The first knock came at 3:17 AM.
Kade was standing in his mother’s bedroom, staring at the silver residue on the window frame.
He froze.
Three knocks followed.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Kade looked toward the hallway.
Nobody knocked like that in Lagos at three in the morning unless they wanted money, trouble, or both.
He wasn’t particularly interested in either.
"Who’s there?"
Silence.
Kade waited.
Then a voice answered.
"Your mother sent me."
His heart lurched.
He moved toward the door before catching himself.
Think.
His mother was missing.
A creature had attacked him.
A stranger had left a threatening note outside.
And now someone was claiming to know her.
That wasn’t enough reason to open the door.
It was enough reason to be careful.
"What’s her name?"
A pause.
"Adunni."
Kade’s fingers tightened.
"Full name."
"Adunni Adeyemi."
"What does she call me when she’s angry?"
Silence.
Kade took one step backward.
Then the voice answered.
"Kade."
He almost laughed.
"Wrong answer."
Something scraped against the door.
Slowly.
From top to bottom.
Kade stared.
The sound came again.
Scrrrrrk.
A thin line appeared in the wood.
Then another.
The System activated.
[UNAUTHORIZED SPIRITUAL ENTITY DETECTED.]
[ANALYZE AVAILABLE.]
Kade swallowed.
"Analyze."
A translucent window appeared.
[TARGET: UNKNOWN.]
[SPIRITUAL CLASSIFICATION: INCOMPLETE.]
[THREAT LEVEL: ABOVE CURRENT HOST CAPACITY.]
[RECOMMENDATION: AVOID DIRECT CONTACT.]
Kade stared at the last line.
"Finally. Something we agree on."
The scraping stopped.
Then his mother’s voice came through the door.
"Kade, open up."
His blood turned cold.
It sounded exactly like her.
Not similar.
Not close.
Exactly.
The gentle firmness.
The faint tiredness.
Even the way she pronounced his name when she wanted him to stop arguing.
"Kade."
He stood motionless.
"Please."
His hand moved toward the lock.
Then he remembered the memory he’d inherited from the Hollow Wraith.
The girl in the forest.
The thing chasing her had worn a man’s face.
He pulled his hand back.
"Tell me something only my mother would know."
Silence.
Then—
"You broke the blue flowerpot when you were nine."
Kade stopped breathing.
"You blamed the neighbour’s cat."
His stomach tightened.
"And I told you I knew you were lying."
He remembered.
The flowerpot.
The cat.
His mother standing in the kitchen with her arms folded.
Nobody else had been there.
Nobody.
The voice softened.
"Open the door, my son."
Kade reached for the lock.
A notification flashed.
[WARNING.]
[SPIRITUAL IMITATION DETECTED.]
He jerked his hand away.
The voice changed.
Not in pitch.
Not in volume.
In feeling.
The warmth vanished.
"Kade."
A long pause.
"Open."
The door shook.
Kade ran.
Not toward the front entrance.
Toward the kitchen.
The house had two exits: the main door and a narrow back door leading into the passage beside the compound.
If the creature was at the front, the back might still be clear.
He reached the kitchen and grabbed the handle.
Locked.
He turned the key.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
The metal wouldn’t move.
A blue window appeared.
[SPIRITUAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED.]
Kade stared.
"Of course."
Behind him, the front door creaked.
Not opened.
Creaked.
Like something enormous was leaning against it.
Kade grabbed a kitchen knife.
He looked at the blade.
Then at the hallway.
A knife against something that could steal memories and lock doors with supernatural power.
"Excellent choice of weapon, Kade."
He put it down.
The System had given him Night Sight.
He could see spiritual residue.
He could Analyze things.
And he could Devour.
Unfortunately, the last ability required getting close enough to touch something that was probably going to kill him.
He wasn’t eager to test that arrangement again.
BOOM!
The front door shuddered.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Kade crouched behind the kitchen counter.
"System."
[AWAITING QUERY.]
"Can that thing get through the door?"
[INSUFFICIENT DATA.]
"Can I stop it?"
