Shadows Of Deception

The Choice Between Shadows

Kaylie nodded.

Ryo's fingers dug into the bedsheets as he forced himself upright, his body trembling. "Where are we? Are we... are we really here?"

Kaylie didn't know how to answer.

The demon remained still. Watching. Waiting.

Ryo's breathing turned shallow. He glanced at the machines, the IV in his arm, the cold sterility of the hospital around them. His voice was hoarse when he whispered, "It followed us."

Kaylie swallowed hard. "I don't think it ever left."

A low sound—not quite a growl, not quite a whisper—rumbled through the room.

The demon shifted again.

It leaned forward, just slightly, and for the first time, Kaylie felt something like an emotion coming from it.

Grief.

Sorrow.

Ryo tensed. His gaze flickered to Kaylie, then back to the thing standing at the foot of his bed. His voice was barely above a whisper. "Why are you still here?"

For the first time, the demon reacted.

Its shadowy limbs twitched.

Kaylie's chest tightened.

Then—the hospital room began to change.

The fluorescent lights above flickered wildly, their sterile glow twisting, morphing, shifting to something warmer.

The walls melted away.

The cold linoleum floors became scorched wood, littered with ash. The machines, the beds, the monitors—all of it faded, dissolving into a blackened ruin.

Kaylie's stomach dropped.

They were no longer in the hospital.

They were back.

Back at the school.

Only now... it was nothing more than a burnt-out husk.

The walls were skeletal remains, crumbling and blackened. The air was thick with the scent of charred wood and something far worse.

And beneath it all, the whisper of echoes.

Ryo's hands clenched into fists. His voice wavered. "No. No, we left this place—"

"You do not remember."

The demon's voice rippled through the air, as if coming from the ashes themselves.

Kaylie's fingers curled into her palms. "Remember what?"

The darkness shifted again. The remains of the school shuddered, the walls peeling away like brittle paper. Something beneath them was hidden, something lurking just beyond their sight.

Then—

A single image formed in the shadows.

Kaylie froze.

Ryo sucked in a breath.

It was them.

Lying on the ground.

Their bodies—burnt, motionless, covered in ash.

Kaylie's stomach lurched.