Chapter 15: Presence

The corridors of the school were deserted, and the gray light seeping through the large windows was dimming under the onslaught of early dusk. The atmosphere was strangely heavy, as if the building, every day full of life, had held its breath. Alex, clutching notes torn from his math notebook in his hand, slowly made his way toward the exit door. Today he was about to discover something that would change his perception not only of the town, but also of his own life.

As he passed the bulletin board, he couldn't help but notice the shadows cast by the paper flyers coming to life at the edge of his vision. He decided to ignore them. Exiting the school led him to a square surrounded by trees whose branches, shrouded in gray, looked like grotesque talons. "Chronotron Harmoniae," the Latin words that appeared on Baker's forehead, sounded in his head like an incantation. Now he knew that they were the key to this macabre puzzle.

As he wandered through the streets of the town, he felt the gazes of passersby, though they seemed distant and impersonal, gain in intensity. People's lips moved, as if in a silent dialogue of which he was the only addressee. He walked past a cafe, "Under the Yew Tree," from where the smell of spices wafted, reminding him of his encounter with a girl with mysterious eyes, seen in an antique shop.

Her words still resonated in his mind.

"You are not alone. They are closer than you think."

He finally reached the city archives. The interior of the building smelled damp and dusty, and the long rows of filing cabinets seemed to stretch on endlessly. Undaunted, he began sifting through old newspapers. His hands, slightly trembling with tension, turned the yellowed pages. He searched for details of Baker's death, Sarah's disappearance and references to strange phenomena in the library.

On one of the dusty pages he found a small article. "Shadows on the border of worlds? Locals' accounts of strange phenomena in the Arcane forest." When he heard footsteps, he stopped further reading. He looked around. The corridor was empty. Nevertheless, he felt that he was not alone. The sound grew, resembling not so much footsteps as a slow, rhythmic rustling - as if something was dragging along the floor.

After leaving the archive, he headed toward the neighborhood where Baker's house stood. Suddenly, in the middle of a narrow alley, he spotted a figure. It was a woman in a black dress, who seemed to shine in the pale light of a street lamp. She was not walking - she was gliding, almost silently. Alex stopped.

- I know you are looking for the truth," she said quietly, and her voice resembled the rustling of parchment. - But the truth will break you if you are not ready for it.

Her eyes were like two wells, deep and impenetrable. When Alex blinked, the figure disappeared, leaving behind only the scent of jasmine and a quiet melody that seemed to play in his head.

Further wandering led him in front of an old wooden door hidden between buildings. He remembered hearing about this place in one of the urban legends. It was a passage through which those who disappeared without a trace were supposed to pass. He grabbed the handle, and the coldness of the metal pierced him like an icy wind. The door swung open with a protracted creak, revealing a dark, narrow staircase leading downward.

Before he descended, he heard rustling behind him. He turned and saw shadows starting to take on humanoid shapes. There was no turning back. He had to take a chance and find out what lay beyond that threshold.

He felt a chill seep through him as he took his first step inside. The corridor stretched before him like a vein of an aging organism. The wooden floor groaned under the weight of his steps, as if the place was at the end of its strength. The walls, decorated with forgotten frescoes, pulsed with a soft light - no, it wasn't light. It was an energy whose rhythm harmonized with the muffled sound filling the air.

He looked around. Every sound of his movement seemed unnaturally amplified, as if the space absorbed every whisper and then returned it, enriched by the echoes of the past. He leaned his hand against one of the walls, its roughness resembling the skin of something that once lived. Finally, he reached a spacious chamber, where dust and twilight danced in the rays oozing through a barred window.

On the wall, as if plucked from another time, hung a clock. It was majestic, but terrifying - its mechanism seemed to be more than a set of gears. Each tick resembled a heartbeat, and each yes - a sentence.

Suddenly he heard a creak. Somewhere behind his back a chair moved. He held his breath. It seemed as if time froze when the footsteps rang out in silence

- You have violated the tranquility of my sanctuary," a voice spoke behind him, deep and disturbing, like an echo of the past hovering over a precipice.

