## **Chapter 6 - Resurrected Names**

 

That evening, Zofia returned to her apartment exhausted, but she knew she wouldn't sleep. She couldn't. She also knew she would eventually stop being able to tell the difference between sleep and reality. The dreams were too real. The breathing was too close. The voices were too clear.

She sat up in bed, trying to calm her breathing.

But then she felt it again.

As if someone was standing behind her, right behind her.

She turned quickly—no one was there.

"It's just exhaustion," she told herself.

But then she heard a whisper.

Not a dream.

Not an echo.

A real voice.

— *Zofia…*

She froze.

"Who is that?" she whispered.

The voice was quiet but familiar, as if she'd heard it before in dreams.

— *Don't be afraid... we're already here...*

Zofia jumped up and ran to the lamp. She turned it on as if the light would stop something.

—Who are you?!

But the answer came from the window.

— *Those who dream...*

Frightened, she opened the door and ran out into the hallway, leaving the apartment unlocked. She ran up the stairs to Lena's, banging on the door like a madman.

Lena opened it, startled.

—Zofia?! What happened?

Zofia could barely catch her breath:

—They're calling me... now, not in my dream.

Marta and Łukasz came running in a moment later, woken by Lena's call.

—It's started, Zofia whispered.

--

They sat in the living room with every possible light on. Zofia told them everything—every whisper, every name, every sentence.

“They knew my name,” she finally said.

Marta thought deeply:

“That means you’re not just an observer.”

Klara looked at her:

“But who?”

“Someone who is… a guide,” Marta replied. “Or… a key.”

“Or a goal,” Piotr added dryly.

Lena placed her hand on Zofia’s shoulder:

“You’re not alone.”

But then… everyone heard the same thing.

A short whisper.

Not in her head.

Not in her dream.

In her room.

— *Zofia… Zofia…*

Klara stood up abruptly:

“Where is this coming from?!

Łukasz ran around the apartment but found nothing.

And then the voice said something new:

“*Don’t turn away from us… the past is coming back.*”

Marta looked at Zofia:

“They want contact.”

Zofia was pale as paper:

"But why because of me?"

Then the light went out.

Lamps. Computers. Phones. Everything.

Darkness. Complete.

And then, in the darkness, runes appeared on the walls—red, burning, as if burned by an invisible hand.

And among them… names.

—David

—Sarah

—Olaf

—Helena

—Marek

—And…

Zofia froze.

"…and Zofia."

"No…" Lena's whisper broke. "It means…"

"It means," Zofia interrupted, her voice trembling, "that I'm one of them."

The runes went out.

The light returned as if nothing had happened.

A dead silence fell over the room.

And for the first time, Zofia understood something truly terrifying:

She hadn't witnessed the awakening.

She had been part of it.

---

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➡️ Chapter 7: **“Bloodline”** — the discovery that some families in Skalin have been connected to the Circle for generations… and that Zofia may be the heir to this “dark tradition.”