The Silent Trace
Once a ghost, always a ghost.
Ethan Vale, a quiet locksmith in East London, hides from a past that officially doesn’t exist. Years ago, he was an MI5 infiltration specialist — until a mission in Prague went wrong, his entire team was killed, and his name was erased.
He’s lived in silence since.
Until one rain-soaked night, a woman named Clara Daines bursts into his shop with a bleeding shoulder and a biometric case she claims holds evidence of a government conspiracy. Hours later, armed men arrive. Ethan’s calm life is shattered in seconds.
When he opens the case, he finds something impossible — an active MI5 kill order with his name on it, dated that same day.
Hunted by his own agency, Ethan partners with Detective Isla Hart, a sharp but idealistic investigator chasing a string of assassinations linked to a defunct MI5 unit known as Division 9 — the same unit Ethan once led.
As Ethan unravels the mystery, he discovers Division 9 never truly ended — it evolved into The Consortium, a covert alliance manipulating London’s surveillance systems to engineer obedience. Every crime, every target, every “accident” is part of a digital control plan called Project Echelon II.
The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes:
Division 9 didn’t just erase him. It rebuilt him — piece by piece.
And now, the ghosts he buried are coming back… wearing his face.
The final revelation will force Ethan to confront the deepest question of all:
Is he still human — or just another trace in someone else’s code?
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Chapter: THE CITY THAT LISTENS Chapter 68 The alarms didn’t scream. They breathed. A low, rhythmic pulse rolled through the tunnel, red light waxing and waning as if the walls themselves had a heartbeat. Naomi stood frozen, every instinct tearing her in opposite directions, run, fight, scream, deny. The man before them hadn’t moved, yet the space felt smaller with each pulse, compressed by his presence. Maya tightened her grip on Naomi’s arm. “Naomi,” she whispered, “say something.” Naomi swallowed. Her mouth tasted like copper. “Don’t, don’t let him separate us.” The man smiled faintly at that, as if she’d solved a riddle too late. He lowered his hand, and the alarms softened, settling into a steady hum. “I won’t,” he said. “Not yet.” Elena’s voice trembled. “You said he was dead.” “I said the case was closed,” Naomi replied. “I said the evidence ended him.” Her eyes never left his face. “I never said the truth did.” He inclined his head, acknowledging the distinction. “Truth is inefficient,” he said. “I
Last Updated: 2025-12-15
Chapter: THE MAN IN THE TUNNEL Chapter 67 The tunnel twisted like a throat carved beneath the earth, narrow and damp, the air thick with dust stirred by the collapse above. Naomi’s lungs burned as she sprinted forward, boots slapping the cold concrete. Behind her, Maya and Elena followed close, their breath ragged, their shadows flickering in the dim emergency lights lining the walls like dying fireflies.“Harris,” Maya gasped. “We have to go back for him,”“No,” Naomi said, voice cracking but firm. “He told us to run. You know what that means.”Elena flinched at the truth in those words.If Harris was still alive, he was buying them seconds.If he wasn’t… then he had already given everything he could.The tunnel sloped downward, the angle steeper than Naomi remembered from the old schematic Harris had shown them weeks earlier, back when hiding underground was still a theoretical fear, not a reality closing in on their heels.A deep metallic groan echoed through the tunnel walls.Not structural.Mechanical.Maya s
Last Updated: 2025-12-12
Chapter: THE BASEMENT DOOR Chapter 66 Darkness swallowed the house so quickly it felt intentional, precise, engineered, timed down to the heartbeat. Naomi’s breath hitched as the lights blinked off, leaving only the thin silver glow leaking through the cracks around the boarded windows. Maya grabbed her hand. Elena stumbled back, hitting the wall with a soft thud. Harris didn’t yell. He didn’t panic. He spoke with the cold authority of someone who had rehearsed this moment in nightmares. “Stay close. Move now.” He switched on a small tactical light clipped to his vest. A tight white beam cut through the dark, trembling slightly with his breath but steady enough to guide them. He led them toward the kitchen, toward the cellar door that sat half-hidden behind an old, dust-covered shelf. Another click cracked through the house. This one louder. Deeper. Mechanical. Elena flinched. “What is that? What did they turn on?” Harris didn’t look back. “A lock. Or a trigger. Either way, it means we’re running out
Last Updated: 2025-12-12
