CHAPTER FIVE: SHADOWS KNOW NO NAMES
[Only silence sees the truth.]
Rain whispered like secrets across the city as Zareina sat cross-legged in her darkened room, the only light coming from a single flickering monitor. Her hoodie was draped over her chair, mask hung neatly beside it. Her mismatched eyes—one silver, one deep violet—glimmered softly under the screen's glow.
She read the letter again. This one was different.
"You walk alone, but not unseen. If vengeance is your melody, we are your silent choir. — I."
Her hand froze over the paper.
"I."
Again.
For a moment, the silence in her room was almost too loud. Then a faint ping from her screen broke it. An encrypted message had just appeared. No IP. No trace.
She didn't open it.
Instead, she stood and walked to the back wall, pressing her fingers to an unnoticeable panel. It hissed open, revealing her secret room—a space that looked like a detective's lair carved out of shadow. Photos, newspaper clippings, maps with red strings, all connecting crimes no one else dared to link. She stared at the board, her eyes falling to one pinned article.
"Unsolved Homicide - Case Sealed by Authorities"
Her fingers curled into a fist. That was her reason. Her silence. Her drive.
She slipped on her hoodie and pulled the mask over her face before stepping into the night once more. A chill crept through the air as she whispered to herself, "It seems he can hardly contain his anticipation."
---
The city had quieted.
No thunder tonight. No torrents of rain. Only the low breath of the wind brushing through steel skeletons and old brick bones.
An alleyway near the pier stood empty—at least, it seemed so.
Then came the shift in air.
Not footsteps. Not a whisper. Just... presence.
A man in a dark suit lit a cigarette, eyes scanning the shadows. He checked his wristwatch, twice. He'd been instructed to wait. No backup. No comms. No weapons. Just him—and her.
He almost laughed at the absurdity.
Then the flame from his lighter flickered out.
He looked up—and froze.
A figure stood across from him.
Still. Hooded. Masked.
Even in the low light, her mismatched eyes were unmistakable.
One burned gold.
The other shimmered like fractured violet glass.
Zareina Ravyn.
---
She said nothing as she stepped forward, her boots silent over the concrete. The man tried to hold her gaze, but couldn't. Not because of fear—because of pressure. Her stare wasn't just unsettling. It pressed, like her emotions were pouring into the air itself, bending light and thought alike.
Her left eye—violet—shifted, a silver ripple running through it. She was… curious. Dangerous.
And tired.
"You don't speak, do you?" the agent muttered, swallowing. "Guess Icarus wasn't kidding."
Zareina lifted her hand and pointed to his chest.
There, embedded in his suit pocket, was a sealed black envelope.
He hesitated, then handed it to her. She took it from him and opened it. Inside was a single note with seven words:
"You have one week. No other chances."
He looked back up.
Her golden eye flared slightly, a dull hum resonating in the air.
The shadows behind her twisted—not by movement, but by energy. Emotion. Rage, perhaps?
She didn't answer. Just turned to leave.
But before she disappeared into the alley, she paused—just slightly. Her head tilted.
Someone was watching.
She knew it.
---
Inside a mobile command van parked discreetly atop a remote hill, Cipher A.K.A Aylin Tamang—tapped rapidly on her keyboard. Monitors flickered with lines of code, surveillance feeds, and data overlays.
"I know you're hiding something," she muttered. "Who are you, Zareina Ravyn?"
Cipher had pieced together enough information to be certain: Zareina wasn't just another mysterious student; she was skilled—too skilled. The way she disabled every street camera during the alley fight wasn't random; it was a calculated maneuver. Cipher had tried to trace Zareina's signature in the security grid afterward, but it felt like chasing shadows.
And Cipher wasn't accustomed to being outmatched.
She sipped her cold coffee while scanning through the final moments of the alley footage she had captured last time. Just before the system went dark, she caught a glimpse.
"I need to find out more."
She started her van, knowing where she was headed next.
An hour later, in a discreet rooftop van far above the alley,
Cipher stared at her screen, her heart racing.
Zareina had changed.
Her presence tonight was different—sharper, more alive, and more volatile.
The system had only captured fragments of her face, but that was enough. Her eyes pulsed in sync with her emotions, and Cipher could feel the energy resonating through the tech.
She leaned back, her mind racing.
"You're not just powerful," Cipher murmured. "You're waking up."
Then, the screen glitched. For a single frame—less than the blink of an eye—there was static.
No… not static.
A figure.
---
A silhouette. Lean. Feminine. Perched at the edge of a construction beam nearby, high above Zareina's path.
She moved like smoke.
And then—vanished.
Cipher blinked.
"Wait… who the hell was that?"
She ran diagnostics. Nothing. No footprints. No trace. The system didn't even log a presence.
But the image replayed once in her mind—those piercing, faintly glowing red-tinted eyes under a wolf-cut fringe.
And a whisper, from the bug Zareina carried unknowingly, just before the signal cut:
"…Interesting eyes, hoodie girl."
Then static.
Cipher sat up. "That's not one of ours."
She picked up her comm and called the only secure channel Icarus gave her.
"Icarus,It's me. We-we have another variable."
---
Meanwhile…
Zareina walked through a narrow passage between buildings, her breath steady, her heart silent.
She hadn't spoken a word. But she'd said everything she needed.
The agent would deliver the message.
The city would start to move.
And someone... someone had followed her.
Her eyes glowed again—violet now tinged with crimson. Not fear.
Intrigue.
She whispered softly to herself, her voice a rare sound against the quiet night.
"…Let's see how far the web stretches."
---
In the shadows above, the girl with red-tinted purple eyes watched Zareina disappear.
She adjusted a blade hidden beneath her jacket and smiled lazily to herself.
"Found you."
Then she was gone.
(To be continued.)