[HOST CAPABILITIES INSUFFICIENT FOR RELIABLE ASSESSMENT.]
"You’re a motivational speaker, aren’t you?"
Another impact shook the house.
BOOM!
A crack spread across the wall.
Kade closed his eyes.
Think.
The creature had spoken with his mother’s voice.
It knew things it shouldn’t.
It had tried to make him open the door instead of simply breaking through.
Why?
If it could destroy the door, why bother knocking?
He opened his eyes.
"Analyze."
[TARGET NOT WITHIN DIRECT OBSERVATION.]
Kade looked toward the hallway.
He needed to see it.
That was a terrible idea.
He considered his options.
Then he remembered the silver residue on his mother’s window.
Concealment.
Someone had used supernatural power to hide something.
Could the creature be doing something similar?
He needed information.
Kade crept toward the sitting room.
The front door was still closed.
Three deep scratches marked its surface.
Something moved beneath it.
Not feet.
A shadow.
Thin.
Black.
It stretched into the room against the direction of the light.
Kade stopped.
His stomach dropped.
The first Hollow Wraith had possessed a moving shadow.
But this one felt different.
He activated Analyze.
[TARGET PARTIALLY OBSERVED.]
[CLASSIFICATION: VEIL STALKER.]
[TYPE: PREDATORY SPIRIT.]
[PRIMARY ATTRIBUTE: MIMICRY.]
[SECONDARY ATTRIBUTE: CONCEALMENT.]
[KNOWN BEHAVIOUR: IMITATES FAMILIAR VOICES TO INDUCE TARGET COMPLIANCE.]
[THREAT LEVEL: HIGH.]
Kade read the information twice.
"Veil Stalker."
The shadow stopped moving.
Something outside laughed.
A dry, scraping sound.
"You can see me."
Kade backed away.
"Unfortunately."
The creature pressed against the door.
Its shadow thickened.
Then a face appeared in the wood.
Not carved.
Not painted.
It pushed outward from inside the door itself.
A woman’s face.
His mother’s face.
Her eyes were closed.
Her mouth moved.
"Kade."
He felt sick.
"Stop using her face."
The creature smiled.
The smile stretched too far.
"Open."
Kade raised his hand.
"Analyze weakness."
[ADDITIONAL OBSERVATION REQUIRED.]
"You’re really making me work for this."
The face disappeared.
A moment later, the door handle turned.
Once.
Twice.
Then the lock clicked.
Kade froze.
He had locked it.
He was certain.
The door began opening.
Kade threw the nearest chair.
It struck the door just as a black arm slipped through the gap.
The creature shrieked.
The chair shattered.
Kade ran toward the passage.
Behind him, something unfolded into the sitting room.
He caught a glimpse.
Too many joints.
Long fingers.
A narrow head that kept changing shape.
For an instant, it wore his mother’s face.
Then the face of an old man.
Then a child’s.
Kade reached the hallway.
The creature moved.
A black hand struck the wall beside his head.
Plaster exploded.
Kade ducked.
He felt the wind of the blow pass over his hair.
He stumbled into his mother’s bedroom and slammed the door.
The impact came immediately.
BOOM!
The door jumped in its frame.
Kade backed toward the window.
His hands shook.
He could hear the creature breathing on the other side.
Then his mother’s voice returned.
"Kade."
He clenched his jaw.
"Not falling for that again."
"You’re making this difficult."
"That’s the idea."
The creature scratched the door.
A thin black line spread across the wood.
Kade glanced at the window.
Second floor.
A narrow concrete ledge ran beneath it.
Below was the backyard.
The drop wasn’t impossible.
It also wasn’t particularly inviting.
He looked at the System.
"Can I survive that jump?"
[ESTIMATED INJURY RISK: MODERATE TO HIGH.]
"Better than getting eaten."
He opened the window.
Cold air rushed in.
The silver residue along the frame shimmered.
Kade paused.
It was brighter now.
Not because of Night Sight.
Because something was reacting to the creature.
The residue formed a thin line across the frame.
He leaned closer.
"Analyze."
