Rain soaked the downtown streets beneath the dead weight of midnight clouds while distant club music pulsed faintly through narrow alleyways crowded with flickering neon reflections and cigarette smoke drifting lazily between old brick walls, and somewhere beyond the restless city noise a siren wailed softly before disappearing again into darkness like another soul swallowed whole by the night.
Elara stood alone near the far end of the alley behind the club district with one trembling hand pressed tightly against the cold concrete wall beside her, her breathing uneven beneath the black hood pulled low across rain-soaked hair while faint traces of shattered power still lingered invisibly around her like smoke refusing to disappear completely.
The rooftop incident had spread panic through the university already.
Electrical systems failed.
Witnesses screaming about shadows moving through the storm.
Students swearing they felt something watching them from the dark.
And Elara—
