บท 7: Revert
The deep silence of the night hung heavily over Oma's house, broken only by the faint creaks of wood and the soft breaths of sleeping children. Klaus lay awake, his wide eyes fixed on the ceiling. His cowardly siblings had promised to stay up with him, but within twenty minutes, they had drifted off, their resolve as fleeting as their courage.
It was up to Klaus now. He would see the shadow man. He was certain of it.
Time crawled forward, each second stretching endlessly as Klaus fought to keep his eyelids from drooping. Hours passed, and then, in the distance, a faint blue glow flickered—another beast slain. Klaus's heartbeat quickened. The light grew closer with each passing moment, inching toward Oma's house.
And then, it happened.
A blur of movement, faster than Klaus's eyes could follow. In the shadowy corner of his room, two glowing purple eyes snapped open, locking onto him with predatory intensity. They pierced through the darkness, more vivid and haunting than anything Klaus had ever imagined. His chest tightened with fear, a suffocating weight pressing against his lungs. He wanted to scream, to move, but the shadows seemed to bind him, holding him in place like a trapped animal.
The glowing eyes advanced, and Klaus's breath hitched. He felt utterly powerless, frozen in terror.
Just then, his siblings stirred. As if pulled by the same instinct, they sat up in unison. With trembling hands, they retrieved lanterns hidden beside their beds and illuminated the room in a warm, flickering glow.
The shadows recoiled slightly, revealing the cloaked figure standing over them. The knight. Sin.
With a single, deliberate motion, Sin raised a green crystal before the children, its light casting eerie patterns across the walls.
"I'm ending this here and now," he said, his tone low and ominous.
The words struck the children like a blow. All three screamed in unison, their wails rising into panicked sobs. Tears streamed down their faces as they clutched each other, trembling in fear. For a moment, Sin faltered, lowering the crystal as a pang of guilt pierced through his emotional wall. He shifted awkwardly, unsure of how to comfort them.
But it was too late.
"What's going on in there?" Oma's voice called from the hallway, sharp with concern.
The sound of her rocking chair scraping against the floor was followed by hurried footsteps. The door burst open with surprising force, revealing Oma's small but determined figure. Her sharp eyes scanned the scene: her terrified grandchildren, the knight cloaked in shadow.
Sin's muscles tensed. "Shit," he muttered under his breath, taking a step back. His gaze darted to the dim corners of the room, searching for a shadow large enough to slip into.
But instead of anger, Oma's face crumpled into tears of joy. "I knew you were real!" she exclaimed, her voice trembling with emotion.
Sin blinked, caught off guard. "What?" he said flatly, his usual stoicism cracking slightly.
Oma stepped closer, her gaze fixed on the knight's distinctive Victorian-era attire. "The cloak, the boots… You're one of them. A knight. Just like I remember," she said, her voice filled with wonder.
Wolfgang's tear-streaked face twisted with defiance. "Grandma! He's a bad knight! He said he was gonna end us!" he cried, pointing an accusatory finger at Sin.
Oma's gaze flicked to Wolfgang, "Hush, Wolfgang!", she exclaimed. Her gaze then darted back to Sin. "Explain," she demanded, though her tone was less hostile and more curious. "Why are you here?"
Sin straightened, his demeanor cold and controlled once more. "I came to take away your grandson's awakening," he said, his voice even. "According to my crystal, the one you called Wolfgang has awakened. It's dangerous for him to remain so without the ability to hide or find respite in the shadows."
Klaus's heart sank. A surge of jealousy twisted in his chest. Wolfgang? His doubting, non-believing brother? He was the awakened one? It wasn't fair.
Oma's face softened as memories of past tragedies filled her mind. She nodded solemnly. "I see. Do what you must. I can't lose them too," she said, her voice heavy with unspoken grief.
Turning to her grandchildren, she knelt beside them, her hands gentle on their shoulders. "It's going to be alright," she said softly, her reassurance steadying their trembling forms.
Sin stepped forward, raising the green crystal once more. Its light flared, illuminating the room in a brilliant glow. Wolfgang's eyes widened before he collapsed, the lantern he held falling to the floor and extinguishing in the process. Shadows crept back into the room, reclaiming their corners.
The crystal's light dimmed, its energy spent. Sin turned it over in his hand, inspecting its now-mundane appearance. His gaze shifted to Klaus, who sat frozen, tears streaming down his cheeks. For a moment, Sin hesitated, his expression unreadable. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he tossed the spent crystal to Klaus.
