Eight years later…
The world had moved on.
Cities had been rebuilt. Streets filled again with noise and motion, people chasing routines that gave their lives meaning. To everyone else, the past was nothing more than something to forget.
But for Elysia, nothing ever truly passed.
---
She was up before the sun came up.
Not because she wanted to be.
It just... happened.
She slowly opened her eyes and stared at the dim ceiling of her room. Her breathing was calm and steady. She didn't move for a few seconds. She just lay there, as if she were waiting for something.
Or paying attention.
There was no noise in the room.
Not loud enough.
"…Again," she whispered softly.
Another night without sleep.
Or maybe she did sleep.
She couldn't tell anymore.
She never thought her dreams were real. When she woke up, they felt like real places that were just out of reach. Huge. Never-ending. Looking.
She slowly sat up, her fingers brushing her forehead.
"I almost heard it this time." …
But, as always, whatever it was... it got away.
------------------
The house was still quiet when she stepped out of her room.
But her guardian was already awake. She always was.
The kitchen made a soft clatter of utensils, and then a kettle started to hum.
Elysia stopped in the hallway and leaned against the wall for a moment.
She stood there for a moment, just listening.
Ordinary sounds were comforting in some way.
They felt safe.
"You're up again?"
Elysia turned her head a little bit.
Her guardian stood by the door to the kitchen with her arms crossed and a calm but tired look on her face.
Elysia said in a low voice, "I didn't wake you."
"You didn't have to. I heard you move."
Elysia walked into the kitchen and looked out the window for a moment. The sky outside was still dark, but there was a faint hint of blue at the edges.
The woman said, "You should get more sleep."
"I'm not sleepy."
"That's what makes me nervous."
Elysia didn't say anything.
She slowly sat down and put her chin on her hand while she looked at the table.
"Did you have another dream?"
Elysia was unsure.
"I think so."
"Do you think so?"
"I don't remember it clearly."
That part was true.
She couldn't remember the specifics.
But she remembered how it felt.
The feeling is always there.
"...What was it about?"
Elysia's fingers lightly tapped on the table.
"…The same place."
Her guardian frowned a little.
"The one you keep bringing up?"
Elysia nodded a little.
"…It seems like someone is there."
A break.
"…Watching?"
Elysia didn't answer right away.
"Not just watching," she said in a low voice. "Waiting."
The room got quiet.
She slowly let out a breath and turned back to the stove.
"You have a crazy imagination."
"Maybe."
Elysia, on the other hand, didn't sound sure.
---
The morning passed quietly.
Breakfast was simple, like always. The same routine, the same silence, the same feeling that something was… off.
Elysia barely noticed what she was eating.
Her mind drifted again.
It always did.
---
The walk to school felt longer than usual.
The streets were alive now. Cars passed by, voices filled the air, and footsteps echoed along the pavement. Everything was moving, everything was normal.
But Elysia walked through it all like she didn't belong.
Her pace was steady, her gaze distant.
She noticed things others didn't.
Small things.
A streetlight flickering even though it was already morning.
A stray dog standing completely still, staring at nothing.
A sudden chill that passed through the air for no reason.
She slowed slightly.
"…That's strange."
No one else reacted.
No one else even noticed.
She looked around briefly, her brows pulling together.
"…Am I the only one feeling this?"
A car horn sounded nearby, snapping her out of it.
She blinked, then continued walking.
---
School felt… the same.
And yet, not.
Elysia sat by the window, like always.
The teacher spoke. Words filled the room. Chalk scratched against the board. Students whispered, laughed, and complained.
Everything was normal.
Too normal.
Her gaze drifted outside.
The sky was clear now. Bright. Calm.
But something about it felt wrong.
Like it was hiding something.
Her fingers rested lightly against the desk as she stared.
"…Why does it feel like something's going to happen?"
She didn't say it out loud.
But the thought lingered.
Uncomfortable.
Unsettling.
---
Later that day…
Something small happened.
So small that anyone else would have ignored it.
But Elysia didn't.
She was walking down the hallway when she felt it again.
That sudden shift.
That strange… pressure.
Her steps slowed.
The noise around her faded slightly, like it had been pushed back.
"…There it is again …"
She stopped completely this time.
People moved past her, brushing shoulders, talking, and laughing.
But none of it felt real in that moment.
Her eyes moved slowly.
Searching.
Then For just a second She saw it.
A shadow.
Not on the floor.
Not on the wall.
But… wrong.
Out of place.
It moved.
Just slightly.
Then disappeared.
Elysia's breath caught.
"…What was that?"
Her heart beat faster now.
Not from fear.
But from something else.
Recognition.
Like she had seen it before.
Somewhere.
Somehow.
---
That night, the rain returned.
Heavier this time.
Louder.
The sound filled the room as Elysia sat by the window again, her knees pulled close, her chin resting against them.
The glass was cold.
The rain blurred everything outside.
"…It feels different today," she whispered.
The air felt heavier, like something was pressing against it.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"…You're here again."
She didn't know why she said it.
But she knew she wasn't wrong.
Silence answered her.
But not empty silence.
This silence felt… occupied.
Her fingers tightened slightly.
"…I know you're there."
The rain grew louder.
Then
A faint movement Behind her.
Elysia froze and Slowly turned her head.
The room looked the same.
Nothing had changed.
But the feeling was stronger now, and it felt closer .Her breathing slowed.
"…Who are you?"
No answer. Only the rain and the silence, But something lingered.
Just out of sight.
---
Far beyond the world she knew…
Something stirred.
Not hostile
Watching her more closely now.
---
Elysia turned back to the window, her reflection staring back at her through the glass.
Her eyes looked normal and calm, But for a split second, They flickered with a faint glow. But it left as though it was never there
She blinked.
"…Did I just…?"
She leaned closer to the glass.
Nothing. Just her normal reflection.
---
Elysia pulled back slowly.
"…I'm just tired."
That had to be it.
It had to be.
But deep down…
She knew.
Something was changing.
Something had been watching her since the beginning.
And whatever it was, It was getting closer.
---
She lay down that night, staring at the ceiling once again.
The rain continued outside steadily and unending
Her eyes slowly began to close and just before sleep took her
A faint whisper from nowhere,in her ears
"…soon…"
Her eyes snapped open.
But the room was silent again and she could not sleep through the night