[Velmora District]
The night over Velmora District had settled into a deceptive calm, the kind of quiet that wraps itself gently around a city after a long day, where the last flickers of activity softened into routine and the glow of lanterns painted warm reflections across the cobbled streets.
A shopkeeper pulled down his shutters with a tired sigh, muttering about closing hours, while inside nearby homes, faint conversations lingered—parents urging their children to sleep, utensils being set aside after dinner, the ordinary rhythm of life continuing without interruption.
Then, without warning, something shifted.
At first, it was subtle enough to be mistaken for imagination, a faint distortion in the air as though the night itself had begun to ripple, but within moments, the sensation deepened into something far more unnatural, something that pressed against the senses with a suffocating weight.
