After that wonderfully reflective...
Or depressingly pathetic moment, depending on how I wanted to look at it, I slowly pushed myself up from the alley wall and continued walking beneath the light rain.
My shoes splashed through shallow puddles while the city's lights reflected across the wet pavement like broken stars.
I sighed.
"Damn it... I should've eaten at school."
My stomach growled the second I finished speaking.
"Perfect. Hunger, exhaustion, and a headache. Amazing combination."
I pulled my phone from my pocket and searched for nearby places to eat.
There was a burger restaurant a few streets away.
Good reviews.
And honestly...
At this point, I would probably sell my soul for food.
"Not like I have enough money to be picky anyway."
I slipped the phone back into my pocket and kept walking.
The rain gradually became heavier.
Storms in Aethra had always been...
Strange.
Ever since I was little, I had heard stories.
People disappearing during storms.
Shadows moving between the rain.
Creatures visible only during lightning strikes.
Voices coming from the sky.
But obviously...
Most of those stories were nonsense.
Exaggerated rumors made to scare children.
At least that was what I wanted to believe.
Massive digital screens attached to nearby buildings displayed weather alerts across the city.
"Level Three Storm approaching."
"Citizens are advised to remain indoors."
"Avoid open areas during electrical activity."
I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, because the storm itself is totally going to eat me."
I quickened my pace slightly.
The air was beginning to feel heavy.
Too heavy.
Like every breath required something inside my chest to force itself open first.
Probably anxiety.
Lately, my panic attacks had been getting worse.
That had to be it.
Eventually, I reached the restaurant.
Warm light spilled from the windows, completely contrasting the gray rain outside.
The sound of the storm faded the moment I stepped through the door.
And honestly...
I felt relieved.
Ridiculously relieved.
The smell of grilled meat, fries, and freshly toasted bread hit me like divine intervention.
"God... I think I love this place already."
I sat near a fogged-up window while a waitress approached my table.
Typical diner uniform.
Brown braid resting over one shoulder.
Tired smile.
But kind.
"Good evening. Here's your menu."
"Thanks."
I took the menu absentmindedly.
But before opening it, I glanced through the window beside me.
The storm was getting worse.
Lightning illuminated entire buildings for brief flashes at a time.
And for a second...
I thought I saw something standing near the end of the street.
A silhouette.
Tall.
Motionless.
I blinked.
Nothing.
Just a streetlight.
"Great... now I'm hallucinating too."
Sleep deprivation was definitely starting to affect me.
I opened the menu.
"I'll take a double cheeseburger with fries, some chicken wings, and a large cola."
The waitress quickly wrote everything down.
"I'll bring your order right away."
I nodded quietly while pulling out my phone again.
The signal kept flickering in and out.
For one brief second, the screen filled with static.
Then it returned to normal.
I frowned.
"...Weird."
Then I heard something.
A whisper.
Very low.
Like someone murmuring directly behind me.
I immediately turned around.
Nobody.
Just normal people eating.
Families.
Couples.
Students.
Everything looked perfectly ordinary.
I turned back toward the table.
"I seriously need more sleep..."
I rubbed my eyes tiredly.
Then it happened again.
But this time...
The whisper came from outside.
From the rain.
I could not make out actual words.
Only broken sounds.
Like several voices speaking underwater.
A chill crawled slowly down my spine.
I looked back toward the window.
The street was empty.
Too empty.
Only minutes ago people had still been walking outside.
Now there was nobody.
No cars.
No pedestrians.
Only rain.
And darkness.
Lightning flashed again.
And during that brief second...
I saw something move within the storm.
Something far too large.
I instinctively leaned back in my chair.
But the next flash revealed an entirely empty street again.
"No... calm down."
I pressed a hand against my forehead.
"You're just tired."
The waitress returned with my food.
The sound of the plate touching the table startled me harder than it should have.
"Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah... just tired."
She smiled faintly.
"Storms tend to make people nervous."
"You believe those ridiculous stories too?"
For the briefest moment, her expression changed.
Very slightly.
But I noticed it.
"People disappear during storms around here."
I let out an awkward laugh.
"Probably criminals taking advantage of the weather."
She did not answer.
She simply walked away slowly.
And for some reason...