He turned abruptly and saw a man, though the word did not seem to fully convey the being that stood before him. It was a figure carved from the very essence of darkness - so deep and dense that it seemed to absorb the light around him, creating a black aura that shimmered like a living shadow. His eyes were as black as the starless sky, but not dead. On the contrary, they were brimming with life, but not the kind that could be seen in mortals. They were eyes that knew every secret of time, every broken oath and every unspoken whisper in the history of the universe. Their intensity brought to mind forces that should never be released, as if in their depths swirled all the destruction that could ever come.

His skin was pale, almost gray, as if it came from a place where the sun never rises. Smooth and flawless, but at the same time resembling the marble of cemetery statues - beautiful, but frighteningly cold. The Clockmaker's facial features were perfect to the point where their symmetry caused anxiety. High cheekbones cast subtle shadows on his sunken cheeks, and thin, almost invisible lips seemed to perpetually twist in mockery - a barely visible smile that could be both an invitation and a threat.

His clothes seemed to belong to no era, yet all at once. His dark, tailored frock coat, covered with embroidery reminiscent of winding clockwork mechanisms, shone softly like steel under the moon. The shirt underneath it was equally dark, barely cutting into his skin, and on his chest was a gold pin-stripe that gently rotated in an endless rhythm. In his long, skinny fingers rested a cane, the handle of which was decorated with tiny mechanisms, cogs and gears, spinning slowly, almost imperceptibly, as if their every movement measured the seconds of the universe.

His body seemed to live a life of its own. The contours pulsed with a subtle flicker, as if he were just an illusion, a shadow cast by a multidimensional being. With every step he took, the air around him vibrated, as if reality could not decide whether to let him exist.

When he spoke, his voice did not belong to one person. It was a multi-layered tone, like the hum of many clocks overlapping, sending a shudder through Alex's skin. There was something commanding and yet full of weariness in it - as if the one who knew every corner of time was both his master and his prisoner.

- What are you looking for here? - he asked, his voice trembling with ancient wisdom and secrets.

- I'm looking for the truth," Alex replied in a confident, though trembling voice.

The man raised an eyebrow, as if what Alex said was both funny and naive.

- Truth," he whispered, and the word sounded like a curse. - Did you know, young detective, that the truth is like a mirror? The deeper you look, the more you see of yourself. And not always what you discover brings solace. You found yourself here because time called you to its heart," he said, and his words seemed to be spoken directly to Alex's soul, vibrating deep inside him.

The man crossed his arms over his chest. In the background, the clock continued to beat, its rhythm seeming to merge with Alex's breaths.

- I will answer your questions, but first you must understand where you are. The reality you know is a thin layer on the surface of an infinite ocean. Every question you ask is a stone thrown into that sheet - and each has its consequences.

Alex, though he felt a shiver running down his spine, decided not to be intimidated.

- I am ready for these consequences," he replied, trying to hide the tremor in his voice.

The man smiled, as if Alex's words were the beginning of some kind of game.

- It all started where time stopped flowing. - He pointed to the clock. - To know the truth, you must enter where the heart of time beats the hardest.

An invisible force pushed Alex toward the clock. Moving closer, he felt the reality around him begin to blur. He reached out and touched the surface of the clock. At the same moment, his body began to tremble, and then.... something jumped out of him. An energetic form, the spirit of himself, left his body, which fell inertly to the ground.

The world turned into a chaos of colors and sounds. Images from the past and future danced around him, as if someone was rewinding an endless film tape. He saw William Baker - his face, distorted by pain, then peace, and finally emptiness. Time seemed to be a living entity that entwined everything with its tentacles, weaving past, present and future into one chaotic symphony.

A man materialized in the midst of this chaos.

- I am the timekeeper of time," he spoke in a voice that seemed to bounce off invisible walls. - And you, young seeker, are merely a pawn in time. The key lies in your understanding - not only of time, but of yourself.

- What should I do? - Alex asked, feeling that his voice sounds alien in this surreal place.

The clockmaker pointed to the swirling images around them.

- Find the moment when everything started. Only then will you understand what needs to be done.

Alex looked at the flickering images. He saw his life, Emma's life, Penelope's life - and something more. Something that was waiting to be discovered in the heart of this maze.

- What if I fail? - He asked, dreading the answer.

The watchmaker smiled ominously.

- It is not time that will fail you, but you time.