[RESIDUAL CONCEALMENT EFFECT.]
[CURRENT STATE: DETERIORATING.]
[INTERACTION WITH HOST: UNKNOWN.]
Kade frowned.
The creature struck the bedroom door again.
A crack appeared near the lock.
He looked at the silver line.
Then at the door.
Something clicked.
The stranger outside had left a note carrying the same residue.
His mother had traces of it around her window.
And the creature was trying to force him out of the house.
Was it following him?
Or following something connected to the house?
Kade didn’t know.
But he could test one possibility.
He tore a strip from the bedroom curtain.
Pressed it against the silver residue.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
The cloth passed through the shimmer without collecting anything.
"Fantastic."
The door cracked.
A black finger pushed through.
Kade abandoned the experiment.
He climbed onto the window ledge.
Behind him, the creature spoke.
Not with his mother’s voice this time.
With his own.
"Don’t run."
Kade looked back.
A face pressed through the broken door.
His face.
Same eyes.
Same mouth.
Same scar above the eyebrow.
The thing smiled.
"You’re already mine."
Kade jumped.
He landed badly.
Pain shot through his ankle.
He rolled across the backyard and slammed into a plastic water drum.
The drum overturned.
Water spilled across the concrete.
Kade gasped.
For a moment, he couldn’t stand.
A notification appeared.
[PHYSICAL DAMAGE DETECTED.]
[LEFT ANKLE: MINOR SPRAIN.]
[MOVEMENT CAPACITY REDUCED.]
"Thank you for the medical report."
He pushed himself upright.
Above him, something appeared at the bedroom window.
The Veil Stalker.
It crouched on the ledge.
Its body was darker than the night around it.
Its head tilted.
Then it smiled.
Kade limped toward the back gate.
Locked.
He reached for the bolt.
A black tendril struck the concrete beside him.
He jerked backward.
The creature dropped from the window.
It landed without a sound.
Kade stared.
"That’s unfair."
The Stalker approached.
Slowly.
It wasn’t rushing anymore.
It knew he was injured.
Kade backed toward the overturned drum.
His foot slipped in the water.
He nearly fell.
The creature stopped.
Its head turned toward the spreading puddle.
For the first time, it hesitated.
Kade noticed.
He looked down.
Water.
The creature looked at the puddle again.
Then at him.
Kade activated Analyze.
[TARGET RESPONSE DETECTED.]
[ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION: AVERSION TO FLOWING WATER.]
[CAUSE: SPIRITUAL COHESION INSTABILITY.]
Kade blinked.
"You’re joking."
The creature hissed.
It moved around the puddle.
Not through it.
Kade looked toward the outdoor tap beside the wall.
A green hose lay coiled beneath it.
He limped toward the tap.
The creature lunged.
Kade twisted aside.
Its claws tore through his shirt.
Pain burned across his shoulder.
He stumbled.
The Stalker raised its hand again.
Kade grabbed the hose.
Turned the tap.
Nothing.
No water.
He stared at the nozzle.
"NEPA has entered the conversation."
The creature advanced.
Kade looked at the overturned drum.
There was still water inside.
Not much.
Enough?
He grabbed the drum’s rim.
The creature lunged.
Kade kicked the drum toward it.
Water surged across the concrete.
The Stalker shrieked as the stream struck its legs.
Its body flickered.
For an instant, Kade saw something beneath the changing faces.
A knot of black threads.
Tightly wound.
Pulsing.
[TARGET STRUCTURAL INSTABILITY DETECTED.]
[CORE LOCATION IDENTIFIED.]
Kade stared.
The creature recoiled.
Its faces flickered wildly.
His mother.
A stranger.
A child.
Then nothing.
The black threads were exposed.
The System flashed.
[DEVOUR OPPORTUNITY DETECTED.]
[SUCCESS PROBABILITY: 6.2%.]
Kade raised his hand.
Then stopped.
Six percent.
The creature was weakened.
But not helpless.
And DEVOUR had nearly broken him when he used it against a much weaker enemy.
He remembered the foreign memories.
The hunger.
The thing inside his head that had wanted more.