That disturbed me more than anything else.
I stared at the burger in front of me for a few seconds before taking a large bite.
And honestly...
It was absolutely worth every coin.
"Mmh..."
I closed my eyes while chewing slowly.
"These are definitely the best burgers in Amberlath."
For a few minutes, I managed to forget everything else.
The headache.
The exhaustion.
The whispers.
The strange visions from the past few days.
For a little while, only three things existed:
The food.
The distant sound of rain.
And the warmth of the restaurant.
Normality.
Something that lately had started to feel painfully distant.
I grabbed my drink and took a long sip.
Then it happened.
Every light inside the restaurant flickered at the exact same moment.
The conversations stopped briefly.
Only for a second.
Then everything continued normally again.
People talking.
Eating.
Laughing.
As though nothing had happened.
"Great. Electrical problems too."
I continued eating.
But then I noticed something strange.
The sound of the rain had disappeared.
Slowly, I lifted my head.
The rain was still falling outside the windows.
I could see it clearly.
But there was no sound.
None.
Absolute silence.
A silence so deep that my ears began to hurt.
I frowned.
"...What?"
I looked around the restaurant.
Nobody else seemed to notice.
Everyone continued acting completely normal.
Then the sound suddenly returned all at once.
Rain violently struck the windows again.
Voices filled the room.
Plates clattered.
People laughed.
Noise crashed back into existence so abruptly that it made me dizzy.
I pressed a hand against my temple.
"Must be a migraine..."
Yeah.
That made sense.
Migraines could affect sensory perception.
That had to be it.
I grabbed another fry, trying to ignore it.
Then my phone vibrated.
I pulled it from my pocket.
The screen was filled with strange symbols.
Not letters.
Not any language I recognized.
They looked like...
Runes.
Long distorted markings slowly moving across the black screen.
A freezing chill spread through my body.
I blinked.
And the screen immediately returned to normal.
Just a weather alert.
"Extreme electrical activity detected."
I exhaled deeply.
"I seriously need sleep."
I rubbed my forehead again.
The headache was getting worse.
Then I heard something behind me.
A voice.
Close.
Far too close.
"Där...k..."
My entire body tensed instantly.
I turned around.
Nobody.
But this time...
Something was different.
Everyone inside the restaurant had stopped moving.
Completely.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody blinked.
Nobody moved at all.
I felt my heartbeat begin to accelerate violently.
"...No."
My hands started shaking.
Lightning illuminated the restaurant.
And for that single instant—
Every person inside turned toward me simultaneously.
They had no eyes.
Only deep black sockets.
Empty.
Endless.
I violently shoved myself backward, slamming into the table.
Then thunder exploded outside.
And everything returned to normal.
People talking.
Laughing.
Eating.
Like nothing had happened.
I breathed heavily.
"No... no... no..."
I covered my face with both hands.
"That wasn't real."
Hyperventilation.
That was all.
Panic attacks could cause hallucinations.
Yes.
That was it.
It made sense.
It had to make sense.
I stood up quickly and threw money onto the table.
I needed to leave.
I needed air.
The waitress appeared beside me again.
"Leaving so soon?"
Her voice sounded...
Wrong.
Like two people speaking simultaneously beneath the same sentence.
I stared at her.
And for one horrifying second...
I could have sworn her smile was too wide.
Too human to actually be human.
I blinked.
Everything returned to normal.
"Y-Yeah... I should go."
She slowly took the money from the table.
"You should get home before the storm becomes worse."
I nodded without answering.
Grabbed my backpack.
And quickly left the restaurant.
The rain hit my body violently the moment I stepped outside.
Cold air filled my lungs.
"Calm down..."
I looked back toward the restaurant.
It still looked normal.
Warm.
Crowded.
Completely ordinary.
And somehow...
That made me feel even worse.
Because if everything inside had been normal...
Then the problem was me.
I started walking through the storm again.
The streets were nearly empty now.
Neon signs flickered constantly overhead.
Some buzzed with static.
Others had gone completely dark.
Lightning illuminated the city every few seconds.
And every time it happened...
The shadows seemed wrong.
As though they moved a fraction too late.
I walked faster.
Trying to ignore it.
Trying to ignore the whispers hidden beneath the rain.
