Episode Six | The Footsteps In The Dark | The Occult’s Bride | Chosen Against My Will | Short Mystery Story

The footsteps echoed through the hallway—measured, deliberate, as though the intruder wanted me to hear every step. My pulse pounded in my ears.

The woman clutched my arm, her nails digging into my skin. “Do not move,” she hissed. “If they see fear, they will feed on it.”

Her marked arm throbbed with faint light, casting eerie shadows on the walls. I wanted to pull away, but her grip was iron.

Another step. Closer.

Another.

And then—silence.

The air pressed heavy around us. I whispered through trembling lips:

> “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise—In God I have put my trust; I shall not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 56:3–4)

The silence broke with a voice. Calm. Familiar.

“Shalom.”

I turned slowly. My breath caught.

It was the stranger.

Friend or Enemy?

Relief surged through me, but before I could speak, the woman beside me let out a piercing scream. “NO! That is not him!”

She pointed at him with her trembling, branded arm. “Don’t you see? It’s one of them! They’ve taken his form!”

I froze. My mind reeled. Could they do that? Could they wear his face like a mask?

The man in the hallway stepped forward, his eyes glowing faintly with something unnatural. His voice echoed strangely, layered, as though more than one being spoke through him.

“You are frightened, bride,” he said, his tone both gentle and terrifying. “But you need not fear us. We only want what was written. Step into the covenant, and you will know peace.”

The woman fell to her knees, weeping. “I told you—they come as light, as truth, but inside… they are wolves!”

The Test of Spirits

I stumbled backward, torn between the stranger I had trusted and the warning of the broken woman before me.

“Adonai, show me the truth,” I whispered, tears welling in my eyes.

The imposter stretched out his hand toward me. His smile was calm, disarming.

“Come, daughter of Zion. Do not resist what Heaven has written.”

But in my heart, Yeshua’s words thundered like a trumpet:

> “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

I gasped, stepping back. My spirit recoiled. This was not the voice of Heaven.

The Unmasking

The woman leapt up, seizing a shard of broken wood from the floor. She thrust it at the figure. “Reveal yourself!”

The air split with a horrific sound—not a scream, not a growl, but something inhuman. His skin rippled, his face twisting, melting into something grotesque. His eyes burned with red fire.

He was no stranger. He was one of them.

The room shook violently. He raised his arm, and the ashes of the fire circle leapt into the air, swirling around me like chains.

“You cannot resist forever!” he thundered. “The Bride will burn, and the child with her!”

I fell to my knees, clutching my womb, crying out with all that was within me:

> “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, and the floods overflow me.” (Psalm 69:1–2)

The ashes wrapped tighter. My vision blurred.

The woman screamed, throwing herself at the creature. For a moment, the chains loosened.

And then—

A brilliant flash of light filled the room.

The imposter shrieked, covering his face. The ashes fell to the floor.

When my sight returned, he was gone.

But the woman lay motionless, her body still, her marked arm blackened and burned.

And in her open hand… she clutched another parchment.

A new piece of the prophecy.

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🔥 End of Episode Six: The Footsteps in the Dark

Episode Seven: The Second Prophecy, where we read the new parchment, uncover more about the fate of the child, and find out whether the woman’s sacrifice was truly selfless—or part of something darker?