Before Alex had time to answer anything, the world swirled, and he was pulled into the middle of the clock, where reality mixed with infinity.

As he delved into these unusual spaces, he began to sense something more - an echo of an existence that did not belong in this world. It was an unfamiliar, almost tangible presence, as if another reality was superimposed on the one he was in. Was it the influence of mysterious forces that shaped the fate of William Baker and the entire town? Or is it something even older, slumbering on the border of dimensions?

The clock, ticking faster and faster, seemed to be calling him to action. The secret was close, almost at hand, but Alex felt the weight of the question.

Am I ready to look the truth in the eye?

Inside the vortex of time, his heart beat in an uneven rhythm and his hands trembled with tension. Around him, time took the form of a swirling ocean of colors and sounds, in which every tremor had its own hidden meaning.

Suddenly, in the midst of a whirlwind, he spotted the face of William Baker. The man was leaning over something shrouded in shadow, and his silhouette seemed to almost meld with his surroundings. Alex, feeling the weight of inevitability, moved toward him. With every step he felt the air around him thicken, and unspoken words filled the space.

As he approached, he saw something that stopped him in mid-step. Baker was holding an artifact in his hands - an object shining with a cold, metallic glow that seemed to absorb the light around him. However, it was not the artifact that caused Alex the most concern, but a shadow that began to form behind William's back. The figure that emerged from the darkness was a phenomenon on the borderline between nightmare and reality - distorted, pulsing with unnamed energy.

Baker raised his gaze, and his eyes met Alex's. The gaze pierced deeply, as if reaching deep inside his soul, uncovering every secret, every fear.

- Have you come for answers? - he asked, and his voice sounded like an echo spoken from the very center of the abyss.

Alex instinctively took a step back, feeling terror take over his body. He didn't know if what he was seeing was the beginning of the solution to the mystery or the beginning of his end. The vibrations of space around them intensified, and the vortex of time pulled him back into an endless spiral.

This time the journey was more chaotic. His body stretched and contracted, as if trying to adjust to the new rules of reality. Images flicked before his eyes - past, present and future collided in a disorderly dance. Somewhere between the flashes, he saw the faces of Emma, Penelope and.... himself.

When the chaos stopped, he found himself in a new place. Darkness reigned around him, thick and almost palpable, interrupted only by a pale, pulsating light in the distance. With each step, the floor beneath him crackled ominously, as if announcing that something was not supposed to happen here. The light grew stronger, revealing liquid, intangible shapes floating in the air. They were like the remnants of daydreams that should never see the light of day.

Suddenly, the figure of a girl appeared in front of him. Her silhouette seemed unreal, and her eyes shone like two lanterns in the darkness. A gentle smile curved her lips, and the emanation she exuded around her was both fascinating and sinister.

- I knew you would come here," she said. Her voice was melodious, but sounded like an echo spoken by the dead. - The question is whether you are ready for what you will find.

Alex swallowed his saliva, trying not to betray his fear. Curiosity and determination began to clash in his mind with growing fear.

- Who are you? What is this place? - He asked, his voice trembling slightly, but he tried to maintain his composure.

The girl smiled wider, and in her eyes he saw something more - a whole galaxy of memories, none of which he understood.

- I am part of this place. I am the shadow of those who see more. This is where everything begins and ends, and you are here because you have been chosen.

Her words sounded like a riddle whose solution seemed light years away. She pointed to a path drowning in darkness, where shadows were beginning to take more defined forms.

- There you will find what you are looking for. But remember - the truth always comes at a price.

Alex, still feeling the weight of her words, looked in the direction she pointed. Despite the pulsing fear, he decided to move on. Curiosity always outweighed common sense.

The darkness around him grew thicker, and Alex's footsteps seemed to echo into infinity. Voices - quiet, almost inaudible - resounded in his ears like whispers. Shadows danced at the edge of his vision, reminding him of ghosts of the past that could not leave in peace.

Each step brought him closer to the point where reality began to blur and his mind entered dangerous ground. "Do I really want to know?" - was the question swirling around in his head, but the answer was obvious. Alex knew there was no turning back now. In front of him was the truth, and behind him - only a shadow of his former life.