"Don't cry, man," Sin said, his tone softening slightly. "Everything will be fine. After all… I'll always be around."
Klaus clutched the crystal, his small hands trembling as he stared at the knight. Sin stepped back, the shadows curling around him like a cloak. With a final glance at the family, he leaned into the darkness and vanished, leaving nothing but the faint echo of his presence behind.
In the depths of Kazan, the cult's hideout pulsed with an oppressive atmosphere. The air was thick with tension as masked figures loomed in the dimly lit room. They surrounded Gizmo's friend, Lily, who was bound to a chair in the center. Her face was bruised, and her body bore the marks of resistance, but her fiery defiance still burned beneath her injuries.
In front of her stood the masked boy, Saxon. His posture was relaxed, almost casual, as he tilted his head and smiled beneath his ceramic mask.
"Let's exchange names before anything, kay?" he said, his voice deceptively friendly, playing the role of the nice cop.
Lily's gaze was wary, her guard raised despite her vulnerable state. But after a moment's hesitation, she gave a small nod.
"I'm Saxon," he continued, his words faltering slightly as he mentioned his name. "At least… that's what the boss named me."
There was a fleeting uncertainty in his tone when he spoke of the boss, but he quickly masked it with a cocky grin. He leaned in closer, his gloved hands gesturing with exaggerated calm.
"And you? What's your name, girl?"
Lily's battered face remained stoic for a moment before her lips curled into a faint smirk. "My name's Lily," she said, her voice raspy from a throat injury, each word strained but defiant.
Saxon nodded, his head tilting as he scrutinized her expression. "Think of it like this, Lily," he said smoothly. "If you tell us how you have a connection to a night creature, we'll let you go. No charge, no consequences."
His gloved hand twirled in the air as if to emphasize the simplicity of his offer. But Lily wasn't convinced. She lowered her gaze, her mind racing. What do I gain out of telling these people my information?
She thought of Gizmo, his wiry grin when he showed her his secret stash for the first time. Her lips tightened, her resolve hardening.
Saxon, noticing her hesitation, reached out and lifted her chin with a single finger, forcing her to meet his gaze.
"Just tell me," he said, his tone dropping to something colder, more menacing. "That way I won't have to get lethal."
His other hand gripped a gun loosely, the weight of it evident in the way it hung by his side. The subtle threat was enough to make Lily's breath hitch, but she still held firm.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said finally, her voice steady despite the fear coursing through her veins.
For a moment, silence reigned in the room. Then…
BANG!
A gunshot shattered the stillness. Lily's body jolted as the bullet tore through her shoulder, the force sending her forward. Her scream of pain was cut short as she crumpled, her body convulsing from the shock. Blood oozed from the wound, staining her shirt and pooling on the floor.
But it hadn't been Saxon who fired. From across the room, a blonde-haired girl lowered her smoking gun. Her mask concealed her expression, but the cold detachment in her stance was unmistakable.
Saxon's head snapped toward her, fury blazing in his eyes. "You dumbass!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the confined space. "Now we have to get her treated! We weren't here to actually shoot her!"
The girl, Sable, holstered her gun with deliberate slowness. "The boss wants answers," she said simply, her tone devoid of emotion. "She wasn't giving them to us."
The masked figures surrounding them exchanged uneasy glances, unsure who to side with. Saxon ran a hand through his hair, muttering a string of curses under his breath.
"You shot her. So it's your mess to clean up," he snarled, holstering his own gun. He spun on his heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Sable watched him go, unbothered by his anger. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out, glancing at the screen.
"Clean this up," she barked at the remaining cultists, her voice sharp. "I've got other business to handle."
Without another word, she pushed past them, leaving the room as the sound of her boots faded into the distance.
The remaining cultists scrambled, their masks glinting in the dim light as they searched frantically for medical supplies. Lily lay unconscious in the chair, her breathing shallow, her body limp. The room buzzed with tension as the masked figures tried to staunch the bleeding, their movements hurried and panicked.
"She's losing too much blood," one of them muttered, fumbling with a roll of bandages.
"Hurry up!" another snapped, their voice laced with fear. "If the boss finds out we botched this, we're done for."
The group worked in tense silence, the weight of Sable's impulsive act hanging over them like a storm cloud. In the center of the room, the chair Lily had been bound to creaked faintly as her unconscious form slumped forward, blood dripping steadily onto the cold, cracked floor.
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