The wind howled through the ravaged fields, carrying the acrid scent of burnt earth and decay. Lucas wandered aimlessly, his feet sinking into the fine dust that blanketed the ground.

  How long had it been?

  Days? Weeks?

  He no longer knew.

  The gray sky was always the same, always the same, as if he were trapped in an eternal dusk without a sun. The sensation of being displaced in time grew stronger with each passing moment.

  Sometimes, he wondered if he was dreaming.

  Or if he was still human.

  The heat of the day seared his skin, but he felt no pain. The night was cold as a corpse, yet his body did not tremble. The weight of exhaustion pressed on him, but his steps never faltered.

  Something inside him pushed him forward.

  Was it still him?

  Or was it something else, something that had begun to consume him from within?

  Lucas saw the ruined village before he even realized he was walking toward it. The houses were abandoned, shattered windows staring at his arrival like empty eye sockets.

  No sound.

  No scent of life.

  He stopped, unease creeping up his spine.

  The silence was unnatural.

  He had passed through devastated towns before, but there was always something—the wind howling through broken buildings, rats scurrying through the debris, the unseen presence of something still alive.

  Here, there was only emptiness.

  He kept walking.

  And then, he saw the child.

  She was cornered in an alleyway, her gaze unfocused, as if trapped in a silent nightmare. Her skin was too pale. Her body, too thin.

  Something twisted inside him.

  He took a step forward.

  The girl did not move.

  Another step.

  Stolen story; please report.

  A blur appeared at her side.

  Before he could react, a man grabbed the child and pulled her into a crumbling building.

  Their eyes met.

  And in that man’s eyes, Lucas saw something terrible.

  Fear.

  Not ordinary fear.

  Fear of him.

  “Stay away from her!” The man’s voice trembled. “You... you don’t belong in this world!”

  A cold shiver ran down Lucas’s spine.

  He wanted to respond. To say that he wasn’t a monster. That he wasn’t some faceless killer.

  But then, the dried blood on his clothes answered for him.

  He was.

  The man vanished, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Lucas stood frozen in the middle of the street, staring at the lifeless houses around him.

  “I’m not a monster…” he whispered.

  But his voice was unconvincing.

  A shadow moved behind him.

  He spun—

  But there was nothing there.

  He was alone.

  Or at least, he should have been.

  He wandered into the forest. The trees were ancient, their twisted trunks reaching for the sky, their dense canopy allowing only slivers of light through. Everything was too quiet.

  And then, he sensed it.

  The scent of smoke.

  The aroma of burning wood cut through the air—warm, strangely inviting amidst the lifeless cold.

  He followed the trail.

  The clearing opened before him, and there, beside a crackling fire, sat the old man.

  His clothes were little more than tattered rags, his unkempt beard hiding part of his face.

  But his eyes...

  His eyes burned too brightly for a mere beggar.

  Lucas hesitated.

  He didn’t want to interact with anyone. He didn’t want to see more judgment, more fear in someone’s gaze.

  But the silence of the forest was unbearable.

  “Can I... sit?” His voice came out rough.

  The old man didn’t look at him immediately. He stirred the embers with a branch before finally nodding.

  “If you have something to share, you’re welcome.”

  Lucas approached. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a piece of stale bread, offering it to the old man, who took it without a word.

  For long moments, there was only fire and wind between them.

  Then, the old man broke the silence.

  “You have the look of someone who’s lost something.”

  Lucas swallowed dryly.

  “My daughter.” His voice nearly cracked. “I was taken from her.”

  The old man studied him with interest—not just his words, but what lay behind them.

  “And now you wander, searching for a way back.”

  Lucas nodded.

  “I would do anything to see her again.”

  The old man smiled.

  But it was not a comforting smile.

  “Anything?”

  The fire crackled louder. The shadows flickered, twisting as if they were alive.

  Lucas hesitated. “...Yes.”

  The old man stabbed the branch deeper into the embers, stirring the fire. “They say there is a power capable of bending the laws of existence. Breaking the barriers between worlds. But all power comes at a price.”

  Lucas lifted his gaze. “What kind of price?”

  The old man smiled.

  “The greater the desire, the greater the cost. And in the end, what you find may not be what you expected.”

  Lucas did not waver.

  “I’m willing.”

  The old man held his stare for a long moment.

  Then, chuckling softly, he murmured:

  “Perhaps you’re already on the path...” His gaze lifted to the dark sky. “...or perhaps it has already found you.”

  A chill ran through Lucas’s spine.

  A gust of wind swept through the clearing. The fire’s flames surged, twisting unnaturally, as if they were alive.

  Lucas blinked.

  The old man was gone.

  No footprints.

  No trace.

  Only the fire.

  And the shadows smiling at him from the depths of the forest.