The One Who Woke It
Cuco's heartbeat thundered in his ears as he stepped into the candlelit room. Shadows clung to the stone walls, shifting and stretching with every flicker of flame. The air was thick—hot, yes—but it carried something more. Something ancient. Watching.
Behind him, Tariq eased the hidden door shut. The faint click echoed like a verdict.
"You're not alone anymore," said the girl with black hair. Her voice was calm, almost too calm, but her eyes—sharp and ember-bright—told a different story. They were eyes that had seen things, survived things. "My name is Nox. And we've all been marked."
Cuco looked around. A tall boy with round glasses gave a quiet nod. Next to him, a short girl in a faded hoodie raised a hand in a wary greeting. They didn't just look different—they felt different. Like each of them carried something buried beneath the skin. A weight. A secret.
Nox gestured toward the center of the room, where a battered leather-bound book lay open on a stone pedestal. "The dreams. The mark. The creature. They're all part of something older than us. An ancient chain. A cycle. It's happened before. Every time, it ends the same way."
Cuco took a shaky step forward. "What is the Beast? Why me? Why now?"
The boy with glasses answered, voice quiet but steady. "It's not just a beast. It's a breaker. A guardian of thresholds. It wakes when the balance between our world and something else begins to crack."
The girl in the hoodie added, barely above a whisper, "And you saw it first. That means the crack is widening. You're the Key."
Nox stepped closer. "Which also means they will come looking for you."
"They?" Cuco's voice came out as a rasp.
Tariq's tone turned grim. "The Hollow Ones. Not fully beast, not fully human. Shadows wrapped in human skin. They're already here. Inside the town."
A loud bang echoed from somewhere beyond the room.
Everyone froze.
Footsteps. Slow. Heavy. Just on the other side of the wall.
Nox turned sharply to Cuco. "Did someone follow you?"
"No—I came straight from class, I swear—"
The candle flames danced violently. A cold draft curled through the room like a whisper. The lights buzzed.
Then—
Knock. Knock.
Two slow raps on the hidden door.
Silence.
A voice came next. Crooked and wrong, like a puppet mimicking speech it didn't understand.
"Cuuu-coooo…"
Cuco felt his blood go cold.
"You're not supposed to remember, little spark," the voice hissed. "But now… you've seen too much."
The wall trembled.
Nox's eyes widened. She pointed toward the far corner. "We have to go. Now. There's another exit—through the tunnels."
Tariq grabbed Cuco's arm. "Come on. We don't have much time."
Cuco hesitated.
Long enough to hear one last whisper through the wall.
"You can't run forever, Key. We'll find you… even in your dreams."
And then they ran, fleeing into the dark below.