As he approached one of the misty shapes, the space around him began to vibrate, as if reality itself was pulsating in an agonal rhythm. The air thickened, taking on a metallic taste reminiscent of blood and rust. The silhouette in front of him seemed to rise from the darkness itself, rippling like a fire engulfing the shadows. Every movement of the specter was a slight leap between dimensions, as if it existed only to create dissonance - half alive, half dead, stretched between time and eternity.

- Who are you? - Alex's voice trembled, but he retained a shadow of desperate courage in it.

The specter responded with laughter. The sound was angular, shattered like glass, yet cold and deep, resembling the echo of an endless tunnel.

- We are the guardians of what is beyond. And prisoners of what is in between. - The words flowed like venom, fierce and harsh. - You have arrived, but do you have the courage to go further? Every step puts you closer to the edge, boy.

The dark interior of the corridor seemed to giggle around him, as if the space took part in the conversation. He looked to the side, at the walls covered with twisted patterns resembling scars burned on stone. The corridor rippled, and shadows danced in the corners, forming grotesque silhouettes whose features resembled the faces of people - perhaps dead, perhaps dead in life.

- What are these creatures? - Alex pointed to the shadows that now surrounded them like an audience waiting for the finale of a macabre performance.

- One? - The specter bent into what could be called a parody of a smile. - They are your mirrors. Witnesses to your steps, your mistakes, your deeds. Each of us carries something on our backs.

Alex felt a chill on the back of his neck, as if space itself was scratching his skin. These creatures... They were not just shadows. Their shapes took on grotesque forms, as if their bodies were pieced together from an alien material - transparent, yet solid, repulsive and hypnotic at the same time. Where eyes should be, empty holes pulsated, like black holes absorbing light and soul. Every movement of these creatures, every change in their shape was like a tug on the strings of indescribable pain.

Their voices - if they could be called that at all - were simultaneously the crunch of bones, the howl of the wind and a scream muffled by the distance. Alex felt each of their words stab into him like a dagger, leaving scars on something deeper than flesh.

- Don't touch them," the specter warned, as if sensing his thoughts. - Their touch is eternal oblivion.

They moved on, the maze stretched before them, squeezing Alex like an iron hoop. The floor under his feet seemed to creak like old bones, and the corridors grew tighter and tighter, almost wrapping around his body. Each step was filled with an ominous symphony - the sound of dripping, quiet crunching, as if hundreds of invisible beings were moving just out of sight.

Before he could ask another question, the specter came to an abrupt halt, changing form to something more tangible, but still alien. Its contours gained a certain clarity - its wings resembled crumpled fragments of skin, and its limbs seemed to move at a pace independent of the rest of its body. A voice resounded in Alex's mind, as if it had been generated by the very place they were in.

-You're getting close to the limit, Alexie. The truth doesn't come for free.

As the specter disappeared, Alex felt the atmosphere change even more. The darkness became almost tangible, thick and damp, surrounding him like tar. A sound came from around the corner - something between a hum and a hiss, as if the place itself was breathing. He turned, though every cell in his body begged him to turn back.

Opposite him appeared a new shape, even more grotesque than the previous ones. It was something between a man and an animal, as if the body had been deformed by a nightmare. The skin, if it could be called that, resembled a wrinkled parchment on which someone had tried to write down the secrets of the universe. In the eyes of this creature - for it had to see - there was emptiness, cold, deep and yet engaging.

- You all came for the same thing. The questions are always the same. And the answers... don't always please. - The creature's voice was like a shrill whisper, carried from distant lands.

Alex did not have the strength to respond. His body was like paralyzed, and his mind was filled with an image he could not comprehend - fragments of time, place and pain fused into one unnamed entity.

"Is this where reality ends?" - he thought, before everything was plunged into pulsating darkness.

From the darkness emerged a figure whose pallor resembled the wax of death, and the red lights beaming from its eyes cut the darkness like blades. They were more than light - they filled the space with anxiety, so deep that you could almost touch it. Alex stepped back, as if he instinctively wanted to escape the wave of anxiety that seemed to be pushing in from this creature. The air around him thickened, as if the very presence of the entity could be felt in his lungs.

The specter did not speak, but its thoughts pierced through Alex's mind like shards of glass. The intention was clear, yet as incomprehensible as a whisper in a foreign language. It was like a message from another world - icy, formless, devastating. Then the specter disappeared. A figure remained. Its silhouette pulsed like an echo of a foreboding moan, and Alex felt his body, despite the coolness of his surroundings, douse itself in sweat.

