'It's Dark.'
It felt like a dream that was too real… or perhaps a dream that had yet to end. Silence. So quiet that even the sound of a heartbeat could be heard clearly. An empty atmosphere, as if no one else existed there. There was only a single figure—a teenage boy—standing alone in the darkness.
But the silence did not last long. Suddenly, the confused and noisy voices of many people began to fill the air.
The darkness covering his eyes slowly faded into light.
When his eyes opened, he—the boy—looked around. A vast city stretched before him. The shapes of the houses were unfamiliar, unlike anything from his own world. The writing was strange as well, yet somehow he could understand it. People wearing unique clothing gathered around, their faces filled with confusion, their voices loud and chaotic.
They walked along the streets of the city, and the boy followed them. Along the way, they found no signs of life—no humans, no animals, no plants. Only an empty city, its paint darkened and decayed.
As the boy looked to his right and left, his feet felt wet. When he looked down, he saw water emerging from the ground beneath him. It was not merely a puddle—the water kept pouring out endlessly, until it became a sea.
The place where the people and the boy were standing turned into an ocean. Yet the buildings did not sink—only the ground transformed into water. Still trying to process what was happening, the boy looked down once more. Water remained beneath his feet, and within it he saw a reflection of himself.
His face radiated calm determination, framed by messy black hair that naturally fell across his forehead. His dark eyes were sharp and slightly narrowed, giving off a cautious yet composed impression—as if he was always calculating his next move. His jawline was firm, his serious expression making him appear cold, almost untouchable. His skin was pale but clear, contrasting with the faint dark aura that subtly emanated from his body.
After seeing his reflection in the sea, panic suddenly struck him for one reason.
That face was not his.
What had happened to him?
And whose body was this?
Before he could find an answer, the sea began to ripple, as if stirred by the wind. Slowly, it turned black—black like thick, overflowing ink.
The people panicked as the sea changed into a color they had never seen before. The boy, still bracing himself with his hands behind him, finally stood up and scooped some of the water into his hand.
Looking at the water gathered in his palm, it remained black, yet its texture was the same as ordinary water—only its color had changed.
"What is happening to us?" the people cried out in panic.
"I want to go home…" a woman sobbed in despair.
As their voices grew louder, the sound of footsteps could be heard. The footsteps were strange—like someone running across the surface of water. Then they multiplied, sounding like a large group rushing forward together.
Hearing this, both the people and the boy turned toward the wall that served as the city's boundary. Suddenly, the wall cracked. The cracks were unnatural, growing larger and larger, as if something was slamming into it.
The boy ran first, leaving the others behind. As he ran, he saw a creature—no, more like an entity—something difficult to describe. It had four arms with long, sharp claws. Its legs resembled those of a four-legged beast. Its body was covered in thin fur, and its head was that of an eagle, with a human head inside its beak.
The creature sprinted forward, seized one person from the crowd, and devoured their head in an instant. Seeing this, the people panicked and scattered in terror, thinking there was only one creature.
But the boy realized something was wrong.
There's no way there's only one.
And indeed, as the people fled in all directions, the cracked wall collapsed. Creatures identical to the first poured out—many of them, far too many.
"RUN!!!"
The creatures chased the people down, catching and eating them in different ways—some tore off limbs first, others split bodies in half.
The boy ran while witnessing the carnage. It reminded him of a flock of eagles hunting fish in the sea.
He kept running at full speed. In the distance, he saw a building like a house with its door missing. Without hesitation, he rushed inside. Once inside, he climbed the stairs to the second floor and looked out the window. He spotted someone running in fear and stopping within his line of sight. Just as he was about to call out, he froze.
He heard footsteps running on water.
And just as he feared, the person was stabbed by the creature's claw and devoured until their body vanished completely.
The boy stepped back in shock and accidentally stepped on a wooden plank, causing it to creak. Instantly, the creature turned toward the sound. The boy crouched low and crawled slowly away from where the noise came from, covering his mouth with both hands and holding his breath.
The creature leapt and smashed through the ceiling, landing exactly where the sound had been. It searched left and right, looking for whoever had made the noise. The boy's eyes filled with tears—he wanted to go home. But fate had other plans.
While the creature searched for him, a loud scream for help echoed somewhere else. The creature immediately sprinted toward the sound, as if drawn to its next prey.
