That night… the city wasn't noisy. Not exactly empty either. It just… hung there. Like a breath held too long, thick and heavy and watching. You could almost feel the quiet pressing down on your skin — like the whole place was waiting for something nobody wanted to say out loud. You've felt that kind of silence before, haven't you?
When everything's paused, but no one knows what for.
Liora and I moved slow, side by side, careful not to stand out. We barely spoke. There wasn't much point. Sometimes silence says more — it holds all the things you're too scared or tired to say. The quiet between us felt heavy, stuffed with that kind of unsaid weight. And underneath that, I could feel it — something was breaking. Not just the broken streets, not just the crackle of glass under our boots, but inside people.
Something precious slipping away piece by piece.
We hadn't really slept in days. After every fight, it felt like the monsters got sharper, faster, like they were learning from each battle. And inside me… that low hum never stopped. The scythe wasn't just a weapon anymore — it felt like part of my skin, but also like a chain tightening little by little every time I swung it. I lost pieces of myself without choice. No way to go back.
Liora led the way, steady. But I caught it — the tight pull in her shoulders. The kind of fear you don't wear on your face but that sits heavy in your chest anyway. The weight we carried between us was silent but real.
We stopped beneath a flickering streetlamp, its yellow glow barely fighting back the dark. She finally broke the silence, voice soft, almost like she didn't want to say it aloud."Zane," she said, "the Guild… they're scared too. Rumors — worse than monsters. The Tower's poison isn't just in the creatures anymore. It's spreading inside the city. Inside people."
That hit hard — harder than any blow. The Tower wasn't just throwing monsters at us. It was eating hope, will, everything that made us human.
"I see it too," I said, voice low and rough, "People are breaking. Not just walls or streets. It's in their eyes… doubt, fear, and something worse — like they think they can't fight anymore."
She nodded slowly. "Time's running out. The Tower's grip is like a noose, tightening around all of us. We've got to find what's behind it — the real fracture in this darkness."Those words sank deep. This fight wasn't just about battles anymore. It was about holding on before everything broke.
We kept moving, swallowed by the shadows. The streets felt colder, lonelier — even when others walked by. Broken glass glittered beneath my boots like tiny dying stars. Funny how once-whole things look so fragile once cracked.
The scythe pulsed stronger in my hand — alive, burning — begging to be used. That power inside me was wild, restless, clawing to escape. Every time I unleashed it, I risked losing a piece of myself. But sometimes, it was the only way forward.Liora's voice broke through again, quiet but sharp. "There's someone behind this, Zane. Someone between us and the Tower. Someone the Guild doesn't want us to know about."
I blinked, caught off guard. "A person?""Maybe," she said, eyes hard and searching, "Someone pulling strings from the shadows."
Everything shifted that night. The monsters, the darkness — it wasn't just some wild, unstoppable force. It was a game now, with players we hadn't met and rules we didn't understand.
We stopped beneath the flickering lamp again. I looked at her and felt the weight settle heavy on my chest. The path ahead was darker than I'd imagined.
"I don't know if I'm ready for this," I said, the words almost breaking.
"You don't have to be," she said, squeezing my arm gently. "We'll face it together."
Her words wrapped around me like a thin, fragile blanket — a tiny warmth in the cold dark. No matter how deep the cracks ran, no matter the looming shadows, something inside still burned. Hope.
Maybe that's enough.
To be continued.....