All Chapters of Shadows of the Forgotten Kin: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The cafeteria was a cacophony of screeching plastic chairs, damp napkins, and the smell of reheated mystery meat. Jovan stared at his tray, his fork trembling just enough to make the tines rattle against the ceramic. He wasn’t looking at his mashed potatoes. He was looking at the woman standing behind the trash bins.She looked like she had been dead for a week, her skin the color of wet parchment and her hair matted with something dark and viscous. She wasn't bothering anyone, but she was leaning uncomfortably close to a freshman’s ear, whispering things that made the poor boy shiver without knowing why.“Man, are you even going to eat that?”Jovan blinked, the ghostly figure flickering out of his peripheral vision as his friend, Leo, nudged his arm.“Huh? Oh. Nah, I’m not really hungry,” Jovan said, his voice coming out a little too thin.“You’ve been weird all week, J. You know that, right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”“Something like that. I’m just tired, Leo.

The basement air tasted like wet iron and ancient dust. Jovan stared at the crumpled paper in his palm, his chest heaving as the adrenaline slowly began to retreat, leaving behind a cold, hollow ache."You said you knew what this was," Jovan repeated, his voice barely a tremor in the stillness. "You said you were supposed to stop me from finding it. What does that mean, Thiago?"Thiago leaned against a rusted boiler, his face partially obscured by the shifting shadows of the flickering overhead light. He reached into his leather jacket, pulled out a pack of crumpled cigarettes, thought better of it, and shoved them back into his pocket. "It means someone at this school—someone who knows more than they have any right to—didn’t want you digging. They left that note as a bait, and you fell for it hook, line, and sinker."Jovan wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans. "Why? Why target me? My brother, Elias, he was just a kid. He didn’t mess with stuff like this. He was a math geek. He li

The woods bordering the school grounds were a tangled mess of briar and shadow. Thiago didn't stop moving until they reached a small, concrete maintenance shed tucked behind the overflow drainage pipes. He kicked the rusted door open, revealing a cramped, dusty space that smelled faintly of ozone and old, dry rot.“Get in,” Thiago barked, his voice still ragged from the fight. “And keep that door tight. The scent needs to stay inside.”Jovan stepped over a pile of rusted gardening shears, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. He watched as Thiago fumbled with a flashlight, the beam cutting a harsh, shaky line through the thick dust.“What was that thing, Thiago? Seriously. It didn’t look like a ghost. It didn’t look like anything from a horror movie.”Thiago slumped down against the concrete wall, letting the light fall to the floor. He looked drained, his leather jacket torn at the shoulder where the creature had clawed at him. “It’s a Void-Stalker. They’re basica

The rhythmic, metallic dragging sound echoed through the archives, vibrating against the steel door. It was heavy, wet, and rhythmic—the sound of something unnatural carving a path through the silence. Jovan’s breath hitched in his throat, and he backed away from the row of cabinets, his hands clutching the empty folder like a shield.“Thiago,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “That doesn’t sound like a security guard. That doesn’t even sound like a person.”Thiago didn’t look back. He was already shoving the iron pulse device into his pocket, his eyes darting toward the narrow, high-mounted window at the back of the room. “It’s not. It’s an Enforcer. The Council uses them to clean up loose ends when the bureaucracy isn’t enough. They don’t have pulses, and they don’t have mercy. Get down.”“What do you mean, get down? We’re in a trap!”“I know we’re in a trap, kid! Move!”Jovan scrambled behind a massive, industrial-sized copier, his heart hammering against his ribs so hard it felt

The walk home had been a blur of adrenaline and shivering silence. Jovan had barely managed to unlock his front door before collapsing onto his bed, his clothes still smelling of damp earth and woodsmoke. He hadn't told his parents a word; he had just trudged upstairs, locked his bedroom door, and let the exhaustion pull him under.But sleep was a liar.As soon as his eyes closed, the world shifted. It wasn't a dream—not the kind where you forget the details once you wake. This was a visceral, heavy immersion.He was standing in a room made of cold, weeping stone. The air smelled of ozone and ancient, stale incense. In the center of the chamber, Elias sat on the floor, his back turned to the door. He was hunched over a series of intricate, glowing patterns carved into the dark flagstone. He looked thinner, his hair matted and overgrown, but he was alive.“Elias?” Jovan called out. His voice felt muffled, as if he were shouting through a thick pane of glass.His brother didn’t turn aro