Trying to ignore the sensation that something was following behind me.
Trying to ignore the fact that no matter how many times I looked back...
I still felt eyes digging into my spine.
Then I heard it.
A massive crash somewhere deeper within the city.
It did not sound like thunder.
It sounded like...
Something enormous collapsing onto the world itself.
The ground shook violently beneath my feet.
Windows exploded across nearby buildings.
Streetlights instantly died.
And for one brief moment...
The entire city disappeared into complete darkness.
Then something roared.
No.
Not a roar.
A chorus.
Thousands of voices screaming simultaneously in an impossible language.
I felt the blood freeze inside my veins.
And despite that...
I ran toward the sound.
Because my mind still desperately wanted a logical explanation.
Even though somewhere deep inside...
Something in me already understood there wasn't one.
I sprinted through flooded streets while the sound echoed across the entire city.
Every step felt heavier than the last.
Rain slammed against my face so violently I could barely keep my eyes open.
The city remained dark.
Only lightning illuminated the streets in brief flashes.
And every time the sky lit up...
I swore I saw things moving between the buildings.
Shapes too long.
Too distorted.
Too fast.
"It's not real..."
My breathing became more frantic with every second.
"I'm just panicking..."
Yes.
That was all.
Stress.
Sleep deprivation.
Anxiety.
My brain was distorting external stimuli.
That made sense.
It had to make sense.
I turned sharply down a narrow street, following the source of the sound.
Then—
I stopped.
The air vanished from my lungs.
Something stood in front of me.
My mind tried to understand it.
Tried to force a shape onto it.
But the longer I looked...
The less human it became.
It was enormous.
Far too large to fit between the surrounding buildings.
Its body twisted constantly, as though made from melting flesh struggling to maintain structure.
Deformed limbs emerged from different sections of its mass.
No.
Not limbs.
Something pretending to be limbs.
Long malformed appendages bent in impossible directions before ending in human hands.
Sixteen.
Maybe more.
And every hand...
Had eyes embedded within the palms.
Wide open.
Blinking frantically.
Some palms also had mouths.
Human mouths.
Whispering.
Praying.
Laughing.
Crying.
All simultaneously.
Massive tentacles erupted from its back and pierced through nearby buildings like wet paper.
Every movement produced horrible sounds.
Like bones snapping inside soaked meat.
My entire body began trembling uncontrollably.
"...No..."
I stepped backward instinctively.
Then the thing spoke.
And the world stopped sounding normal.
It was not a human language.
It was not even a language that should have been possible.
The voices seemed to emerge from inside my skull itself.
Like thousands of people speaking beneath the ocean at the same time.
Some words sounded like screams.
Others like prayers.
Others were simply impossible noises.
A violent pain exploded through my head.
I collapsed onto my knees.
Blood slowly began dripping from my nose.
"Agh—!"
I covered my ears desperately.
It did nothing.
The voices remained.
Inside me.
As though that thing was speaking directly to something hidden inside my mind.
And then I saw her.
Standing before the creature.
Motionless beneath the rain.
A figure dressed entirely in black beneath a long hooded coat.
I could not see her face clearly.
Only her mouth.
And somehow...
The moment I saw her, I felt something even worse than fear.
Not relief.
Not safety.
Something deeper.
Because she did not feel human either.
Several tentacles violently launched toward her.
Buildings trembled.
The ground cracked apart.
But the woman did not move.
She only tilted her head slightly.
"I don't remember you being this weak."
Her voice passed through the storm with terrifying calmness.
"But I suppose this is where it ends. You're not entertaining anymore."
One of the tentacles descended directly toward her.
Then it happened.
Violet flames exploded around her body.
But they did not resemble normal fire.
They looked like—
Burning stars.
The rain instantly evaporated around her.
Her hair slowly began floating upward.
And her eyes...
Her eyes shined exactly like the sky during a storm.
The moment I looked at them, crushing pressure slammed against my chest.
As though invisible hands were squeezing my organs.
The creature began screaming.
No.
Not screaming.
Hymns.
Prayers.
Laments.
The entire city seemed to shake beneath the sound.
Then the woman slowly raised one hand.
Her left eye glowed intensely.
And suddenly—
The world became silent.
