Chapter 6 - The Messenger

It was already 5 AM. Cain had drifted into sleep, looking like an angel in slumber.

Kath walked by and saw him. She hesitated, then sighed. With a look of sympathy, she picked him up gently and carried him to her bureau, covering him with her jacket. She gave him a small pat on the head before sitting down at her desk, lost in thought.

On the other side of the city, in a grand mansion, Jia lay awake in her bed. Her room was filled with everything a child could ever want—plush toys, books, soft glowing lights—but none of it made her feel safe.

She turned on her side, staring at the window. The city lights flickered in the distance, and the world outside felt quiet. Too quiet.

Finally, exhaustion won, and her eyes fluttered shut.

Sometime later, she woke to a faint noise. A whisper of movement outside.

At first, she thought it was just the wind. But then she heard it again—something faint, like footsteps on gravel.

Her heart pounded as she sat up. She slid out of bed and crept toward the window, peeking through the curtains.

The backyard was empty. The guards were still at their posts. Everything looked normal.

Then her phone vibrated on the nightstand.

A message from an unknown number.

"You saw him, didn't you?"

Jia's breath caught.

A second message appeared.

"He saw you too."

Her hands trembled as she turned back to the window. The backyard was still empty. The guards were there. But something inside her screamed that she was being watched.

Swallowing hard, she typed back.

"Who is this?"

A few seconds passed.

Then—

"Go to sleep, Jia."

A chill crawled up her spine.

Her fingers hovered over the screen, but she didn't type another message. Instead, she backed away from the window, her pulse racing.

Then she heard it.

A soft thud outside.

She turned, staring into the darkness beyond the fence. The security lights glowed, illuminating the yard.

At first, there was nothing.

Then—

A figure.

Standing at the very edge of the light.

Unmoving. Watching.

Jia's blood turned to ice.

She didn't think—just ran.

She burst into her parents' room, heart hammering. She didn't even knock—just dove between them, shaking.

Her mother stirred, groggy. "Jia?"

"There was someone outside," Jia whispered.

Her father groaned. "It's probably one of the guards."

"It wasn't."

Her mother sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Sweetheart, are you sure you weren't dreaming?"

Jia clenched her fists. The phone. The messages.

No. She wasn't dreaming.

But she didn't say anything else.

Her mother pulled her close, stroking her hair. "Go to sleep."

Jia closed her eyes, but it took hours before her mind finally let her rest.

Outside, beyond the gates, the figure remained.

Still. Silent.

Watching.

Back at the station. Kath sat at her desk, shifting uncomfortably. Cain was curled up in the chair across from her, her jacket draped over him. He slept peacefully, his chest rising and falling in slow, steady breaths.

He looked so normal.

Kath sighed, rubbing her temples.

"What are you, kid?" she muttered.

Cain didn't answer.

But outside the station, the rain poured harder.

And somewhere in the city, a man whispered poetry to the sky.

The next morning, the city awoke to chaos.

A high-profile businessman was found dead in his home. The press swarmed. Officers scrambled. Emma and Alex were immediately dispatched to the scene.

Another victim.

Another mark.

Another piece of the puzzle.

Back at the station, as officers rushed around, the front doors burst open.

A man staggered in, drenched from head to toe, rainwater dripping from his tattered clothes. His wild eyes darted around the room. His lips trembled. His breath came in ragged gasps.

Samuel Gray.

The junkie.

He stood there, soaking the tiled floor, a hollow grin stretching across his face. Then, he threw his head back and laughed. A sound too high, too strained, too wrong.

The entire station fell silent. Officers turned. Conversations halted.

Then Samuel opened his mouth and screamed.

A poem. loud and raw. spilled from his lips like a prophecy.

"The angel has descended, and heaven is near.

The chosen will rise, the unworthy will fear.

The eye sees all, and judgment is done—

The hollow shall fall, the worthy will run."

Kath shot up from her chair, knocking over her coffee. Cain stirred but didn't wake.

Officers moved, shouting orders.

But Samuel Gray was faster.

He reached into his pocket, and before anyone could stop him—

He slit his own throat.

Blood sprayed across the floor. A few officers shouted. One rushed forward. But Samuel was already collapsing, his body crumpling onto the cold tile.

A piece of paper fluttered from his grip.

A single symbol.

The eye.

And behind him, unnoticed in the chaos, Cain finally opened his eyes...

And smiled.

Emma and Alex arrived back at the station just in time to see the blood being mopped from the floor.

Samuel Gray's corpse had already been covered, but the horror lingered in the air like a thick fog.

"What the hell happened?" Alex demanded.

Kath, pale and shaken, gestured to the paper on the evidence table. "He walked in, started screaming poetry, and then—" She swallowed hard. "Just… ended himself."

Emma snatched up the paper. The symbol burned into her mind.

Another mark.

Another death.

She turned toward the glass window that looked into the holding area. Cain was still there, now sitting up, watching everything unfold.

For a split second, she swore his lips twitched upward.

Like he was amused.

She turned back to Alex. "We're not letting him go."

Alex didn't argue.

They needed answers.

And Cain was going to give them.

One way or another.

Meanwhile, at Jia's house

Jia hadn't told her parents about the messages.

But she kept her phone close, fingers hovering over the screen. The unknown number hadn't texted again. No calls. No follow-ups.

Maybe she imagined it.

Maybe she wanted to imagine it.

That morning, she peered outside her window, half-expecting to see someone still standing there.

But the yard was empty.

The security footage had nothing unusual, her father insisted.

But she knew.

She felt it.

Something was coming.

And for the first time in her life.

She didn't feel safe.