A faint, amused smirk appeared on Emily’s lips completely involuntarily when she noticed how similar it was to her little sister’s exaggerated expressions whenever she was surprised. The memory passed quickly, but warmly.
The apparition, once dominated by surprise, seemed to reorganize its unstable features. The expression melted into confusion, brows knitting slightly before shifting into an almost childlike curiosity, as if trying to understand something new for the first time.
“I’ll admit, you asking me that so...” she raised an eyebrow again, fingers lightly drumming against her arm as if searching for the right word. Her lips hesitated before she finally finished: “So openly?” She gave a small shrug, as though still processing the situation, her eyes revealing a mix of confusion and genuine curiosity: “Anyway... that completely caught me off guard”
She remained silent for a few seconds, the air between them growing heavy. Her gaze locked onto Emily’s, steady, as if searching for some hidden confirmation behind that unexpected question: “Did you really mean to ask that?”
Emily nodded, and for the first time since the anomaly appeared, ignoring, of course, the first thirty seconds when Emily had thrown out a series of very unpleasant names at the supposed apparition and genuinely wanted to strangle it, she didn’t look defensive or mischievous.
Not for lack of trying, though. Emily had lunged at the irritating apparition more than once, only to pass straight through it as if it were made of cold mist, which only increased her frustration. Now, however, the figure in front of her seemed just... ordinary. Strangely ordinary.
There was no threatening aura, none of the dramatic presence Emily had expected. And thinking about it, that was almost as strange as the fact that, at first, she had truly believed she was facing a haunting.
Emily inhaled absentmindedly, slowly letting the air slip out as she tried to organize her thoughts before simply pushing them to the back of her mind. This wasn’t the time to hesitate. Her eyes returned to the figure before her.
“You can’t really blame me for doubting” she said, her voice firm, though heavy with exhaustion: “Not when an apparition that looks exactly like my sister... suddenly shows up out of nowhere, mysteriously, right in the middle of our current situation”
Emily let out a quiet huff, crossing her arms: “I have more than enough reasons to be suspicious of you” Her expression remained vague and distant, as if part of her was trapped in old memories: “I’ve... had multiple encounters with different anomalies over the years. Some of them...” she hesitated briefly, her gaze hardening: “Honestly, I’d rather not remember”
Her eyes swept over the figure in front of her once more, lingering on familiar details: “And then an anomaly shows up claiming to be my little sister... dead for years” she continued, her tone blending irony and pain: “Right when excessive anomaly cases have been popping up over the last few days, one after another, entire families being brutally massacred...”
She shrugged: “I’d have to be incredibly stupid to just believe your words... even when, mysteriously, you know things only Ellie would actually know”
The apparition... or Ellie, watched Emily with an unreadable expression. Her eyes stayed locked onto hers, intense and direct, silently analyzing every reaction.
Then Ellie let out a soft huff, and a knowing smile appeared at the corner of her lips, subtle and involuntary: “I should’ve expected that” she said in an apparently indifferent tone, though with a barely hidden hint of amusement: “You’ve always been strangely perceptive... especially in the weirdest situations”
Emily also allowed a slight smirk at those words. They were exactly the kind of thing her sister, Ellie, would say without thinking twice. A brief breath escaped her lips as she shrugged, trying to hide the silent turmoil growing in her chest. Her back rested against the cold wall of the facility, the metal slowly stealing the warmth from her body.
Above her, an old lamp flickered at irregular intervals, casting trembling shadows across the nearly empty hallway. Emily kept her hands buried in the pockets of her lab coat, her fingers still warm, as if searching for some kind of safety in that simple gesture.
“Anyway... if you really are her” she murmured, her voice low, filled with caution.
She turned her face just enough to glance sideways at the profile of her possible sister, analyzing every detail as if trying to fit old memories into a new and uncertain version.
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“Why now?” she asked after a brief silence, her eyes narrowing slightly: “Why like this?”
The apparition, now with a much more serious tone and far less playful than the last times they had spoken, remained silent. Still, the silence didn’t last long; only a few seconds passed before her pale lips moved.
“It wasn’t my choice...” she said, her voice low but firm: “Being dead, I was under Aunt’s domain, just like all of Mom’s other children”
She shrugged with apparent indifference, as if the subject were trivial to her, though a faint melancholic glimmer crossed her gaze for a moment.
“I was only able to manifest thanks to Aunt Tenebrya’s recent and uncontrolled surge of power...” she added, tilting her head slightly, almost conspiratorially: “... and with a little help from Mom behind the scenes”
Emily slowly raised an eyebrow at the choice of words, aunt and mom. It just felt... strange. She was absolutely certain Ellie wasn’t referring to either of their human mother, and that realization made everything even more uncomfortable. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, analyzing every nuance of the other’s expression.
