Then Sian dropped to his knees, the cold dirt biting into his skin as his trembling hands searched frantically through the filth. His breath came out in sharp, uneven gasps — the air thick with the sour stench of rot and burnt plastic. "No… no, no…" he muttered, clawing at the ground until his fingers brushed something soft and familiar.
There, his burger. Half buried in the grime, soaked and torn, but still there.
He cradled it gently, as if it were something fragile — sacred. His hands shook as he brushed away the dirt, his cracked lips trembling. The sound of something dragging echoed faintly in the distance — wet, metallic, alive but Sian couldn't look up. He couldn't.
"I… I can't fight like this," he whispered hoarsely, staring blankly at the trembling moonlight reflecting off a puddle of murky water. "Not when I'm this hungry… I've fought monsters before… with my bare hands…" His voice broke, barely audible over the faint rattle of shifting junk.
He gripped the burger tightly, pressing it against his chest before taking a desperate bite. The taste was now bitter and sour with dirt, but he didn't care. Tears mixed with grime on his cheeks as he murmured through a mouthful, "I'm sorry… whoever you are… whoever got… sluttered back there… I can't save you."
His voice trembled, cracking between guilt and survival. "I just can't…"
He clenched the half-eaten burger between his teeth, forcing himself to his feet. The world seemed to tilt around him — the cold wind howling through the heaps of garbage, the faint shimmer of blood glinting somewhere in the dark. His legs wobbled, thin and weak, his body shaking as he turned away.
He ran.
The sound of his footsteps echoed through the dump, crunching against glass,plastics and cans. His breath came in ragged bursts, white mist spilling from his lips in the freezing air. The scent of rust and death followed him like a shadow.
"I'm too weak…" he gasped, tears streaming down his face as he stumbled forward. "I can't… I can't… I'm sorry… I just want to survive… that's why i fight... "
The words broke apart into sobs as he ran — a starving boy beneath a dying moon, clutching his only meal like it was life itself, while the silent dump watched, indifferent to his fear.
Sian's lungs burned as he ran, his legs barely obeying him. Each step sent pain shooting up his knees, the uneven ground slicing at his bare feet through torn shoes. The cold air bit into his skin, and his ragged breathing echoed in the hollow expanse of the mountain dump. The burger clenched between his teeth was the only thing that reminded him he was still alive.
Then... something.
He turned a sharp corner between two towering piles of trash, and his body collided hard against something solid. He stumbled backward, hitting the ground with a painful thud, the wind knocked out of him. The burger slipped from his mouth and rolled into the dirt.
For a moment, he thought it was a wall. But then it moved.
A low, unnatural hum filled the air, followed by a faint vibration that seemed to crawl into his bones. He looked up—and froze.
Standing before him was a creature, tall and almost human in shape, but its body was pure shadow — a writhing mass of darkness that shifted like smoke over muscle. Its eyes glowed a violent crimson, cutting through the night like burning coals. Long, jagged blades jutted out where its hands should have been, their edges glistening faintly under the pale moonlight.
Sian's breath hitched. His heart pounded so loud he could hear it echo in his ears.
"W–wha… what kind of Dark is this?" he stammered, his voice shaking as he tried to crawl backward, pushing himself through the dirt. "This one… it's powerful… it's not like the others…" His mind flashed with memory of the weaker ones he had beaten before, with nothing but desperation and his bare fists. "The ones I fought before couldn't even—" his voice broke, "—couldn't even form like this…"
His legs trembled as he tried to stand, but his body refused. The Dark tilted its head, the sound of grinding metal scraping the air.
Then it spoke.
"You want… to die?"
The voice was distorted — deep and broken, as if a dozen throats whispered through static all at once. The words didn't echo through the air — they vibrated inside his chest, sharp and heavy, like a curse.
Sian's eyes widened in disbelief. His body went cold.
"It… it can talk…" he breathed, his voice barely audible. His mind screamed at him to run, but his body stayed frozen — caught between fear and exhaustion, between the will to survive and the crushing weight of hopelessness.
The creature stepped forward, each movement smooth, deliberate, and terrifyingly human. The light of its red eyes reflected in Sian's trembling pupils as he whispered, "No… No… No."
The night itself seemed to hold its breath — and Sian, alone in the dead silence of the dump, could only watch as the Dark reached for him.
The Dark suddenly lurched forward its blade-like arm slicing through the air with a screech that tore the silence apart. The force of the swing sent a gust of foul wind blasting against Sian's face, carrying the metallic scent of rust and death.
Sian's instincts screamed. He threw himself backward, rolling across the cold junk as the blade sliced just inches from his chest, carving a deep scar into the ground where he had been a heartbeat ago. Trash and dust exploded into the air around him, stinging his eyes.
His body moved faster than he thought possible. Adrenaline coursed through his thin, trembling frame, drowning out the hunger, the pain, the exhaustion that had weighed him down moments before. His breath came in sharp bursts, his ribs aching with every inhale. He scrambled to his feet, swaying, his legs unsteady and hands shaking uncontrollably.
The Dark turned slowly, its crimson eyes glowing brighter. A low, almost curious sound rumbled from within its shadowed chest.
"Hmm… impressive," it said in that same distorted, inhuman tone — a layered voice that seemed to come from every direction at once. The word twisted through the air like a mocking whisper.
Sian stumbled back, clutching his stomach, his heartbeat pounding so hard it hurt. The faint moonlight shimmered on his sweat-slicked skin, highlighting every desperate breath that escaped him.
The creature tilted its head, the motion unnatural, twitching in jerks as if its neck were made of broken hinges. Then, it let out a deep, rumbling chuckle — low at first, then rising, warping into a chilling, metallic laughter that echoed across the dump.
"Don't run…" it hissed, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. "Heh… heh… heh…" The sound was like knives grinding together. "Running is futile."
Its red eyes narrowed, the air around it pulsing with a faint vibration that made the ground tremble beneath Sian's feet.
"Give your life… to me…" the Dark growled, its laughter twisting into something unholy. "Heheheh…"
Sian's body froze. Every instinct screamed to move — to run, to fight, to do something — but his mind was torn between terror and disbelief. His fingers curled into fists, his nails biting into his palms. The wind whipped through the garbage around him, scattering scraps of paper into the air like ghosts.
He swallowed hard, his dry throat burning. His voice broke as he whispered, "No… I can't die here… not in this Dump…"
The Dark took another step forward, its blade glinting in the pale light — and the night seemed to close in around Sian, suffocating and endless.