PROLOGUE
Not all prayers reach the skies.
Some fall back...to where they truly belong.
"Voca relicta... portas aperi...
Ansha kelto moura...
Nie wrócisz..."
The thunder split the night apart.
The sky raged.
And beneath the pounding rain,
something heavier stirred.
Even the wind had lost its voice—
howling like a dirge
for those who would never return home.
It was as if the heavens were trying to speak.
I couldn't understand the message—
but it burned fiercer than the storm.
A melody clung to the air—
a chorus of long-imprisoned shadows.
I couldn't tell if it rose from outside...
or from inside my head.
"Moura... voca relicta..."
"Aperi kelto... nie wrócisz..."
"Voca... moura... aperi..."
Backward prayers.
Rhythmic.
But they carried no comfort—
only dread.
It felt as though they were prying open a door,
a door sealed long ago,
not to protect us...
but to keep what lies within from leaving.
"Aperi..."
"Aperi...!"
The chant was strangely familiar,
as if buried deep within my soul,
waiting to be spoken again.
Through the window,
I saw the branches of the trees,
thrashing like arms in chains,
desperate to break free.
Seeking escape.
With nowhere to go.
This was no ordinary storm.
This was not just wind.
There was a presence.
A force I could not name.
I opened my eyes.
I didn't know
if I had woken,
or if I was still caught
in an endless nightmare.
Silence.
No sound at all—
only the weight of the air,
and the cold creeping
through my body.
I scanned the room,
my eyes adjusting to the faint silver light
seeping through the curtains.
This was my room.
And yet...it felt inhabited by something else.
As if I were the guest,
and someone unseen was the host.
It smelled of damp cloth-
and the scent of cold, unused candles,
though none were lit.
In the corner of my eye—
I swear, something moved
and passed me by.
A crack of thunder tore the silence,
and lightning carved the sky open.
It sounded like a secret
locked away for centuries,
finally breaking free.
I clutched my chest,
desperate to calm my heart as it tried to batter its way out of my ribs.
It felt like my soul was tearing loose from my body.
I bolted upright.
Breathless.
Drenched in cold sweat.
My eyes darted across the room.
The shadows stayed still—
as if they knew I was watching.
And in that instant,
I understood:
something was terribly wrong.
(...)
There was a whisper.
I didn't understand the words,
but I felt it first:
a cold breath brushing my neck,
carrying with it the faint scent of rust.
It was like lips grazing my ear.
But when I turned...
nothing.
Just a gust of wind.
"Voca relicta, portas aperi..."
Every syllable drove into my chest like a nail.
Every word reopened a wound
inside my mind.
As if it were calling out a sin
I never knew I had committed.
Silence.
Only the pounding of my heart remained,
louder, faster.
And for some inexplicable reason,
something keeps drawing me back into the darkness.
I closed my eyes.
I prayed—
not knowing to whom,
only hoping someone, somewhere,
would hear.
When I opened them,
I was staring at the door.
I haven't been at ease for a while now.
It felt as though eyes
were watching from beyond it.
No footsteps.
No sound.
Only a presence
that has been there all along.
I don't know how long I stared,
but I knew one thing:
I could not sleep again.
Driven by a compulsion,
I rose slowly,
the cold floor seeping into my feet.
The floor was wet.
I felt the chill at once.
But where had the water come from?
Step by cautious step,
I moved toward the door.
The air grew colder,
pulling me closer.
My knees shook.
My palms dripped with cold sweat.
Still,
I walked.
Clinging to a courage
I didn't know I had.
And before I knew it,
I stood before the door.
The knob shimmered faintly,
like a golden beacon
in a starless night.
The air pressed heavy against me.
Something on the other side
longed to be free.
Should I open it?
If I did,
could I ever close it again?
Or would I be drowned
by whatever waited beyond?
"Open the door,
but do not close your eyes."
A voice.
Cold.
Not mine.
Not anyone I knew.
Yet somehow familiar.
Like an echo from a dream.
I had always dreamed of this-
a door in front of me.
Each time I approached...
I woke up.
But now,
this was no dream.
I pinched myself.
No effect.
If this was not a dream...
why did it feel like a nightmare?
I wrapped my fingers around the knob.
It was colder than the air,
as if it had waited for me
all this time.
Slowly,
I turned it.
My chest tightened with every click.
Goosebumps crawled across my skin
as the hinges groaned.
Not loud—
but heavy.
Like a melody of danger
played on the stillness of midnight.
Abyssal darkness greeted me.
For a moment, I was blind.
No light.
No sound.
No time.
As though I was floating
between worlds.
I reached for the wall—
rough and cold,
my only guide
through an endless hall.
"Where am I...?"
And then I realized:
this was not my house.
I tried to recall the way back,
but even the layout of my room was gone.
As if the space itself had been altered.
Like a dream
where you know you are home...
but everything is wrong.
Then—
a stench.
Rotting flesh.
The air tasted of rust and death.
And the whisper returned,
closer.
"Nie wrócisz. Ona cię wybrała."
More voices followed,
murmuring, overlapping,
like an ancient chant.
I couldn't catch them all,
but some clung to my soul:
"Ansha kelto moura..."
"Siva endra tiala..."
"You were saved from the light...
so you could see the darkness."
I didn't know what they meant.
But I knew...
they were meant for me.
THUD!
A sound echoed behind me.
I turned.
Nothing.
But I felt it—
eyes in the dark,
their gaze crushing.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to run.
But my body locked in place.
Then came another whisper.
This time, it was not a breath
but a sensation—
a trail of ice from my neck
down my spine,
as if a finger of frost were tracing my vertebrae.
It was not human.
It was not anything the heavens would claim.
It sounded like sin,
spoken like a reckoning.
"You can never go back, for this is where you belong."
"Voca relicta... portas aperi...
Ansha kelto moura...
Nie wrócisz..."
If you have spoken this prayer...
you will never return.
You are one of us now.
And from this moment on,
your voice that cried out to the skies...
will only be heard below.
