Lahat ng Kabanata ng Dark Journal : Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

The hot water from the shower did its best to wash away the stubborn residue of the past few hours, but it couldn't touch the heavy, rhythmic thrumming deep inside Caelith’s chest. Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped herself in the clean clothes provided, staring at her reflection just long enough to note that the scared look in her eyes hadn't quite faded.When she descended the grand staircase of the estate, the oppressive silence of the upper floor evaporated. Standing in the foyer was a young woman with sharp, observant eyes and an effortlessly poised posture. Idris stood up, his gaze instantly tracking Caelith’s descent. "I thought you might require a female companion," he said, his voice smooth but leaving no room for debate. "This is Nadia. She will be assisting you."Nadia offered a polite, measured nod. "Good to see you again, Caelith.""Likewise," Caelith murmured. Their paths had crossed briefly during her initial, high-tension introduction to the Ascendant Group, and

The room smelled of stale coffee and the fresh scent of the lavender resting in a vase on the desk. It was an erratic, pulsing anchor. Jessica sat hunched over the mahogany surface, her hands steady despite the frantic tremor in her chest. Before her lay the parchment, partially stolen document, a relic of a different life. It had been passed to her by a man from her former assassin group, a ghost from a past she had spent years trying to bury. He had been a mentor of sorts, the only one who hadn't tried to kill her when she walked away.She smoothed out the parchment. It contained coordinates and a cipher. It was a trail leading to something older, something buried deep in the city's foundations that the corporate giants were blissfully, or perhaps terrifyingly, unaware of.She cross-referenced the cipher with the notes she had been curating for weeks. She was building a mosaic of hidden history. Then, as she scribbled the latest connection, her pen hovered over a name: Caelith.She

She's back “That's me,” Morrha, who was currently possessing the maid, answered. She looked at Alistair. “Please don't look so serious”.“Why……w….why?..” Caelith wanted to ask a lot of questions but her words failed her. "I really did not mean to frighten you, Caelith." Morrha leaned back against the cushions, her expression shifting from a mocking sneer to something almost apologetic, though it did not quite reach her eyes. "I am simply cursed with a restless curiosity. You looked too weak to be from the bloodline. Almost different. I had to be certain."Caelith sat frozen, her pulse hammering against her ribs, but she realized with a start that she was not screaming. She looked at Idris and Alistair, expecting to see them preparing for a fight. Instead, she found that Idris looked calm. And Alistair's expression remained completely unchanged."Must you always manifest in such a dramatic way?" Idris sighed, rubbing his temples as if he were dealing with a persistent headache rather

She promised. She's going.The house looked exactly the same.That was the first thing Caelith noticed, standing on the pavement with Zara beside her, looking up at the modest two storey house with its slightly overgrown front hedge and the porch light her father always left on a few hours before it was actually needed. Same blue door. Same chipped step where she used to sit and wait for the school bus. Same crooked house number that had been crooked for as long as she could remember and that nobody had ever bothered to fix.It looked exactly the same.She felt entirely different standing in front of it."You okay?" Zara asked."Yes," Caelith said. Then, more honestly, "I don't know."Zara didn't push. She simply waited beside her until Caelith took the first step toward the door, and then she fell into step a half pace behind, the way she did everywhere, the way that had become so familiar Caelith barely registered it as protection anymore. It just felt like Zara.The door opened bef

Some people make sense of a place without ever explaining it.The drive back to the estate felt longer than it should have.Caelith sat in the back of the car, her hands tucked deep into her coat pockets, watching the familiar trees blur into shadows. Her parents' house was behind her, already softening into something that felt less like a memory and more like a dream she'd had in a different life. Zara had got off a few stops after her home before the car continued their hours long drive back to the estate.When she walked into the mansion, the air felt different. Heavy and charged, the way it always did when she stayed away too long. She didn't want to go to her room. The silence there felt too loud after the nightmare, too full of things she didn't want to hear.She wandered around. Her footsteps muffled by the thick rugs, the house quiets around her in the particular way large spaces did at odd hours. She ended up in the north wing without quite deciding to, a part of the estate