Even the rain stopped making noise.
Then she spoke in that impossible language.
"Þanir'is Älithir."
The words tore through my body like blades.
Agonizing pain erupted inside my ears.
Every window across the street exploded simultaneously.
Streetlights burst apart.
Blood poured harder from my nose.
And for one impossible instant...
I saw something behind her.
A sky filled with eyes.
A black ocean.
A broken moon.
Thousands of shadows bowing before her.
Then the flash came.
Violet light swallowed the entire street.
The creature exploded apart instantly.
Literally exploded.
Flesh.
Eyes.
Teeth.
Black blood.
Everything blasted across the surrounding buildings.
A horrible smell filled the air.
Rotting fish.
Burned meat.
Old blood.
The woman slowly extended her hand again.
And the violet flames consumed every remaining piece of the creature until nothing remained except ash.
Not even a corpse.
Only silence.
The rain slowly became audible again.
My body refused to move.
I could barely breathe.
The woman calmly pulled her hood back into place.
Then she turned toward me.
And smiled.
A small smile.
But enough to send absolute terror through my body.
Because somehow...
I felt certain she already knew me.
"We'll meet again sooner than you think."
My throat tightened instantly.
She slowly raised one finger to her lips.
Telling me to stay quiet.
And then...
She disappeared into the fog.
Just like that.
As though she had never been there at all.
My body finally gave out.
I collapsed onto the rain-soaked street covered in thick black blood.
My mind desperately searched for explanations.
An experimental weapon.
Hallucinogenic gas.
Terrorists.
A dream.
Anything.
Any explanation at all.
But deep down...
Something inside me had already understood the truth.
What I saw that night...
Did not belong to this world.
Rain continued pouring over me.
But I could no longer feel it.
My hands trembled violently while I stared at the black blood mixing with water around my knees.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.
I tried to stand.
I couldn't.
My legs refused to respond.
My head spun violently.
The images kept replaying inside my mind over and over again.
The eyes.
The mouths.
The voices.
The woman.
The violet fire.
"It wasn't real..."
My voice came out broken.
Weak.
Pathetic.
"It wasn't real... it wasn't real..."
But even I knew I was lying.
Because I could still hear that language echoing inside my head.
The impossible words remained buried inside my thoughts like a stain that could not be erased.
"Þanir'is Älithir..."
I immediately covered my ears.
"Shut up...!"
The words remained.
As though they had carved themselves into my mind permanently.
Then something exploded inside my skull.
An unbearable pain tore through my head.
I collapsed completely onto the ground.
And the world disappeared.
No street.
No rain.
No cold.
No body.
Only darkness.
Endless darkness.
Then I heard a voice.
It did not come from one direction.
It came from everywhere simultaneously.
Deep.
Ancient.
As though it had existed before the birth of the world itself.
"You are where you should be."
I opened my eyes desperately, searching through the darkness.
Nothing.
Only blackness stretching infinitely in every direction.
"W-What...?"
My breathing accelerated instantly.
"Who are you?"
The voice remained silent for several seconds.
And when it finally spoke again...
I felt real fear.
"She has already begun to reveal herself."
A chill spread violently through my body.
"...She?"
I tried to move.
I couldn't.
It felt as though something invisible was dragging me downward.
"Who is she?"
Images suddenly appeared around me.
Shadows.
Black oceans.
Burning cities.
Broken moons.
People kneeling before something enormous hidden within the sky.
And in the center of it all...
That woman.
The one surrounded by violet flames.
Watching everything from a throne covered in black roots.
"Everything revolves around her."
The voice echoed across the darkness.
"Her existence altered the destiny of this world."
The visions changed violently.
Mountains of corpses.
Oceans turned red.
Creatures crawling from fractures in the sky itself.
I heard crying.
Thousands.
Millions.
"She is a darkness deeper than night itself."
Pressure crushed against my chest.
I could barely breathe.
"She stands at the center of every mystery within this world."
Then the voice whispered something that froze my blood completely.
"And you must stop her."
"What?!"
I finally managed to move one arm.
"No— no, no, no!"
I forced myself upright desperately.
"Choose somebody else!"
My voice shook violently.
"I don't want any of this!"
The darkness around me began trembling.
