Great!Here's **CHAPTER 12** in its full, extensively expanded version **with Commissioner Jakub and his dog Argo**, in the spirit of a dark crime adventure with supernatural elements.--

# **CHAPTER 12 — "DEEPER THAN DARKNESS"**

*(full, long, novel version)*

Night enveloped the city in a thick cloak of silence. Jakub walked slowly toward an old, abandoned factory on the outskirts, Argo following him quietly but alertly. The dog held his breath every few moments, listening for something Jakub couldn't hear. Argo was exceptionally sensitive to smells, sounds, and air movements—now every hair on his back was standing on end.

Before the factory entrance, Jakub stopped. The metal gate was partially ripped off its hinges, and beneath it lay tracks of mud—fresh, leading deeper into the building. The moon's shadow, cast through the broken windows, created ominous, quivering patterns on the floor.

"Argo, be careful," Jacob whispered, crouching down and scanning the darkness.

The dog raised a paw and growled softly, its tail still, focused like an arrow.

They entered slowly, step by step, listening to the creaking of old boards and the echoes of their own breathing. The hall was vast, filled with old machinery covered in rust, and the air was heavy with dust and a musty smell.

"There's something here..." Jacob said to himself, though Argo could hear every tone.

Suddenly, the dog stopped, ears pricked, nose twitching. Jacob felt the tension throughout Argo's entire body—it wasn't a reaction to a human, nor to any ordinary animal. This was something **different**, something unnatural.

From deep within the factory came a faint rustling.

Not metal. Not wood.

Something was shifting across the floor as if the body that made it had no bones.

"Let's go slowly," Jacob whispered, pulling out his flashlight. Its beam moved over the machines and walls, revealing fragments of old writing, barely legible, as if someone had left a warning: "Don't look too long into the darkness."

Argo suddenly barked softly and turned his head toward the narrow passage between two machines.

Something moved there.

First a shadow, then a **shape**, not quite human, not quite animal.

Jakub felt a shiver run down his spine. The creature was on the edge of reality. Its silhouette was elongating, and its eyes—if you could call them that—gleamed in the darkness, reflecting the flashlight's light in an almost hypnotic way.

"Argo, stand by me," Jacob ordered, and the dog immediately pressed against his legs.

The creature moved slowly, silently, stopping where the flashlight beam didn't quite reach. Jacob could now see its body—slender, flexible, covered in something that looked like scales, yet pulsing like muscles.

Suddenly, Argo let out a low, menacing growl and lunged forward. The creature retreated, revealing the entrance to a tunnel beneath the floor—another deep, mysterious space, filled with the scent of old dampness and… something else.

Jacob glanced down. The tunnel led straight into the abyss.

"That's where… we must descend."

The dog turned to him, as if to say, "There's no turning back, sir."

As he descended, Jacob felt in his bones that this was no ordinary factory.

Something lived beneath it. Something watching his every move.

Something that knew every night of his life, every shadow that passed through his memory.

As they entered the tunnel, the flashlight bounced off the walls—and then they saw it.

It wasn't a shadow, it wasn't an animal.

It was the Light Absorber. A massive creature that fed on darkness and extinguished all light. Its eyes glowed, pulsating, and its shape… rippled like a shadow in the thin air.

Argo growled low, and Jacob felt even his breathing grow heavy.

The dog moved forward, breaking the silence, and at that moment the Absorber reacted.

It didn't attack immediately.

It watched.

As if it were testing the identity of those who had entered its territory.

"Argo, stay close," Jacob said.

"And don't let it out of your sight."

The Absorber slowly rose, revealing part of a vast tunnel that led even deeper.

Jacob knew that if they were to survive, they had to go further. But not to fight.

To **understand** what lay hidden in the factory's deepest depths.

And then something moved behind them…

And Jacob realized that in this dark space, they **were not alone**, and that their every step could attract something that even Argo couldn't drive away.

--

If you want, I can continue immediately with **CHAPTER 13**, in which Jacob and Argo will have to confront the true nature of the Light Eater and discover the first fragments of the underground mystery.

Want me to continue?