The old textile factory was a skeleton of concrete and twisted rebar against the night sky. The wind whistled through the broken windows, carrying the smell of mold and abandonment. Seina pulled her jacket tighter, her eyes burning from exhaustion and adrenaline.
23:14.
She heard the footsteps before she saw anyone. Light, almost silent on the dirt ground.
"You could've picked a happier place for a meeting," Thalya's voice came low — an attempt at humor that didn't quite reach her eyes. She wore a black hoodie, hood up, hiding her silver hair.
"It had to be somewhere no one comes," Seina answered, her voice breaking. "It's the seventh day, Thalya."
"Ah. So that's what this is." Thalya shrugged.
"I just… needed to make sure you were safe. That maybe we could… I don't know, hide together or something."
Thalya took a step forward, a half-smile on her lips.
"You sound like my bodyguard, you know that? It's kind of cu—"
The sound cut her off.
Metal scraping, dragged across concrete. It wasn't the wind. It was something heavy. Something moving — violently.
Both turned at the same time.
From the darkest corner of the factory yard, a shape peeled itself from the shadows. Tall, blacker than the night around it, with two points of fixed white light where its eyes should've been.
The Creature.
There was no time to scream. Thalya shoved Seina back.
"RUN!"
They turned and bolted toward the gate. Seina's lungs burned. She could hear the creature behind them — not running, but gliding, as if the ground itself carried it.
Thalya tripped on a piece of metal and fell to her knees with a groan of pain.
"THALYA!"
Seina stopped and turned. It was an unthinkable mistake.
The creature was on Thalya. There was no struggle. No drama. Just one movement.
Quick. Precise. Brutal.
A wet, slicing sound echoed through the silent yard. It wasn't a scream. It was worse — the sound of something giving way.
Thalya's head separated from her body and rolled a few inches on the dusty floor, her violet eyes still open, her expression of surprise frozen in time. Her body stayed on its knees for a second before collapsing sideways, spilling dark blood that looked almost black under the dim light.
Seina didn't scream. The shock froze her lungs, her voice, her thoughts.
The creature straightened up. The darkness that made up its body seemed to pulse. It turned. Those unblinking white eyes locked onto Seina.
"STAY… AWAY."
The voice was made of static and ice — a thousand whispers from a thousand mouths that weren't really voices.
The world began to collapse. The edges of Seina's vision blurred into a searing white light. She fell to her knees, her eyes still fixed on the creature's silhouette. It didn't move — it just watched as reality around Seina started to dissolve.
The last thing she saw was Thalya's headless body beginning to fade into particles of light, as if it had never existed.
Seina jolted awake in her own bed, cold sweat soaking her pajamas. A scream stuck in her throat.
Her hands flew to her neck, remembering the blow that Thalya took — intact. Then to her ears.
The morning silence was absolute.
But inside her head, the voice still echoed — clear and murderous:
"STAY… AWAY."