## **CHAPTER 22 – “He”**

 

It became unnaturally quiet among the trees. Not a leaf stirred, as if the wind had stopped mid-blast. Zofia felt the ground beneath her feet tremble slightly, so subtly that it could only be her imagination… but the runes on her hands were raging.

Jakub clenched his fists.

“This isn’t an ordinary awakening,” he whispered. “Someone wanted Him to return now. Too soon.”

Janek looked at Zofia.

“Is that possible? For someone to use runes against the Circle?”

Jakub shook his head.

“That would be suicide. Runes only obey those who…”

He fell silent.

A silhouette appeared in the darkness. Not entirely human, blurred, as if the air couldn’t decide how to represent it.

Zofia felt he was looking directly at her.

And then, for the first time, she heard a voice, not in her thoughts, not as a whisper, but clearly:

**– I came back for what's mine.**

---

## **CHAPTER 23 – The City Begins to Speak**

At the same time, all the lights in the center of Skalin suddenly went out.

First the streetlights, then the houses, then the traffic lights.

In twenty seconds, the entire city was plunged into darkness.

Cars stopped at intersections, drivers got out, looking at the sky as if hoping for a reasonable explanation.

But the answer wasn't in heaven.

It was underground.

From underground corridors known only to a few historians, vibrations began to come, so deep that no one had any doubt – Skalin was waking up with Him.

---

## **CHAPTER 24 – Grandfather's Notes**

Zofia returned home practically running. Grandpa's journals lay on the table, as if someone had arranged them deliberately, even though they had been locked away in a closet.

In one of them, she found only a single sentence, written in shaky handwriting:

**"I didn't die by accident."**

Her heart began to beat faster.

On the last page was a note, written in a different handwriting, as if fresher:

"The Circle must gather. If it doesn't, He will take over all who have the fragment."

Zofia looked up.

She knew it was her.

--

## **CHAPTER 25 – Betrayal**

Only Janek and Jakub remained in the forest. The atmosphere had become so thick that breathing was an effort.

Jakub looked at Janek with concern in his eyes.

"I have to tell you something."

Janek narrowed his eyes.

"Now?"

Jakub nodded.

"I... didn't escape alone." I could say I tried to fight, but… I ran away because I was afraid. I knew they would come for me.

Janek didn't answer immediately.

"Do you think Zofia will forgive you?"

Jakub smiled bitterly.

"She's part of something we'll never understand."

A moment later, there was a bang.

They didn't turn around – they both felt something approaching from behind the trees.

--

## **CHAPTER 26 – A Voice That Isn't Human**

Zofia returned to the forest as if something was guiding her.

When she appeared beside the boys, the ground began to pulsate.

The shadow took on a clearer form – the silhouette of a man in a long coat, but the face… the face was like fog, expressionless.

"You won't escape," he said. "You are part of this city. The Circle is not a choice. The Circle is destiny."

Zofia felt her body begin to tremble to a rhythm she didn't recognize, but one that sounded familiar—like the beating of the city's ancient heart.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

The Shadow bowed his head.

"What your ancestors feared. What they locked underground. I am the ancient master of light and darkness... and I have returned for you."

--

## **CHAPTER 27 – Blood Runes**

The earth tore open like paper.

Light began to pour from the cracks, so bright they had to shield their eyes.

Runes appeared on the ground, the trees, and even on their skin.

Zofia felt the runes trying to tell her something.

Not words.

Not visions.

**Emotions.**

Fear.

Anger.

Death.

But also...a power she had never felt before.

When she raised her hands, the runes burned so brightly that the shadow took a step back.

For the first time – He reacted.

---

## **CHAPTER 28 – The End That Is the Beginning**

The city trembled, people shouted in the streets, phones stopped working, and water began to spiral in the fountains.

Skalin was waking up.

And with it, something that didn't belong to the world of the living was waking up.

The shadow looked at Zofia.

"Now the decision is yours. Either you let me return, or I take your city with you."

Zofia stepped forward.

She looked directly into his nonexistent eyes.

And said one sentence:

**– I will not give up Skalin."

The shadow hung motionless.

The city fell silent.

And the earth… stopped.

*And then there was darkness.*

---

# 🔥 END OF PART V

And this is a full, extensive, multi-chapter part – with a climax and an open ending, leading straight into the enormous Part VI.