## **Chapter 4 - The Harbinger Returns**

 

The night was even deeper when they returned to the base. No one had the strength to speak. Everyone had images of red runes and strange whispers echoing in their heads, still pulsing in their minds, echoing in the kindergarten walls.

Only when the door closed behind them did Piotr turn abruptly:

"I don't like this. Not at all. This isn't an investigation anymore. It's something… different."

"We know," Lena replied, sitting down heavily.

Zofia stood by the window. She looked at the city like someone who hears sounds others can't.

"Skalin reacts. Not just to us. To everything. Like a living organism."

Klara looked at her worriedly.

"You speak as if the city were conscious."

"What if it is?" Zofia asked. "If the Circle of the Awakened was right?"

Peter sighed.

"Theories are theories, but someone has to be behind this. A person. People. A cult."

Then the light in the room flickered.

Once.

Twice.

And suddenly it went out completely.

Zofia inhaled too quickly.

"No... not here..."

After a moment, a red symbol lit up in the corner of the room. A rune. The same one from kindergarten.

Lena jumped up.

"That's impossible..."

And yet he stood there.

The Herald.

Tall, still, as if suspended between worlds. He didn't come through the door. He appeared.

"I said this is just the beginning," his voice echoed through the air.

Marta raised her hand.

"What do you want?!

"It's not me who wants it. It's Skalin who wants it."

Lena took a step forward.

"The city? Don't be silly."

He smiled briefly.

"You don't believe because you don't remember."

Peter clenched his fists.

"What are we supposed to forget?"

The Harbinger turned his head slowly, as if listening to something speaking to him from the space between the walls.

"What began long ago. Before you came here. Before you were born."

Zofia closed her eyes as if something had occurred to her.

"It's not the runes that call us. It's the city."

The Harbinger nodded.

"You finally understand."

Lena flinched.

"Why now?"

"Because the awakening continues. The first stage is complete. The sacrifices were no accident."

Klara took a step back.

"Are... are you one of them?"

"I am what balance requires," he replied mysteriously. "Neither human nor shadow."

Lena looked him straight in the eye.

"If you know what's coming, tell us."

He froze for a moment.

"The time for choice is coming. Either you will become part of the awakening… or an obstacle to it."

And he disappeared. As suddenly as he had appeared.

The lights returned.

The red sign burned into the air and slowly faded.

Everyone stood still. Only after a moment did Łukasz whisper,

"He didn't come back to warn."

Lena nodded.

"But to see if we're ready."

---

### If you want another chapter:

text **"Next"** and we'll begin **Chapter 5 – Shadows from the Past**, where we'll learn the mysterious history of the town from decades past and the people who knew about the awakening long ago.