Three slow knocks echoed through the chamber.
Every sound in the room stopped.
Even the shadow version of Arin turned toward the black door.
Then the child's voice came again.
Soft.
Innocent.
"Arin… please."
Mira's grip tightened on the silver knife.
"Who is that?"
Kael, still hanging over the crack by one hand, looked more terrified than wounded.
"Don't answer it."
The door knocked again.
This time harder.
Arin stared at it, pale and shaking.
"I know that voice…"
Pain struck his head like lightning.
Memories flashed—
A small hand holding his.
Laughter in a garden.
A child running through rain.
Then blood on stone.
Arin dropped to one knee.
"No…"
The shadow Arin smiled.
"He remembers."
Mira moved beside him. "Who is it?"
Arin's lips trembled.
"My brother."
Silence shattered the chamber more than any scream could.
Mira stared. "You never had a brother."
"That's what they made me believe."
The black door began rattling violently from the inside.
Tiny fists pounding metal.
"Arin! It's dark in here!"
Kael roared, "It lies in voices you trust!"
But Arin was already walking toward the door.
Mira grabbed his arm. "Stop!"
He pulled free.
"If it's real, I left him there."
"If it's not real, it wants you closer," she fired back.
The shadow Arin laughed.
"Either way… we win."
Kael hauled himself out of the crack with his last strength and slammed his blade into the floor.
"Listen to me!" he shouted. "Years ago there were two children in the ritual chamber."
He looked directly at Arin.
"You were not the first choice."
Arin froze.
Mira whispered, "What does that mean?"
Kael's voice broke.
"Your father chose which son to save."
The chamber went dead silent.
Arin turned slowly.
"No…"
Kael nodded once.
"The younger child was sealed behind the door when the ritual failed."
The pounding from inside became frantic.
"ARIN! PLEASE!"
Arin's body shook with rage, grief, disbelief.
"My father… left him there?"
Kael closed his eyes.
"He saved the child he thought could survive."
The shadow Arin stepped closer, delighted.
"Now you understand what made me."
Mira stood in front of Arin.
"This could still be another trick."
Then the child behind the door whispered something only Arin could hear.
Arin's face lost all color.
"What did it say?" Mira asked.
He looked at her with tears in his eyes.
"It told me the name I gave him when we were little."
The door locks began opening by themselves.
One.
Two.
Three.
Kael screamed, "BACK AWAY!"
Too late.
The black door burst inward.
Cold darkness flooded the chamber.
A small barefoot boy stepped out.
Seven years old.
Thin.
Pale.
Wearing torn clothes stained with dried blood.
He looked up at Arin with familiar eyes.
Then smiled.
And his jaw split open far beyond human limits.
To Be Continued…