LOGINThe sky did not open gently.It tore apart.Like something from the other side had finally grown tired of waiting.Anna couldn’t breathe.Her eyes stayed fixed on the massive裂 in the sky, widening slowly, violently, as if reality itself was being peeled open. Darkness didn’t pour out of it.Something worse did.Presence.Heavy. Crushing. Ancient.It pressed down on her chest, forcing the air out of her lungs.Sam stepped forward instantly, his hand gripping hers tightly.“Stay with me,” he said, his voice low but firm.Anna didn’t answer.Because something inside her… answered first.A sharp pain exploded in her head.She gasped, staggering back, her grip on Sam tightening painfully.“Anna!”Voices.Not one.Not two.Thousands.Whispers flooded her mind at once.“You belong to us.”“You were made for this.”“The gate must open fully.”“Finish it.”“No…” Anna shook her head violently. “Get out of my head…”But they didn’t stop.They grew louder.Stronger.Her knees buckled, and she dro
Sam’s POVEverything went silent.Not the kind of silence that brings peace.The kind that comes before destruction.Anna stood in front of me, her hand still in mine, but I could feel it slipping. Not physically. Something deeper. Like she was being pulled away again, but this time not slowly.This time it was sudden.Violent.Final.“Anna,” I called, tightening my grip.Her fingers twitched in mine.For a second, I thought she was coming back.For a second, I believed we had reached her.Then her body went still.Completely still.And the air changed.It grew heavy, suffocating, like the room itself could no longer contain what was inside her.“Step back,” the woman behind me said sharply.I didn’t move.“I said step back!” she shouted.“No.”My voice came out low.Cold.Unmoving.Because if I stepped back now, I knew I would lose her completely.Anna’s head tilted slowly.Her eyes locked onto mine.And this time, there was no confusion.No struggle.No flicker of the girl I knew.O
Anna’s POVHe reached for me.And everything inside me reacted.Not the thing controlling me.Not the presence watching through me.Me.For the first time since everything changed…I felt something break through the silence.“Sam…”The name didn’t come out of my mouth.But it echoed inside me.Loud.Desperate.Alive.His hand was so close now.Just a few inches away from mine.And yet—It felt like the distance between worlds.“Don’t,” the voice inside me said.Calm.Firm.Watching.“He will interfere with the process.”Process.That word again.Like I was something being completed.Something being built.Something no longer human.“I…” I tried to speak.But my body didn’t move.Didn’t respond.Because I wasn’t the one in control anymore.“You see?” the voice continued.“You cannot even act on your own will.”That should have scared me.It did.But something else rose stronger.Anger.No.Not just anger.Refusal.I wasn’t gone.I wasn’t a fragment.I wasn’t just something they could u
Sam’s POV“We have waited long enough.”Those words didn’t belong to Anna.But they came from her lips.Soft.Calm.Final.And somehowThat made it worse than anything we had faced so far.Because before, there had always been struggle.Resistance.A fight.Now…There was none.“Anna,” I said carefully.My voice low.Controlled.Even though everything inside me was anything but.Her eyes stayed on mine.Unmoving.Cold.Not empty.No.Empty would have been easier.This was something else.Something… aware.“You continue to use that name,” she said.Her voice smooth.Unfamiliar.“It no longer defines what stands before you.”My jaw tightened.“She’s still in there.”A pause.Then—A faint tilt of her head.Like she was studying me.Evaluating.“Fragments remain,” she admitted.“But they are no longer in control.”Fragments.That word hit harder than anything else.Because it meant—She wasn’t completely gone.But she wasn’t whole either.“Then I’ll bring her back,” I said.Something shi
Anna’s POVSomething touched me.Not like before.Not like the others.This wasn’t force.This wasn’t pressure.This was… awareness.Ancient.Quiet.Watching.And the moment it reached meEverything else went still.The voices that had been surrounding me.The ones that whispered.The ones that pulled.The ones that tried to take control.They stopped.Not because they wanted to.Because they had to.“Sam…” I whispered.“I feel it,” he said immediately.His voice was sharper now.Alert.“This isn’t them.”“No…”It wasn’t.This was something else.Something deeper than the darkness we had been fighting.And somehowThat scared me more.“You’ve reached too far.”The voice came softly.Clear.Calm.Nothing like the others.It didn’t echo.It didn’t distort.It spoke like it had always been there.Like it belonged here.And that was the worst part.“Who are you?” I asked.Silence.Then“A witness.”That didn’t make sense.“A witness to what?”“To all of it.”The space around us shifted ag
Anna’s POVI wasn’t alone anymore.For the first time since this nightmare began…I wasn’t drowning in silence.“Sam…”My voice echoed through the dark space around us.It didn’t feel like a place.It felt like… a void.Endless.Heavy.But nowThere was something else here.Him.“I’m here.”His voice came from behind me.Steady.Grounding.I turned quickly.And there he was.Not physically.Not the way I was used to seeing him.But I knew it was him.The way his presence felt.Warm.Solid.Real.“You shouldn’t have come,” I whispered.“I wasn’t going to leave you here alone.”“You don’t understand…”“I understand enough.”His eyes held mine.Unshaken.“You’re not facing this by yourself anymore.”Something inside me broke at those words.Not fear.Not pain.Something softer.Relief.But it didn’t last.Because the moment I felt it—The space shifted.Darkness pulsed around us.Like something had noticed.“You brought another one.”The voice came from everywhere.Layered.Deep.Wrong.
Anna’s POVI couldn’t feel my legs.The words she said kept echoing in my head like a curse I couldn’t escape.“After that… you’re no longer needed.”“That’s when I take your place.”The air around me felt too heavy, like I was drowning while still standing.“No…” I whispered, shaking my head slowl
Anna’s POVThree heartbeats.The words didn’t make sense at first.They floated in the air between us, fragile… unreal… like something my mind refused to accept.“No…” I whispered.My hand flew to my stomach.“That’s not possible.”The twins had always been two.Every scan.Every check.Every momen
Anna’s POVThe morning light barely touched the marina, but the tension from last night lingered like smoke in the air. My body ached from adrenaline and fear, yet my mind was sharper than it had ever been. Every thought, every heartbeat, was centered on the twins—and on survival.Sam stood beside
Anna’s POVThe shrill sirens tore through the night air, echoing off the water and metal docks. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might shatter my ribcage. My hands instinctively moved to my stomach, protecting the twins as if my own life no longer mattered.Sam’s hand found mine, gripping