Chapter: THE HOUSE THAT KNEW THEIR NAMEChapter 64 Naomi didn’t understand why the quiet felt hostile, but from the moment the three of them stepped into the abandoned safe house, something was wrong. It was too still, like a place waiting for its occupants, not welcoming them.Detective Harris locked the door behind them, then moved through the room with the sharp, scanning focus of a man who expected danger in every shadow. He checked windows, corners, floorboards, every surface his eyes touched carried suspicion.Maya rubbed her arms, trying to shake the goosebumps rising there. “Harris, how long are we supposed to stay here?”“Long enough to figure out who’s hunting you,” he said, voice low. “And long enough for me to confirm if what I’ve been told is real.”Naomi turned to him. “What you’ve been told? By who?”He didn’t answer.Instead, he held up a small envelope. Thin, brown, sealed.None of them had noticed it on the kitchen counter before.Elena frowned. “Where did that come from? That wasn’t there when we walked
Last Updated: 2025-12-11
Chapter: THE SECOND CALL Chapter 64 Naomi didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Detective Harris finished speaking. The living room felt suddenly too small, the air too thin, as if the walls themselves were leaning in to listen.Maya was the first to find her voice. “What do you mean someone called asking about us? Who?”Harris didn’t sit. He stayed standing, tense, watchful, every muscle tight like he expected the situation to turn at any moment.“I don’t have a name,” he said. “The inquiry came through an encrypted line routed through three different servers. Whoever made that call knew how to hide. But they asked directly for you three. By full name. And they referenced the night of the incident.”A shiver rolled through Elena. “How would anyone outside the department know the details? That case wasn’t public.”“That’s the problem,” Harris said. “Someone on the inside is leaking information. Or someone on the outside has access they shouldn’t.”Naomi paced, fingers pressed against her temples. “
Last Updated: 2025-12-11
Chapter: THE VISITOR AT THE DOOR Chapter 63 Naomi’s fingers tightened around the edge of the door as the figure stepped fully into view. The early morning sun cast a long shadow behind him, turning his presence into something larger, heavier. Maya and Elena stood slowly, uncertainty knotting in their chests.“Detective Harris?” Naomi breathed, disbelief slicing through her voice.He nodded once. Serious. Focused. His dark coat looked too heavy for the warm morning, and the badge clipped at his belt glinted sharply in the sunlight. He scanned each of their faces, first Naomi, then Elena, then Maya, studying them the way only someone trained to read people would.“Sorry to show up unannounced,” he said, “but we need to talk. All three of you.”Maya swallowed hard. “About what?”Harris stepped inside without waiting for permission, though his presence didn’t feel forceful, just urgent. He closed the door behind him and let out a breath as though he’d been holding it for miles.“It’s about the incident,” he said. “The o
Last Updated: 2025-12-11
Chapter: Chapter 9 ~ THE CAGE THAT MOVES Darkness. Not the peaceful kind found at night, but a heavy, suffocating darkness that felt alive. It pressed against Kai’s skin, muffling sound, thought, even breath. Then, clink… clink… clink… Chains. Cold metal dragging across stone. Kai stirred. Pain rippled through his ribs, sharp enough to steal his breath. His eyes fluttered open. A dim blue lantern hung from the ceiling. He was inside something made of blackened steel, bars etched with glowing runes. A cage, no, a transport cell. The kind the Provincial Arcane Council used to move dangerous criminals or arcane anomalies. His wrists were shackled in front of him. The cuffs hummed, draining every sliver of energy that tried to awaken. Kai exhaled shakily. He wasn’t dead. But he wasn’t free. He pushed himself upright, gripping the bars. The metal stung his fingers, reacting instantly to his touch, locking down any trace of spiritual energy. He was fully powerless. Footsteps echoed outside the carriage. Kai leaned
Last Updated: 2025-12-17
Chapter: Chapter 8 -THE KNIFE IN THE DARK Night fell over Emberfall like a blanket of quiet unease.The village was tense after the attack. Guards patrolled with lanterns, elders whispered in fear, and every corner seemed to hold smoke from destroyed buildings. After the second celestial assassin vanished into the cracks of the earth, nothing felt stable anymore.Kai felt it too , a tightening in the air, an invisible hand gripping his lungs.He sat inside Elder Han’s old hut, now converted into a temporary holding room. The anti-magic chains still clung to his wrists, glowing faintly. His body felt bruised from the earlier battle, but the real pain was the knowledge that more assassins were coming.And the Provincial Arcane Council would arrive by morning.Kai wouldn’t survive either of those.Lira paced the small room, biting her lip. Her silver hair shimmered even in low lamplight. She looked at him like she couldn’t bear to blink.“You can’t be here when the Council arrives,” she whispered. “They’ll take you away, or wor