The guide floated in the air, guided by an invisible hand toward the great hall that seemed to be the epicenter of this nightmare. Alex followed him, step after step, each movement weighed down by the weight of the darkness that seemed to trickle down the walls. The hall was enormous, its space seeming to stretch into infinity. At the height of the ceiling, which he could not see, pale lights pulsed, as if the heart of the place was beating in an irregular rhythm.

The entity hovered in the air like a wraith, and its immaterial body seemed to vibrate in response to invisible sounds. Alex held his breath, feeling the tension around him thicken. His heart was pounding like a hammer, and every nerve in his body seemed to be screaming for escape. Yet something drew him to this place - something unnamed, primal, like an instinct that makes a person look into the abyss, even if he knows he will be swallowed up.

The guide made a quiet sound - something between the rustling of dry leaves and the sound of a distant thunderstorm. Alex focused on it, trying to read the intention of this entity. With each passing second he felt, as his body tensed tighter and tighter, as if about to burst under the strain.

And then the light went out.

In the darkness Alex heard his breathing - fast, shallow, as if his lungs could not capture enough air. The space around him seemed to change - it pulsed, breathed, lived. He felt something moving in the darkness, but each movement was like a drop in an ocean of infinity. Despite his fear, he took a step forward.

The darkness became almost tangible - enveloping his body, seeping into the pores of his skin, as if it wanted to penetrate his insides. And then he heard a voice.

The words were not words, but penetrated straight into his mind - rough, cold, as if carved in stone and then thrown into the void. He didn't understand their meaning at first, but their presence was undeniable. They were like a blade that does not inflict wounds on the body, but on the soul.

He wanted to run, but his legs refused to obey him. He felt his body trembling and his heart pounding so loudly in his chest that he was afraid something hidden in the darkness would hear it.

Then he spotted her.

In a nook of darkness, like an opening in the fabric of reality, a light appeared. It was unearthly - pale, pulsating like a dying star, but at the same time full of incomprehensible power. Alex moved toward it, step by step, feeling the space around him change with every movement.

When he reached the light, he found himself in front of something that resembled a gate. Its edges were unstable, shimmering and rippling, as if reality itself repelled its presence.

Crossing the threshold, he felt his body transform into something immaterial. Every molecule seemed to stretch, disintegrate, and then reunite back into a new form. It was a feeling of delight and agony at the same time - as if someone was playing on his nerves while burning them from within.

On the other side of the gate, time ceased to exist. The space was a maze of light and darkness, colliding with each other in an eternal struggle. Alex's every step was like an explosion - he left a trail behind him, which immediately disappeared, swallowed up by the chaos.

In the midst of the madness, he spotted a shape - something that could have been a person, or perhaps just a shadow of someone who once existed. Alex moved toward it, and his body seemed to drift against gravity, against logic.

He felt that he had reached the edge of reality, where everything begins and everything ends. There were no rules here - just him, darkness and light that danced around him in a hypnotic rhythm.

He felt the air around him thicken, turning into a substance that lifted him into nothingness. He was like a bird immersed in an invisible river that swept him into the depths of space, where the laws of physics ceased to exist. The light that surrounded him pulsed irregularly, like the throbbing heart of the universe, casting shadows in shapes resembling giant, distorted angels. With each breath, he felt his body become less and less material, and his consciousness expanded, connecting with something greater, older and incomprehensible.

In the center of this undefined space stood a figure.

She seemed to simultaneously exist and penetrate beyond all known dimensions. She emerged from the mist and light as if she had been carved from the very essence of stardust, but she was not beautiful in a way that was soothing. On the contrary, her presence was imbued with something disturbingly dark, as if she carried a mystery that could nestle into the very core of the soul and remain there forever, sucking out the remnants of peace.

The Presence's skin seemed not to be fully material. It shone with the radiance of a million tiny scales, resembling particles of light torn from the farthest reaches of space. Each of these particles pulsed with a life of its own, as if it were a fragment of the breath of an ancient creature. These scales reflected the cosmic radiance, creating an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors on her body - from the deepest black, to pale shades of purple, silver and blue.

