I walked.
No I dragged myself forward.
My eyes no longer saw just the square; the entire distance between me and it had turned into a sprawling nightmare.
The street stretched longer, twisting and turning, refusing to let me get closer.
The houses watched, the walls closed in, and the people walked by like strangers... no one reached out a hand.
Every breath I took weighed heavy on my chest, yet I didn't stop.
The closer I got, the more fear spread inside me, creeping deeper.
Yes, I was afraid.
And for the first time, I wasn't ashamed of that fear.
How could I not be?
I was about to witness the execution of someone dear to me.
From afar, I saw the worn wooden scaffold.
A dark square, as if designed to swallow the last breaths of the living.
The faces there... lifeless, tearless, meaningless.
All waiting for the "show," like a grim theater performance.
My body trembled, and my steps slowed.
Could I reach it?
Could I bear the sight?
Could I do anything?
I stopped behind a corner.
Three soldiers dragged Ray by his arms.
His face was covered in blood, his clothes torn, yet he still stood.
Steady, undefeated.
I tried to scream, but my voice was gone.
As if the city itself was strangling my throat.
I heard the charges read in a cold voice:
"Name: Ray, residence: Lower City, crime: tax evasion…"
"Punishment: public hanging."
It was like reading a bill, not pronouncing a death sentence.
Ray stepped forward, head held high.
I remembered how he quietly handed me bread,
saying, "Eat... the world shows no mercy to the hungry."
I wanted to shout:
> "I'm here, Ray! I'm here!"
But I remained silent, paralyzed.
Maybe my fear was stronger than my love,
or maybe I was waiting for a miracle.
The soldiers wrapped the noose around his neck.
His brown eyes stared into nothingness.
Did he see me?
Did he feel me running toward him?
The executioner stepped forward, hand on the lever.
The crowd began whispering, faces changing:
cold laughter, eerie smiles... waiting for the moment to explode.
Ray closed his eyes, and my heart tore apart.
I screamed:
"Stop!"
All eyes turned to me, the soldiers looked.
One raised his spear, another stepped closer
But I ran.
I ran without thinking.
They shouted:
"Back off! No one approaches!"
I didn't hear them; I didn't run to save myself I ran toward the end.
A guard rushed from behind; I collided with him, and we both fell.
I got up quickly and ran again.
Ray opened his eyes and looked at me.
I saw a tear fall, then disappear.
My last step was toward the scaffold, where the executioner waited.
But suddenly…
The lever was pulled.
The body dropped.
Everything stopped.
A deadly silence, the air vanished.
I heard only the wood creak under Ray's weight.
My knees gave way; I fell.
My face hit the ground.
Tears didn't fall they exploded like a volcano inside me.
A soldier dragged me away, shouting:
"This is a lesson to all who don't pay!"
But I didn't hear.
I saw Ray, hanging like a lifeless puppet.
I screamed inside:
> "Forgive me… I was late."
The sky was silent; the square didn't cry.
I was alone, screaming inside myself, suffocating in pain.
I collapsed on my side; the blood in my eyes was not a wound but a pain leaking from my heart.
Every heartbeat was a curse, every pulse a late call.
I remembered that last look...
It wasn't a plea for help but a warning:
> "Don't do what I did."
Something inside me shattered.
No pain, no hunger, no exhaustion.
What I feel now… is the birth of a new fury.
Light footsteps, claws touching my nerves.
I slowly turned.
I saw him standing before me.
That black cat, but deeper, his eyes glowing a dark red like embers beneath ash.
His voice came from inside me, not his mouth:
"Are you crying? After all this?"
I didn't answer.
He stepped closer, standing before me like my embodied shadow.
In a tone dripping venom, he said:
"Do you want to kill them?
Those who hanged him...
Those who trampled your heart...
Those who starved you and made you cry blood?"
I lifted my face, trembling not with fear but with a fire boiling inside my chest, a desire burning endlessly.
I whispered, then shouted:
"Yes!"
My voice was wounded but true.
"I want to kill them all!
I want them to feel the shame I suffered...
To scream as I screamed...
To hang as Ray hung...
And for their heads to break as my soul broke!"
The cat laughed, but it was a growl.
He said:
"Then, make a pact with me."
I froze.
His eyes burned even brighter.
"I'm no ordinary cat.
I am your shadow, your hunger, your madness."
He moved closer until his nose touched my forehead and whispered:
"I will be your strength...
And at the same time... your fuel."
My lips trembled:
"My fuel?"
He laughed:
"The more you burn, the stronger I become."
He opened his mouth and produced a black seal a swirling ink vortex writhing in the air.
He said:
"All you have to say is:
> 'I am your shadow… and you are my fire.'"
I hesitated, looked at the blood beneath my feet, at the white crumbling around me, at Ray's face fading into the fog of memory.
I said in a shaky but desperate voice:
"I am your shadow… and you are my fire…"
The moment I spoke, the seal exploded and pierced my chest.
A scream tore the void.
Fire ignited my soul, as if I were being reborn.
The cat became a shadow, slipping inside me.
The last thing I heard before losing consciousness:
"Prepare yourself, Yamibõ.
You will never be the same again."
From that moment on... nothing will ever be the same.
Darkness.
The first thing I felt after that scream was darkness.
But not outside darkness.
Darkness coming from within.
As if I was the tunnel... and the monster hiding inside it.
I heard my breaths... like a roar.
I heard my heart... like a war drum.
Then... I opened my eyes.
This time, the place was not white.
It was the square.
The same square.
But it was not as I left it.
People frozen, soldiers by the scaffold, the rope still hanging with Ray's body...
As if time stopped... for just one second.
And one second was enough.
I stood up.
But I was not me.
Something had changed.
My fingers were longer, my nails blacker, my skin suffocating under a layer of burning energy.
And my smile… yes, I was smiling.
The smile of someone who lost everything… and had nothing left to lose.
I walked slowly.
Then faster.
Then I ran.
And I screamed.
A scream that pierced their minds.
A scream that was not a call for help... but a declaration of war.
A guard turned, shouting:
"You! Stop!"
But I didn't.
I leapt.
I pounced on him like a monster born from nowhere.
My teeth, no longer the same, sank into his neck.
A stab? No. A tear.
I wasn't biting... I was tearing his throat out with my teeth.
His blood exploded on my face.
Its taste was bitter... but satisfying.
The others screamed:
"Kill that... thing!!"
But I was not a thing.
I was rage incarnate.
I stood over the dead guard's body, my face dripping blood, my eyes glowing madly.
I whispered in a thick voice, like it came from the depths of hell:
"Ray... this is just the beginning."
Suddenly... I felt it.
A faint breath behind me... like the exhale of death.
I didn't turn.
But I heard it.
The footsteps of a guard rushing closer,
and the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath...
as if the very air screamed in pain.
Someone whispered from behind:
"Cut his head off! Now!"