Last Updated: 2025-12-10
Chapter: Chapter 7- WHEN CHAINS BREAK, STARS TREMBLEThe ground trembled like a living beast awakening beneath the medical hut. Dust shook from the ceiling as the armored assassin stepped fully into the room, his heavy boots crushing the wooden floorboards as if they were brittle ice. His helmet, shaped like a horned celestial beast, gleamed with cold, emotionless light. Blue-white fire pulsed from the slits of his eyes.Kai struggled against the glowing chains that held his arms down. The runes tightened, igniting with sharp pain. They were designed to suppress magic entirely, especially dangerous magic like his.Lira stepped directly in front of him, her entire body trembling, silver eyes burning with fear and determination. “You won’t touch him,” she whispered, voice shaking.The assassin didn’t even look at her. “Civilian. Move.”Raven moved first.Dark flames erupted from his feet as he launched forward in a flash, blade slicing a curved arc of shadow toward the intruder.“Get away from him!” Raven roared.The assassin raised a sin
Last Updated: 2025-12-10
Chapter: Chapter 6- WALKING TO CHAINS AND LIESKai felt warmth first.Soft, gentle, familiar.Then pain , sharp and sudden , flashing through his limbs like needles of ice. His breath hitched as he fought upward through the fog in his mind. Voices echoed around him, muffled and distant.“He’s waking up”“Stand back. We don’t know what he is.”“That blast nearly erased half the arena”Kai’s eyes snapped open.A wooden ceiling stared back at him. Lanterns hung from beams. He turned his head slowly, realizing he was lying on a bedding mat inside a medical hut.But something was wrong.His wrists were glowing.Chains , thin, translucent, etched with runes , wrapped around both arms, anchoring him to the bed.Anti-magic seals.Kai inhaled sharply. “They… chained me?”A shadow moved beside him.Lira.Her silver hair was messy, her eyes red, but she leaned close as soon as he stirred. “Kai, Kai, are you okay? Say something.”He blinked rapidly. Lira’s face was inches away, filled with worry. Too much worry.“How long was I out?”“Two day
Last Updated: 2025-12-10
Chapter: Chapter 5 -THE VOICE IN THE RUINS Kai jolted awake.His lungs seized, then dragged in a ragged breath. He lay on cold stone, the chill biting into his back. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive. His vision swam in and out of focus, shapes twisting like smoke.Then the ringing in his ears faded.He pushed himself up slowly.The world around him wasn’t the arena.It wasn’t the village.He was in… ruins.Massive white stones lay shattered across a floor carved with glowing runes. Broken pillars stretched upward like the bones of a dead giant. A soft, pale light illuminated the space, but Kai couldn’t see the source.The place felt ancient. Sacred. And wrong.Kai’s pulse hammered. “Where… am I?”The system answered, voice quieter than usual.“Dimensional drift detected. You are inside a remnant space connected to your sealed memories.”A memory chamber? A soul-echo?Kai stood, wobbling slightly. His entire body felt sore, but the burning pain from earlier had faded.“What happened to the village?”“Unkno
Last Updated: 2025-12-10
Chapter: Chapter 4 - THE ASSASSIN WHO KNEW MY TRUE NAME The world snapped back into focus with a violent jolt.Kai felt the ground slam against his back, air knocked from his lungs. Smoke curled around him in black and gold spirals, the residue of the Heavenbreaker’s burst. His ears rang. His vision blurred.Shouts echoed faintly.“Get the healer!”“Protect the students!”“Where’s the assassin?!”Kai pushed himself up, coughing. His vision cleared just enough for him to see Elder Han lying unconscious against the far wall, staff cracked in two. The arena floor was shattered, forming a small crater where Kai had been standing.But the assassin…He was still alive.Standing calmly amid the ruin as if nothing had happened.That cold, unreadable mask reflected the broken arena. His white veil symbol glowed faintly, resisting the Heavenbreaker’s energy.Kai swallowed hard. He tanked that burst…? This can’t be a human.“Correct,” the system whispered. “He is not human. He is a Divine Construct, created for killing.”The assassin stepped forward,
Last Updated: 2025-12-10