Her eyes were not just eyes. They were infinite whirlpools of energy, drawing anyone who looked at them into bottomless depths where consciousness lost its boundaries. Each glance into these vortices threatened to disintegrate the mind, tearing consciousness into fragments and exposing it to indescribable cosmic chaos. Those eyes pulsed, changing to the rhythm of a nonexistent melody, as if galaxies, dying stars and the birth of universes were swirling inside them.

Around her stretched wings that were more than physical limbs. They were not made of feathers, or even matter. They resembled collections of light and shadow, forever changing shape, as if they were the breaths of the universe. They shimmered rhythmically, recreating the cycles of birth and death of stars, vibrating like the remnants of supernova explosions. Hidden in their depths were thousands of tiny, pulsating points that seemed to be miniature universes. When the wings moved, they left behind delicate streaks of radiance that fanned out into space, like fading memories of distant worlds.

Her silhouette was majestic and terrifying at the same time - too perfect to be real. The features of her face seemed to change depending on who was looking at her, but each version was equally stunning and disturbing. They created a paradoxical harmony of beauty and horror that simultaneously attracted and repelled.

Her voice, when it finally spoke, had no single sound. It was like a chorus of a thousand voices, echoing in every nook and cranny of his consciousness, as if it came from inside his own mind and yet from the distant reaches of the cosmos.

- Hello," the being spoke, and its voice resembled both a whisper and a roar. It sounded in Alex's head, echoing from the darkest corners of his mind. - You have come to the end of your journey to discover the truth that is meant for you. You are here because it was meant to be. Every star, every breath, every moment led you to me.

Every particle in Alex's body seemed to tremble, as if vibrating in resonance with the presence of this being. He didn't know whether he should run away or surrender. Was this a force that was going to destroy him or deliver him? Or was this all just a rehearsal, another act of a cruel play whose script had been written long ago?

The creature raised one hand, and the boundlessness of space swirled around them.

Planets, galaxies and pulsars appeared in a whirlwind, as if the entire universe had suddenly shrunk to fit into that one moment. Earth seemed to be nothing more than a speck drifting in the chaos.

- I am the Presence," he announced, and his voice sounded as if it carried from the very center of the star. - I have watched over the balance of this world and all others. You have crossed the threshold where ordinary existence meets the Infinite. Are you ready for the truth?

Alex stared at him, feeling his thoughts ripple like brittle parchment under his fingers. Beneath his feet he had nothingness - an abyss that pulsed to the rhythm of his own fear.

- Why me? - he whispered, his voice barely coming out of his throat, as if he was overwhelmed by the weight of the moment.

The presence smiled - cold, alien, without a shadow of human warmth. Her eyes, two whirlpools of eternal energy, penetrated him, as if peeling away the layers of his mind until he was naked in the face of the cosmos.

- Why not? - She asked rhetorically, and her voice rang out like the sound of cracking planets. - You are a guardian, though you don't know it yet. You have in you what others do not - courage, madness and purity of heart.

Alex felt the surrounding space tighten and expand at the same time.

He was like a pawn moving around the board of a game whose rules he had never learned. The creature emanated a light that turned crimson, blue and black - colors of power he never dared to dream of. Its presence was like a magnet, and at the same time like a force pushing him back to the limit of his endurance.

- Where it all started, you have to go back," she announced, pointing to something Alex couldn't see. - Where you first crossed the boundary between worlds. You will find answers, but also the end of who you are now. You will pass through this place and never come back the same again. Fear not, you will never die bodily. Your life is a boundlessness that cannot be annihilated.

Her voice sounded like a warning, but also like a sentence. Alex felt her every syllable pierce him like an ice blade.

- What you say... I can't comprehend it," Alex spoke up, his voice vibrating with emotion and anxiety. - But why me? What kind of guard?

The surrounding cosmos began to blur into swirls of light and darkness.

Stars exploded around him, and each explosion carried with it images - snapshots of his life, the life of William Baker, of the crimes that took place in the town. The visions were so intense that he felt his mind screaming under their weight. His body seemed to be stretched in all directions, as if space was trying to tear him apart and reassemble him at the same time.