The Stalker began recovering.
Its black threads tightened.
Kade lowered his hand.
"No."
The System remained silent.
He wasn’t going to gamble his life on a power he barely understood.
Not when he had another option.
The creature lunged.
Kade grabbed the metal bucket beside the tap.
He threw it.
The bucket struck the Stalker’s head.
It barely reacted.
But the impact bought him one second.
He turned.
Reached the gate.
Slid the bolt.
And ran.
Kade didn’t stop until he reached the next street.
His ankle throbbed.
His shoulder burned.
His breathing sounded like a generator struggling to start.
He leaned against a wall and looked back.
Nothing followed.
He waited.
One minute.
Then another.
The street remained empty.
A woman selling early-morning akara was setting up her stall at the junction.
A commercial bus rattled past.
Someone shouted about transport fares.
Ordinary Lagos.
Kade had never been so grateful to hear people arguing.
He looked down at his torn shirt.
Blood stained the fabric near his shoulder.
The creature had nearly killed him.
Again.
And this time, he hadn’t defeated it.
He had escaped.
Barely.
The System appeared.
[ENCOUNTER TERMINATED.]
[TARGET STATUS: ACTIVE.]
[HOST SURVIVAL: CONFIRMED.]
Kade stared.
"You’re welcome."
Another message followed.
[TACTICAL OBSERVATION RECORDED.]
[HOST IDENTIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL WEAKNESS.]
[ANALYZE FUNCTION EXPERIENCE INCREASED.]
Kade frowned.
"Experience?"
[FUNCTION DEVELOPMENT OCCURS THROUGH SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION.]
He considered that.
So the System could improve through use.
That was useful.
But the discovery did nothing to ease the fear in his chest.
The creature was still alive.
It knew his face.
His voice.
His mother’s voice.
And it had followed him into his home.
He looked toward the distant rooftops.
The sky was beginning to pale.
Dawn wasn’t far away.
He needed somewhere safe.
Somewhere the creature couldn’t easily find him.
Only one person came to mind.
Tobi.
Kade reached into his pocket for his phone.
Dead.
He sighed.
"Of course."
Then he remembered the old tablet in his hand.
He had grabbed it before leaving the bedroom.
The screen was cracked from the fall.
But it still worked.
He connected to a nearby public Wi-Fi network that barely reached the street.
Opened a messaging app.
And typed:
KADE: Are you awake?
The reply came almost immediately.
TOBI: No. I’m replying in my sleep.
Kade exhaled.
For the first time that night, something inside him loosened.
KADE: I need help.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Then:
TOBI: Where are you?
Kade sent his location.
A moment later, another message arrived.
TOBI: Stay there. I’m coming.
Kade leaned against the wall.
He closed his eyes.
And for several seconds, he allowed himself to believe that the worst was over.
Then the System activated.
[SPIRITUAL TRACE DETECTED.]
Kade opened his eyes.
A faint black thread floated before him.
It stretched down the street.
Toward the direction he’d come from.
His stomach tightened.
The Stalker had left something on him.
A mark.
He looked at his torn shoulder.
There, beneath the blood, a tiny black symbol was slowly forming.
Kade touched it.
Pain shot through his arm.
He pulled his hand away.
"Analyze."
[TARGET: SPIRITUAL TRACKING MARK.]
[ORIGIN: VEIL STALKER.]
[FUNCTION: MAINTAINS TARGET LOCATION SIGNATURE.]
[REMOVAL METHOD: UNKNOWN.]
Kade stared at the message.
The creature hadn’t simply attacked him.
It had marked him.
And wherever he went—
it could follow.
He looked toward the road where Tobi would soon arrive.
His chest tightened.
If he stayed, he might lead the creature straight to his best friend.
Kade opened the messaging app again.
His fingers hovered above the keyboard.
He typed:
Don’t come.
Before he could send it, another message appeared.
TOBI: Kade, why is there someone standing outside my gate asking for you?
Kade stopped breathing.
A second message followed.
TOBI: Bro.
TOBI: How does this person know your mother’s voice