Believing the creature was gone, the boy slowly stood and tried to leave the house. As he descended the stairs, he noticed something gleaming. Curious, he approached it and found a sword—but it was broken.
Better than having no weapon at all, he thought.
Leaving the house, the boy carried the broken sword and a leather pouch filled with stones. He strapped the sword to his back using a rope he found inside the house and held the pouch in his right hand.
He walked cautiously along the city streets. Suddenly, he stopped, took a stone from the pouch, and threw it onto the roof of a nearby house.
From above, the creature crashed down violently, thrashing wildly until the roof collapsed. It landed in front of the boy and began to walk slowly toward him.
No one knew what the boy was thinking—it was a reckless idea. He stood completely still, holding his breath as long as he could. The creature was right in front of his face. It lowered its head, scanning the surroundings, and opened its beak.
Inside the beak, the boy saw human eyes—human organs still intact—slowly dissolving in the creature's bodily fluids.
He held his breath for nearly five minutes. He knew that holding it any longer could cause suffocation, seizures, loss of consciousness, or organ damage. But he chose that risk over dying at the hands of this incomprehensible creature.
Eventually, the creature turned and walked away. Still curious, the boy threw another stone in the opposite direction. The creature immediately sprinted past him toward the sound.
The boy suppressed a laugh. The creature he faced was blind—and stupid.
To the north, he saw a massive palace with unique architecture. To the south stood a cathedral. He thought carefully: the cathedral would probably only have an old priest inside, but the palace—surely there would be knights who could help him.
After much thought, he headed north, toward the palace, hoping someone—any knight—was still alive.
When he arrived, he could only sigh. The palace was empty. Inside were luxurious royal furnishings and, in the central hall near the stairs, an altar. Behind it stood a statue of a man seated upon a throne adorned with carved lion heads.
The figure was large and fierce, wearing armor scarred and etched by time and countless battles—wounds unseen, yet recorded in every crack of the steel that covered him. His gaze was fixed forward, deep and sharp like a sword honed countless times. His shoulder-length hair was messy, partially covering a hardened face, complemented by a thick beard that radiated unshakable resolve. A long cloak draped down his back, reaching his ankles.
His iron-gloved hands rested on the armrests of the throne, while two long swords stood beside him—sturdy, cracked. They were not merely weapons, but witnesses to the many enemies he had slain.
He did not look like a king. He looked like a god of war who happened to wear a crown. And his throne was not a symbol of authority, but a seat he had claimed atop corpses and ruined cities.
An old man, the boy thought.
Leaving the palace, he headed east toward the cathedral. He no longer cared if the person there was an old man—he just needed another human being.
The cathedral stood before him. He slowly opened the door and stepped inside carefully. But the result was the same—empty. No one was there. Only long rows of benches and an altar at the front. Behind the altar stood a statue of a woman with long flowing hair, cascading like untouched silk.
Her left hand was raised, slender fingers touching her face. On both wrists were opened metal shackles. A torn cloak draped over her shoulders, and around her body floated threads of light emerging from a book suspended in midair, never touching the ground. Behind all that beauty, her eyes were covered with a wide cloth—not merely a blindfold, but a vow not to see the world unfairly.
Now an old woman, he thought.
He let out a long sigh. From both buildings, all he had found were statues of an old man and an old woman. Frustrated, he walked toward the center of the city—the plaza. There, his irritation grew stronger. No living humans remained, only corpses left uneaten by the creatures.
He sat down near a gate at the center of the plaza. While resting, he spotted a creature wandering about, searching for living prey. Fueled by frustration, he decided to vent his anger on it.
He took a stone from his pouch and threw it at a house with sturdier walls than the others. The creature lunged at the wall and crashed into it violently, snapping its beak. The boy laughed silently in satisfaction.
He kept throwing stones at the hard wall until the creature's head shattered and it could no longer move.
Satisfied with tormenting the creature to death, the boy continued his journey, searching for a way out of the city. Along the way, he spotted another creature hunting from afar. He planned to throw another stone, but as he reached into the pouch, he realized the bottom was torn—cut open by a sharp stone.
The stones spilled out rapidly onto the ground.
The creature heard the sound clearly. It turned its head toward the boy and charged forward, having found its next prey.
"Damn it…"