- You are the observer of this reality and those who move within it. For you are born of me. Only you have the potential within you to cross this threshold and discover all the mysteries that lie dormant on the other side. But remember, the path you choose will defy everything you have known so far. Be ready for the fact that not all the answers will be what you expect. And they will want to annihilate you.

As he bowed his head, the angelic being's words weighed down his mind like unbearable stones, drawing out his pain and euphoria at the same time. Slowly he began to see the power of this moment, in which he simultaneously witnessed his tinyness and his extraordinary potential. His heart pulsed in his chest like a sledgehammer, shaping something he could not yet understand, but the touch of which filled him with terrifying excitement.

- Who are "they?" - he asked, and his voice, though calm, had a tremor in it reminiscent of the rustling of grasses before an approaching storm. - Someone has already mentioned them to me.

The Presence looked at him - with a gaze that was not a look, but an omnipresent awareness. In her eyes were reflected not worlds, but entire eras; not mere memories, but voices that whispered like the wind, bringing stories forgotten by the gods.

- They are the shadows that lurk in every curve of this world. - His voice sounded like an echo tearing through the edges of space. - They are the children of light who have succumbed to the darkness, passing through gates that were not allowed to open. They are creatures who want to take control of what is hidden in the foundations of reality.

His hand lifted gently, and silhouettes emerged from the gloom: silhouettes of beings covered by a shimmering, transparent membrane, as if their bodies were suspended between life and death.

- But there is more," he continued, and his voice shifted to a melancholy tone. - They are your siblings.

These words were like a hammer blow - brutal, irreversible. The ground, which did not exist, trembled under his feet. Alex felt the reality around him begin to vibrate, as if space itself was surprised by this confession.

- Siblings? - He asked, and the word sounded on his lips as if it were forbidden. - How is that possible?

The presence sighed, and his voice took on a heaviness, as if each word was plucked from the very heart of the universe.

- Yes. They are your brothers and sisters. They are those who cross the boundaries between worlds, those who claim power over this reality. They are like shadows that lurk in the darkness, ready to attack at any moment. They are all around, but at the same time they are more than flesh and blood beings. They are beings who run the world from hiding, who manipulate human destinies and pursue their own goals at all costs. My children who have acted against me. As a father, not I can annihilate them. And you, their brother, are the only one who can take on the burden of fighting them.

There was something monstrously beautiful in those words - like the sight of a lightning-lit city burning in the distance.

As the Presence approached him, he felt its hand pierce his chest.

But there was no pain, only a sense as if something had opened up inside him, something deeply hidden. Pure light erupted in his body, pulsing in a rhythm of ancient energies. Alex saw the radiance flowing through his veins - powerful and unstoppable. Every cell in his body seemed to awaken, filling him with a new, inexplicable force.

At that moment, as his soul vibrated in harmony with the cosmic symphony, he heard the voice of the Presence.

- Discover your heritage. Your strength is the key to balance - or to destruction. It's up to you to decide which one you choose.

His words were warm and frightening at the same time. There was concern in his voice - paternal, almost painful - but also the determination of a being who knew that this journey would not end without suffering.

- Remember: I am everything. And you are a part of me.

The presence looked at him one last time, and her eyes seemed to beg him to understand.

- What you see is not what it seems. Shadows are not always darkness, and light can sometimes be the cruelest of deceivers. Now go. Go and return to the place where it all began.

His last words were like an order that could not be evaded. Before he had time to respond, he was swept into a vortex of chaos - his body, mind and soul drifting through spaces he could not comprehend, until he found himself back in darkness.

And then everything went out.

Alex found himself back in the gloomy room.

Darkness filled the space, and the air was heavy, thick as lead. His body trembled from the remnants of the energy that had been bubbling inside him just moments before.

In the corner of the room stood a man - tall, slender, clad in a black suit that seemed to absorb the light. His face was perfect, almost inhuman - smooth skin, symmetrical features, eyes as black as a night without stars.

- So you have learned the truth," he said, and his voice was velvety but lined with something that could be both amusement and threat.

- Who are you? - Alex asked, feeling the new energy flowing through his veins.

The man smiled - a smile that did not belong to the world of humans.

- Victor. Victor Blackwood, at your service," with a mean smile and a gleam in his eye adding. - Let's begin the dance of destruction, my lord.