Chapter 1 — The Awakening
Darkness.
Not the kind you see when you close your eyes.
This felt… thick.
Like something was pressing against his face.
He tried to move away from it.
Nothing happened.
Panic fluttered in his chest.
Why can't I move?
The thought came slowly, like it had to crawl through mud to reach him.
He couldn't remember where he was.
He couldn't remember how he got here.
He couldn't even remember his own face.
Only the feeling remained… that something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Then came the pain.
It didn't stab his body. It wasn't like breaking a bone or scraping skin. It was deeper..like something inside him was being pulled apart.
He wanted to cry.
He didn't know why.
He didn't know what he was losing.
But it hurt enough to make him wish he could disappear.
Please… stop…
No sound came out.
Even his own voice was gone.
The silence made it worse. It swallowed everything… even the idea that someone might hear him.
Then faint noises seeped through.
Metal striking metal.
Footsteps… voices.
He clung to them desperately. Someone's there. Relief flickered, small and fragile. I'm not alone.
Light bled into the darkness… blurry shapes leaning over him.
He tried to focus, tried to see their faces, but his eyes wouldn't obey.
Why were they panicking? Why did they sound afraid?
Did I do something wrong?
His chest tightened. Breath tore into his lungs like shards of glass. He gasped, choking on air that tasted like rust.
Why does it hurt just to breathe?
Then something inside him snapped awake.
Hunger..not the kind he remembered from skipping meals.
This was violent. Urgent. Terrifying. It swallowed every other thought.
His stomach twisted, but it wasn't coming from there. It felt like the hunger was in his bones… in his blood… in places that shouldn't feel anything at all.
He didn't want food.
He wanted…
He didn't even understand what he wanted.
And that scared him most.
"What's happening to me…?"
A heartbeat thudded somewhere above him.
Loud. Too loud.
Another joined it.
Then another.
Each one sounded different.
He realized with a jolt that they weren't his.
They were the people above him.
He could hear them.
Not just hear… feel them.
Warm. Alive.
Something inside him leaned toward that warmth like a starving animal.
His chest trembled. "No… I don't want that…"
But the hunger didn't listen.
For a brief, horrible second, a thought surfaced that didn't feel like his own:
*Eat*
He recoiled from it instinctively.
No. That's wrong.
Panic flooded him now, sharp and human and painfully normal.
"I don't want to hurt anyone."
The shapes above him moved faster, voices rising.
He wished they would just tell him what was happening.
Tell him who he was.
Tell him why everything felt broken.
Instead, the darkness surged again.
It rolled over him like a wave.
His awareness slipped.
Fear spiked.
Wait… don't leave me alone again…
Then a sound cut through everything.
Close. Clear.
A name.
Azrael.
It echoed inside him..not like something he heard… like something he remembered.
Is… that me?
He tried to hold onto the thought.
Tried to hold onto anything.
But the darkness pulled him under.
And this time, he fell without even the strength to be afraid.