The knock on the window sounded again.
Soft.
Three times.
Lyra immediately froze in her place.
That was not a dramatic reaction. No screams or panicked movements. But her body became stiff like someone who suddenly realized that something that shouldn't exist... truly exists.
Kael slowly stood from his chair.
They were on the third floor.
No balcony.
No external stairs.
Nothing outside the window except night air and the wall of the old building.
The knock came from there.
Lyra spoke very softly.
"Don't approach."
Kael stopped two paces from the window.
"You know what that is?"
Lyra did not answer immediately.
Her eyes stared at the window glass like someone hoping what she saw was merely a shadow.
The knock sounded again.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
This time slightly clearer.
Kael looked out the window.
Thin city night fog clung to the glass.
But there was no one there.
No face.
No hand.
No human shadow.
Yet something kept knocking.
Lyra finally said,
"That's not a person."
Kael answered flatly,
"I already guessed that."
Lyra did not smile.
She stepped slowly toward the window, but maintained a one-meter distance from the glass.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Did you open the book after the last writing appeared?"
Kael shook his head.
"No."
Lyra looked at the symbol on Kael's wrist.
"It doesn't matter."
She said softly.
"Once the Veil begins paying attention to you... some things will begin paying attention back."
The knock sounded again.
But this time it wasn't just knocking.
The window glass trembled slightly.
As if something outside was pressing itself against the glass surface.
The fog outside moved.
Slowly.
Like a shape trying to emerge.
Lyra took a short breath.
"Don't look too long."
Kael did not look away.
"What happens if I look?"
Lyra answered shortly,
"Sometimes they look back."
The fog outside the glass began forming something.
Faint lines.
Strange curves.
Not a face.
But close enough to something that could be considered a face.
Two dark dots appeared in the fog.
Like eyes.
Lyra immediately said louder now,
"Kael. Back away."
Kael finally took one step back.
At that moment—
something knocked the glass again.
But this time not softly.
BAM.
The entire window shook hard.
Small cracks appeared at the corner of the glass.
Lyra immediately muttered softly.
"It shouldn't be able to touch this world."
Kael asked,
"Why can it now?"
Lyra pointed at the book on the desk.
"Because someone opened the first page of an artifact that is clearly unstable."
The fog outside grew thicker.
The shape behind the glass became clearer now.
Its body was incomplete.
More like a shadow trying to understand how humans look.
It pressed something against the glass.
A shape resembling a hand.
The small cracks in the glass spread slightly.
Lyra walked quickly to the desk.
She closed the book hard.
"Sometimes artifacts like this attract attention..."
She stopped.
"...the wrong kind."
Kael looked at the window again.
The creature behind the glass was still there.
But its movements slowed.
As if something held it back.
Lyra returned to Kael's side.
She spoke softly.
"That's not a physical creature."
Kael asked,
"Then what?"
Lyra thought for several seconds.
"More like... a shadow of something."
She pointed at the symbol on Kael's wrist.
"For them, that mark is like a lamp in the darkness."
The creature behind the glass moved again.
This time stronger.
The cracks in the window widened slightly.
Lyra gritted her teeth.
"We can't let it enter."
Kael said,
"What happens if it succeeds?"
Lyra answered without hesitation.
"We might never truly leave this room again."
A hard knock sounded again.
BAM.
The cracks spread further.
But right as the creature tried to press harder—
the book on the desk suddenly opened by itself.
Its pages turned rapidly.
Cold wind flowed from within.
Black ink appeared again on one of the pages.
Lyra turned.
"I hate when that thing does that."
Kael saw the writing that emerged.
The sentence was short.
But clear.
"The first observer has come."
Several seconds passed.
The ink wrote again.
"If it enters..."
Kael read the final sentence.
And for the first time that night, his expression truly changed slightly.
"...you will begin to be seen by more of them."