"I'm busy!"
I stumbled backward.
"I have school!"
Another step.
"I already have problems!"
Another.
"I don't want this!"
The visions began twisting unnaturally.
The corpses slowly turned their heads toward me.
The shadows started crawling closer.
"No..."
The voice spoke again.
Louder this time.
Closer.
"Only the Original Sin can stop her."
Agonizing pain erupted through my skull again.
I collapsed to my knees screaming.
"AAAAAHHHH—!"
Then the voices returned.
Thousands of them.
Whispering.
Crying.
Laughing.
Praying.
All at once.
"Only another darkness can destroy the darkness."
The shadows began surrounding me.
"The child of night..."
Invisible hands grabbed my body.
"The child of sin..."
More voices.
More pain.
"She should kill him..."
My vision began cracking apart.
"But she will not be able to..."
Then I saw something.
A child.
Covered in blood.
Crying beneath a black moon.
And behind him...
That woman.
Watching him silently.
"And because of that..."
The voice fractured, as though thousands of people were speaking through it simultaneously.
"All life shall suffer eternally."
I woke up screaming.
My back slammed violently against the alley wall.
I could barely breathe.
I was crying.
Shaking uncontrollably.
"No... no... no...!"
I grabbed my head desperately.
The voices were still there.
Quieter now.
But still there.
"Child of sin."
"Shut up!"
"Condemned to be born and suffer eternally."
"SHUT UP!"
I slammed my head against the wall.
Once.
Again.
Again.
Blood mixed with rainwater immediately.
But physical pain felt better.
Much better than hearing those voices.
"She will grant you a cruel death."
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU!"
"Child of the moon and night."
"AAAAAHHHH!"
I smashed my head against the wall again.
Then I heard a whisper directly behind me.
"You saw her."
My heart nearly stopped.
I turned violently.
Nobody.
Only darkness.
Only rain.
Only the distant sound of overflowing drains.
But the voices did not stop.
"She has awakened."
"She is coming."
"Run."
I held my head tightly while tears mixed with rainwater across my face.
Then—
I heard another voice.
A real voice.
A human voice.
"Dark!"
Then everything went black.
"Ahhh—!"
I woke up violently.
My breathing was a complete mess.
My body felt unbearably heavy.
I looked around in confusion.
A room.
Cream-colored walls.
A small desk cluttered with cosmetics and notebooks.
The faint scent of vanilla lingering in the air.
Kimberly's room.
The door suddenly opened.
"Dark!"
Kimberly rushed inside.
Her expression immediately changed the moment she saw me awake.
"Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"
She grabbed my shoulders firmly while checking the bandages wrapped around my forehead.
I stared at her silently for a few seconds.
She looked exhausted.
She probably hadn't slept much.
"Sorry... it was just a bad dream..."
She let out a relieved sigh.
But she still didn't look convinced.
"What were you doing outside during the storm? You know perfectly well nobody's supposed to be out once they start."
I looked away.
I couldn't tell her the truth.
I didn't even understand what had happened myself.
"I had a panic attack on the way home... I stayed in an alley waiting for it to pass..."
Kimberly stared at me carefully.
As though she were trying to decide whether to believe me.
But eventually, she only sighed.
"You're an idiot..."
Her voice sounded weak.
Not angry.
Scared.
"You scared me so much..."
Then she hugged me.
Tightly.
Too tightly.
"I thought I lost you."
For a moment, I completely froze.
Because nobody had ever said something like that to me before.
Slowly, I returned the hug.
"Don't worry... weeds like me never die..."
I tried to joke.
But my voice sounded hollow.
Then, almost unconsciously, I whispered:
"Though maybe someday I'll end up killing myself first..."
Kimberly immediately pulled away.
"Don't ever say that again."
Her expression changed completely.
Hurt.
Angry.
As though those words had genuinely wounded her.
Before I could answer, the door opened again.
"Has my favorite patient finally awakened?"
Alya's voice filled the room with strange softness.
Her presence alone somehow calmed the atmosphere.
She walked in carrying a small pharmacy bag and a cup of coffee.
Her cherry-colored hair fell messily over her shoulders, still slightly damp from the rain outside.
Her tired eyes carried that impossible shade between dark brown and crimson red.
