The stone crypt was hidden beneath an old church, whose roof had collapsed decades ago, leaving behind only shadows of the past. According to notes from Alison's diary, it was here that the first of the artifacts was supposed to rest: the Heart of the Covenant, a medallion that allowed safe passage between dimensions—not only for beings but also for memories that could have been lost.
Jeremy walked ahead, holding a torch. Julie was right behind him—silent, alert, with her hand on her neck, where the marks left by Rosalie after the ritual had begun to appear. The change was already underway. But she hadn't told Jeremy yet. Not yet.
"Do you feel it?" the boy whispered as they reached the ornate doors engraved with the symbol of two wings entwined by flames.
Julie nodded. "The energy. But… it's not cold. It's… familiar."
Jeremy placed his hand on the symbol. For a moment, nothing happened—but then the runes flared with golden light, and a brief flash of red appeared in his eyes. The demonic blood inside him recognized the barrier but did not try to break it. It yielded. The doors slid open with a dull creak.
The inside of the crypt was saturated with ancient magic. In the center, raised on four black stone pillars, lay the medallion. And something else.
"It can't be that simple," Julie said, squinting. "If it were that easy, someone would have taken it long ago."
Jeremy nodded. "It's a trap. But not a physical one."
And then they felt it.
A shadow. Not a demon. Not an angel. Something that existed before the division of light and darkness. An undefined being guarding the entrance. A creation of thoughts, fears, and unfinished stories. Called in Alison's diary: the Shapeless.
"Don't look it in the eyes," Jeremy said sharply, turning Julie's head away.
"It has no eyes," she replied, trembling. "It… is the gaze."
The Shapeless approached—slowly, silently, but with every second their strength waned. Julie grabbed Jeremy's hand, and he—without hesitation—reached out with his free hand toward the medallion.
The moment he touched it, darkness exploded in their minds—memories, fears, voices of ancestors. Jack's voice. Alison's voice. And then... silence.
The medallion shone, and the Shapeless vanished—it dissipated as if it had never been there.
They were alone.
Jeremy looked at Julie. She was pale but strong.
"One down," he whispered. "Two more to go."
"And then...?"
"Then my parents will return. Or… the last of us will die."
***
Rosalie sat in her favorite spot: beneath the hooded pillars of the watchtower in the town center. Cut off from the world, her head resting against the cool stone, she seemed calm. But the moment Jeremy reached for the Heart of the Covenant, her body shuddered as if a piece of her soul had been torn out.
She opened her eyes with a hiss. They were no longer black as before. Now they shimmered with an opalescent violet.
"They found it..." she whispered.
Mist began to rise from her fingers. Thick, dark, unreal. Her hand clenched on the stone railing.
"I didn't let you reach for me, Jeremy. And yet you come closer. Too close. Too deep."
Suddenly, the ground beneath her trembled. One of the stones cracked beneath her foot. The magical protections guarding the town responded to the artifact's awakening.
Rosalie raised her gaze to the sky—it was darkening, though the sun had not yet set. Clouds swirled above the tower, gathering into a tight vortex over her head. In that storm was her anger. And fear.
"If you open the second one..." she said, more to herself than anyone else, "...you will awaken them all."
From the darkness behind her emerged a figure. Slender, inhuman, with eyes like cloudy planets. A long-forgotten entity Rosalie summoned from another dimension.
"Follow them. I want to know where they are going. If they approach the Tear of Shadow, kill Julie."
The entity bowed its head and dissolved into the air.
Rosalie was left alone, but she was not calm.
Jeremy had found the first key.
Now she had to prepare for war.
***
Jeremy held the Heart of the Covenant in his hands, as if holding a piece of the universe pulsing with life. The artifact radiated warmth that penetrated his skin, reaching his bones. He still didn't fully understand how it worked—but he knew one thing: something had just changed.
Julie stood right beside him, confused, as if feeling the same impulse, even though she hadn't touched the artifact.
"Jeremy..." she whispered, grabbing his hand. "I feel something strange. Like... the world is breathing with us. Like, for a moment, it stopped being the same."
The boy looked at her. Her eyes sparkled, but not with fear. With fascination. With emotion.
"It's not just you," he replied. "I feel it too. And I don't yet know whether we should be happy... or scared."
Julie placed her hand on his chest, right where his heart was beating.
"I feel like it happened because of us. Like we opened something together."
Jeremy nodded, and his voice became quiet, more for her than for himself:
"And like someone... something... felt it immediately."
In the distance, a crack sounded—as if the sky had torn open somewhere. They both looked up. Jeremy gripped the artifact tighter.
"We have to act fast," he said. "Because Rosalie knows. I feel her. She's trying to locate us."
"In that case, we can't stand still," Julie added. "Let's set out today. While we still have the advantage. Before she closes the way."
Jeremy smiled faintly, proud of her courage.
"You really are connected to all of this, Julie. I feel like without you... it would all fall apart."
They drew closer. Both knew that every next step would require risk. But now they were together. And for the first time, they felt they could win.