The door creaked as it opened.A low, long, and uncomfortable sound, as if it were protesting against the intrusion. Her eyes were fixed on the entrance with feverish intensity. Her knees were still trembling and burning from recent injuries, but she simply ignored the discomfort and kept a neutral expression, analyzing the man's actions.
The silence in the room was thick. Not like that of an ordinary night, but as if neither of them dared to utter a word — and that bothered Alara. Her thoughts swirled around everything that had happened, telling her she had let her guard down. Kalel remained there, leaning against the wall, his dark eyes observing Alara as if he already knew what she was about to ask, even before her mouth moved.
"Who are you... really?" her voice came out weaker than she expected, as if asking that question meant challenging something ancient and asleep.
He didn't look intimidated, nor comfortable — he stood there like someone who knew the role he had to play, even without fully understanding the script.Kalel. That's how he introduced himself.
"Kalel... " Alara repeated under her breath, as if testing the vibration of that name on her lips.
He nodded, taking the backpack off his shoulders and placing it at the foot of the bed.
"I know you have no reason to trust me" he began, hands nervously intertwined — "but I'm here because something much greater than either of us decided our paths had to cross."
Alara raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. Her skin still burned from the wounds, the throbbing pain keeping her alert.
" That doesn't help much, you know " she said, her voice shaky with exhaustion. "Showing up in my room out of nowhere saying you know me... Sounds like something a lunatic would do."
"Maybe it does. But I saw it too... the thing that followed you here. "— His gaze grew more serious, almost grim. " That thing... it wasn't a delusion. It came for you. And it'll probably come back."
" What was that? — she asked in a whisper.
Kalel walked to the window and looked outside, as if expecting to see something lurking in the shadows of the deserted street.
"Something ancient. Something that doesn't belong in this world. But... it's not from another either. It's in between." — He turned around, his brown eyes darkened by seriousness. "And somehow, it's connected to you."
Alara closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. Kalel's words crashed in her mind like waves against a fragile cliff. Everything inside her screamed to run. But something deeper, more primal... told her to stay.
"You said you had answers. Then talk. What am I? Why is this happening?"
He sat on the edge of the bed, keeping a respectful distance.
" I don't know exactly what you are... yet. But I know you're important. You carry something inside. Something that's... asleep."
She laughed, a sound weak and nearly lifeless.
"Great. So now I'm what? The chosen one? A freak?"
"No, Kalel answered firmly. — You're the key. And if you die... what's locked away will awaken.
Alara laughed again, this time loud enough that the neighbors might complain. Her hands ran through her dark hair, and her eyes fixed on the cracked mirror. She felt like she was losing her mind, thinking that any moment now she'd wake up in a psych ward, drugged and restrained.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" she asked, her pupils dilated with frustration. She'd already been through enough, and now this boy was pushing her to the edge. " Why did you find me? Why?"
Kalel hesitated before answering, and in that moment, his eyes softened, revealing a trace of tenderness he seemed to avoid.
"Because... when I dreamed of you, it wasn't just the shadow that scared me. It was the pain in your eyes. The loneliness. And... I couldn't ignore it."
An uncomfortable silence fell between them. Alara looked at him, her eyes watery but no longer crying. She felt cornered, unsure of what had really happened earlier or why he was there — but for the first time in a long time, someone was there. Someone who saw beyond her layers of despair.
She sat beside him, still distrustful, but too exhausted to keep every wall up. She felt drained. The two looked at each other as if they were born to meet at that very moment. And outside the room, a guttural sound tore through the silence — like the cry of something old, forgotten.
"So... what do we do now?"
Kalel looked at the closed door, then at the shadows dancing under the room's dim light.
" We wait. Rest. Tomorrow, we start looking for answers. Because no matter what's hunting you..." he turned to her, voice low but firm —" I won't let it reach you again."
And that silent night, in a forgotten hotel in the middle of nowhere, two broken souls forged a bond — not of immediate trust, but of survival.And while the world slept, something in the dark awakened.