Unlike Kimberly, whose energy was explosive and chaotic...
Alya felt calm.
Like nothing bad could happen near her.
"How are you feeling?"
She slowly approached the bed and placed the coffee on the desk.
"Better... I think..."
I tried sitting up, but a sharp headache immediately forced me to stop.
"Don't move so fast, idiot."
Alya sighed softly while sitting beside me on the bed.
Then she gently placed a hand against my forehead.
That simple gesture...
That tiny amount of contact...
Made me feel something strange.
Safe.
And that was dangerous.
Because when someone grows up without affection...
They start clinging far too quickly to even the smallest kindness.
"You're still running a fever..."
She murmured quietly.
Kimberly crossed her arms nearby.
"He smashed his head against a wall like a lunatic."
"What?"
Alya immediately looked at me seriously.
"Why would you do something like that?"
I looked away again.
I couldn't tell them the truth.
How was I supposed to explain the voices?
The creature?
The woman with violet flames?
I didn't even fully understand what I'd seen myself.
"I just... panicked..."
Alya watched me silently for several seconds.
Then she sighed.
But she didn't push further.
Because she was that kind of person.
She knew when somebody wasn't ready to talk.
"Well, then I'll take care of you until you recover."
She smiled softly.
And that smile...
Was dangerous.
Not because of anything supernatural.
But because it made people feel too comfortable.
Too loved.
Kimberly immediately made a disgusted face.
"Hey, stop flirting with him while he's traumatized."
"I'm not flirting."
"Yes, you are."
"I'm simply taking care of my future husband."
"MOM! ALYA'S HARASSING DARK AGAIN!"
"DON'T TELL MOM THAT!"
For the first time since the storm...
I laughed.
A small laugh.
Weak.
But real.
Both of them immediately fell silent after hearing it.
As though it surprised them.
Because honestly...
I probably looked terrifying before that.
Alya watched me quietly for a few seconds before gently ruffling my hair.
"Much better. You look more human when you smile."
I didn't know how to answer that.
So I simply looked away awkwardly.
"Come downstairs before breakfast gets cold."
Kimberly's mother's voice echoed from downstairs.
The two sisters left the room while arguing with each other, and I slowly got out of bed.
My legs still trembled slightly.
But I wasn't hearing voices anymore.
That had to be a good sign.
...Right?
I slowly walked downstairs toward the dining room.
And the smell hit me immediately.
Fresh bread.
Hot coffee.
Honey.
Cinnamon.
It felt...
Warm.
Kimberly's mother smiled the moment she saw me.
"Good morning, Dark."
Her voice was just as warm as her daughters'.
"Good morning... and thank you for letting me stay here..."
"You don't need to thank us."
She placed a plate in front of me.
Pancakes.
Fruit.
Eggs.
Way too much food for me.
"You need to eat properly. You're far too skinny."
Kimberly immediately nodded.
"I tell him that all the time!"
"And I keep telling him he looks like a walking corpse."
Alya added while sipping coffee.
"Thanks for the emotional support..."
I muttered while starting to eat.
But honestly...
It was good.
Really good.
And it had been a very long time since I'd eaten breakfast together with other people.
A very long time since I'd felt anything resembling a family.
That hurt more than it should have.
Because it forced me to realize how alone I actually was.
Alya quietly observed me for a few seconds.
As though she had understood exactly what I was thinking.
Then she spoke casually.
"By the way, we're stopping by a pharmacy before school."
I looked up in confusion.
"Huh?"
"Kimberly said you're out of medication."
A knot formed in my chest instantly.
"That's not necessary..."
"Yes, it is."
Her response came immediately.
Firm.
But gentle.
"You can't just stop taking them."
"They're expensive..."
"So?"
I stared at her silently.
She held my gaze without looking away.
"Dark... you don't have to handle everything alone."
Those words hit harder than anything I experienced during the storm.
Because I wasn't used to hearing them.
I wasn't used to people wanting to help me without expecting something in return.
My hands trembled slightly beneath the table.
Alya seemed to notice.
But she said nothing.
She only smiled.
A small smile.
Warm.
Human.
And in that moment, I realized something dangerous.
If I kept receiving this kind of affection...
I was going to become incapable of losing them.