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Cold.
That was the first thing Raon felt sharp, biting cold seeping through wet fabric into his skin.
His eyes opened to absolute darkness. Not the comfortable dark of a bedroom, but something deeper. Suffocating. The kind of darkness that pressed against his chest and made his lungs work harder for each breath.
*Where...?*
Pain lanced through his ribs as he tried to move. He gasped, the sound echoing strangely around him, metallic and hollow. His hands pressed against rough concrete, fingers scraping over something slick and cold. Water? No. Too thick. Too sticky.
Blood.
His blood.
Panic clawed up his throat. He couldn't see anything. Couldn't remember how he got here. The last thing he remembered was...
Falling.
Stairs rushing up to meet him. The sickening crack. Darkness.
*I died.*
The thought came with absolute certainty. He'd died. He knew he'd died.
So why was he breathing?
Why did his body feel wrong, too tall, too heavy, hands too large when he held them before his face in the darkness?
Somewhere in the black, something dripped. Water against stone, steady and patient.
And then, distantly, something else.
A growl.
"Ahhh!"
Raon clenched his head, fingers digging into his skull as memories, not his but somehow his, flooded in like ice water. His eyes burned, vision swimming as fragments crashed together. A name. A face. A life that wasn't his own.
He couldn't process it. The gash across his chest throbbed with each heartbeat, warm blood soaking through fabric.
"Raon..." The name slipped out, foreign yet familiar on his tongue. "Who is Raon? That's... my name?"
His previous name, the one he'd carried for eighteen years, was gone. Erased. Like it had never existed.
*Wait. I fell from the staircase. I'm sure I died.* His hands trembled. *Are the neighbors playing some sick prank?*
No. This wasn't a prank. This body was wrong. Too tall. Too heavy. Not his.
*Figure it out later. Right now, get out before...*
He dragged himself toward a pillar, every movement sending fresh agony through his ribs. He slumped against the cold concrete wall, gasping. His vision blurred at the edges, darkness creeping in.
Then he heard it.
"Graaaawwwl..."
A voice, low and wet, wrong. Not human. Not animal. Something else entirely, echoing through the abandoned station.
Raon's breath caught.
"Help!" His voice cracked, desperate. "Somebody, anybody! I don't want to die here!"
A monster appeared from the opposite side of the pillar where Raon was resting.
Five feet tall, with a head half the size of its body and arms that dragged along the ground. Its face dominated its form. Huge, milky eyeballs bulging from dark sockets, and a jaw lined with jagged, rusted teeth, each the size of a finger.
"What the hell is that?"
The stench hit him like a wall. Rot, decay, something ancient and wrong. His stomach heaved. He vomited, bile burning his throat, eyes watering.
*Move. Run. NOW.*
He managed to stand, legs trembling, and stumbled forward. Something that size couldn't run fast, right?
Each step felt like a hundred. His vision swam red with blood. He couldn't tell which direction he was going, but anywhere was better than here.
Before he could take another step, something slammed into him.
The world spun.
His body crashed into the opposite wall with bone-shattering force.
"Kugh..." Raon spat blood, hot and metallic. His ribs cracked, sharp agony lancing through his chest. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't move.
"Hehehehe..."
The specter's laugh was wet, bubbling, like drowning in mud.
*So those arms aren't just for show.*
It hopped closer, each movement casual, confident. It was in no rush. Raon wasn't going anywhere.
*Will I just die like this? Maybe I'm dreaming. Maybe...*
No.
"But... I don't want to die. Not like this. Not here. Not as some monster's dinner."
The specter hopped closer.
Raon's hands moved on their own, forming a seal he didn't consciously understand. Muscle memory from a life that wasn't his.
"Hunt, Dusk and Dawn!"
Just before the specter could land the final blow, it leaped back as if sensing killing intent from its prey.
Raon's shadow rippled and stretched. Two wolves emerged from the darkness. Twins, one black as midnight, one white as bone. Both stood as tall as the specter, muscles coiled beneath sleek fur.
They positioned themselves before Raon, shielding him from the monster. Lips curled back, revealing fangs sharp as daggers, each one capable of tearing through flesh and bone.
The black wolf, Dawn, charged forward and launched itself into the air, jaws wide, fangs gleaming. Its teeth sank into the specter's neck.
The creature didn't even flinch.
Dawn's bite had no effect. Its fangs couldn't pierce the specter's thick hide.
Raon couldn't believe what he was seeing. Had he summoned them? Was it luck? Instinct? Some power he didn't know he had?
It didn't matter.
His chances of survival had just skyrocketed.
The white wolf, Dusk, paid no attention to its summoner's racing thoughts. What mattered was this: the wolves were ready to die for him.
Dawn's attacks weren't doing enough damage, but they were strong enough to force the monster back step by step.
The monster tried to counter, but its claws hit nothing but air. Dawn was too fast, weaving between strikes with liquid grace.
The battle had barely lasted a minute, but to Raon, vision swimming, blood still pouring from his wounds, it felt like hours. He could barely track their movements, just blurs of black fur and twisted flesh.
Through the haze, he noticed Dusk was still standing guard in front of him.
Raon coughed, partly from blood in his throat, partly to get Dusk's attention. He couldn't remember if he'd learned their names or if he'd always known them.
Dusk turned, golden eyes meeting his. The wolf padded closer and pressed its head against Raon's trembling hand. A gesture of comfort, of reassurance.
"Go help Dawn," Raon whispered. "End this. *Please.*"
Dusk charged. Its jaws clamped down on the specter's ankle from behind. Bone crunched. The creature howled.
Dawn leaped back, circling. The tide had turned. Two against one now.
The specter was seriously injured, but it didn't retreat. It bared its rusted teeth and screamed.
"GRAAAWWWL!"
The cry echoed through the abandoned station.
And from the darkness, dozens of voices answered.
More were coming. Many more.
*Oh shit. This bastard can't take a loss, so it called for backup.*
Dusk immediately retreated to Raon's side. The wolves could hear them too. The approaching horde.
*I need to get out before they arrive.*
Raon dragged himself forward and collapsed onto Dusk's back. Dawn had returned to the fight, claws flashing, barely holding the specter at bay.
"Just cut it," Raon said, voice barely a whisper.
Dawn's claws slashed and tore, but nothing landed clean. Nothing dealt enough damage.
Raon's vision narrowed. All he could see was Dawn struggling, claws missing again and again.
*Just... cut it.*
He pictured it. A clean line, severing flesh and bone.
The air itself *screamed*.
A slash of invisible force tore through space. It bisected the specter from shoulder to hip.
And kept going.
Dawn's body split in two.
Both halves hit the ground with wet, heavy thuds.
"I'm sorr... sorry. I... I had to survive."
Dozens of specters emerged from the darkness, identical to the first, eyes gleaming with hunger.
"Let's... go home. Please... take me..."
His vision went black.
Dusk melted into the shadows, carrying its master into the dark.
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