Ellie noticed the inquisitive look and simply gave a small shrug, almost carefree, though her fingers drummed lightly against her arm, betraying a hint of tension: “When you witness Mom and my aunts in control... you start to understand a lot of things” she said, with a calmness that felt rehearsed.
Emily raised an eyebrow, finding the words far too vague, as if they hid something bigger beneath the surface. A faint, crooked smile appeared on the figure’s lips.
Ellie continued, briefly looking away before meeting her gaze again: “Just think of it like this: their influence gets stronger when the physical form fades. Sometimes I call Mom and the aunts by those titles without even realizing it... it’s almost automatic”
Emily remained silent for a few moments, absorbing every word as if trying to fit them into a larger picture. Her eyes unfocused briefly as thoughts began to overlap.
Her lips moved hesitantly, as though searching for a response, but before she could put into words the growing confusion filling her mind, Laura’s voice echoed through the communication device attached to her ear.
The sound came through clear and sudden, breaking the quiet around her. Emily blinked, slightly startled. She had chosen to use the communicator precisely because she believed it would be more efficient than having Laura come to meet her in person.
When Laura’s voice came through, the first thing Emily noticed was that it sounded nothing like usual. Instead of the calm, playful tone she knew so well, there was urgency: “Boss, can you hear me?!” Laura called.
Emily raised her hand slightly, interrupting the words she had been about to say to the figure beside her. Instead of continuing the conversation, she focused all her attention on the immediate issue. Laura didn’t usually call her without reason, if there was urgency in her voice, then something truly required her presence: “Laura? Why do you sound so urgent? Did something happen?”
Laura didn’t respond for a few seconds, remaining completely silent. Emily frowned slightly, confused, wondering if Laura simply hadn’t heard her. She opened her mouth to repeat the question, but before she could speak, Laura’s voice finally came through, low and hesitant, heavy with urgency: “I... think you’re going to want to see this for yourself, boss”
Emily raised an eyebrow, her expression marked by genuine confusion. Still, she chose not to press further. She knew Laura well enough to understand that whenever she acted mysteriously, there was always a good reason behind it. Letting out a quiet sigh, she nodded before replying calmly: “Got it... I’ll be back soon”
With that, Emily turned to the figure who watched her silently, clear curiosity shining in her eyes. She still needed to get used to the presence: “I need to head back... something seems to have happened” she said after a brief hesitation.
For a moment, Emily noticed a faint trace of irritation cross the figure’s expression, quick as a shadow passing through light. Soon after, however, some silent understanding seemed to take its place, and she agreed with a small gesture.
Emily considered for a few seconds before adding: “I want to continue this conversation later... if possible. I have a feeling we still have a lot to talk about”
The figure remained silent. Without waiting for a response, Emily turned and headed back toward the room. Her footsteps echoed faintly down the corridor, and a growing tension settled in her chest. It was time to find out what was happening.
***
(POV – Protagonist)
I can’t say the last few minutes have been the most pleasant I’ve ever experienced. All the members of the response team rushed up the narrow steps of the spiral staircase, trying to keep their breathing under control while the echo of their own footsteps blended with the chaos around us.
A deafening noise followed close behind us, a constant, oppressive buzzing that vibrated through the air and seemed to pass through bone and thought alike.
The tower shook endlessly, as if it were alive and struggling against an invisible force. Fine dust fell from the seams between the stones, and small fragments broke loose from the ancient walls.
The stairs beneath our feet trembled with every distant impact, creaking in a deeply unsettling way, yet for now they still seemed sturdy enough to bear our weight... at least for the moment.
“What the hell is happening?” one of the response team members roared, his voice echoing as he climbed the tower’s spiral staircase as fast as his legs would allow.
“We’re all going to die! That’s what’s happening!” Rupert shouted, his voice heavy with despair and anger. And I have to admit, given our current situation, I couldn’t completely disagree with him.
It didn’t take long before, behind us, the darkness that had once seemed completely still began to move. At first like an illusion caused by exhaustion... then like a terrifying certainty: it was chasing us, hunting us.
I can’t say whether it was an anomaly or something even worse, but the tower shook violently, as if something gigantic leaned against its structure, something of colossal proportions, heavy enough to make the air vibrate and the stone groan under pressure. The shadows stretched in unnatural ways, advancing like hungry fingers trying to reach us.
In the end, there was no strategy, no heroic courage, only instinct. We started running as fast as we could, because fleeing was the only possible thing, the only visible choice before the shapeless darkness closing in.
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