## **Chapter 5 - Shadows from the Past**

 

The next day, they decided to look for answers where they most often lie – in the archives. In the large, dusty reading room of the city archives, Lena and Marta pored over old newspapers, minutes, and unfinished reports that few people had ever read.

Klara was looking through resident registers from decades ago, while Piotr and Łukasz were examining construction documentation, power plant designs, and geological maps of the former Skalin area.

"Listen to this," Marta said after a long silence. "A group of young people disappeared in the 1930s. Without a trace."

Lena looked up.

"How many?"

"Seven."

"And what, no explanation?"

Marta continued leafing through the pages.

"'Strange voices heard on the site of the old power plant,' 'Panicing children in kindergarten,' 'Unnatural symbols appearing on walls'... Sound familiar?"

Everyone froze.

Piotr smiled bitterly.

"So history is repeating itself?"

"No," Marta corrected. "She's coming back."

Klara leaned back in her chair.

"Anything else?"

"Yes..." Marta lowered her voice. "Among the missing were two teenagers who claimed to have 'dreams about a city that speaks to them.'"

Zofia shuddered.

"Those are exactly the same symptoms we're experiencing now."

Lena looked at her sharply.

"What do you mean?"

Zofia hesitated, not looking at anyone.

"These dreams... I have them."

Everyone turned to her.

"How long?" Lena asked.

"For months. Before we returned to Skalin."

A long silence fell in the room.

Piotr scratched his head.

"And you didn't say anything?"

"I didn't want to worry you. Besides, I thought it was just… stress."

Marta moved closer.

"What are these dreams about?"

Zofia closed her eyes, as if conjuring images:

"Darkness. Stones. Buildings… as if they were watching me. And sometimes I hear names."

"What names?" whispered Piotr.

"Those who died."

Lena paled.

"And now…?"

Zofia opened her eyes.

"It's worse now. I've been seeing symbols in my recent dreams. The same runes we saw at the power plant and the kindergarten."

Klara leaned over the table.

"Is it possible they saw them too?"

Marta confirmed:

"If dreams are part of the awakening process, maybe it starts with selected people. Like before."

"The Circle of the Awakened," Lena said. "They must have known it would happen again."

“They didn’t just know,” Zofia added in a whisper. “They planned it.”

And then all the lights in the archive went out.

It happened just as suddenly as before—without warning, without reason.

But before anyone could turn on the flashlight, something flitted between the shelves, like a shadow.

Zofia actually recoiled in her chair.

“He’s here…”

“Who?!” Piotr snapped.

Zofia said in a trembling voice:

“The Harbinger.”

Lena clenched her fists.

“Enough games. Get out!”

Silence.

And then… whispers.

Gentle, as if someone were speaking from beyond the wall, beyond the wind, beyond time itself.

“I’m coming back…”

And a moment later, the lights came back on.

Everyone was silent.

Lena looked at the others.

“We have to find everything about the Circle of the Awakened. Every trace.” Every name.

Piotr said brutally:

"And see if any of them might still be alive."

"Or their descendants," Lena added.

"Or something worse." Marta said what no one wanted to say aloud:

"that the awakening never ended."

--

### If you want another chapter:

Write **"Next"** and I'll start **Chapter 6 – Resurrected Names**, where Zofia will start hearing names not only in her dreams... but also in her waking life.