if the very air had turned solid.

Rene's grip on Rena tightened. The baby still didn't seem afraid. But her silver eyes were watching—listening.

Lucien cursed under his breath. "I knew this was a bad idea."

Adrian and Adriel moved instantly, stepping in front of Rene and Nyra. Their silver light flared, swirling with frost, ready to strike.

Selene, however, did nothing.

She simply watched.

As if she had been expecting this.

A slow, eerie sound filled the air.

A whisper.

A laugh.

Then—

A voice.

"She was found after all."

The shadows moved.

Not like a trick of the light. Not like a fleeting illusion.

But as though something was stepping out of them.

Figures emerged from the darkness, their forms shifting like mist. Their eyes—cold, glowing silver—fixed on Rena.

Rene knew they weren't human.

She felt it.

The wrongness of them. The ancient presence they carried, thick as poison in the air.

Nyra unsheathed her blade. "Who are you?"

The tallest of them tilted their head, as if amused by the question.

Then, in a voice both male and female, both young and endless—

"We are the ones who sealed her away."

Rene's blood ran cold.

The ones who locked Rena's soul away.

The ones who had banished her forever.

They had come back.

And they weren't here to talk.

Adrian's silver light crackled. "Step back."

Adriel's frost coiled at his fingertips. "Now."

But the figures only smiled.

The tallest one stepped forward, their eyes glinting.

"You do not understand."

They raised a hand—

And every torch in the room died.

Total darkness.

A chill ran through Rene's spine as the whispers multiplied.

Soft.

Mocking.

And then—

Rena spoke.

Not as a baby.

Not as a child.

But in a voice filled with something older.

Something that made the shadows hesitate.

"You shouldn't have come back."

Silence.

Then—

The entire room shook.

Lucien lunged. "Move—"

And the fight began.

To Be Continued…

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