The night hadn't ended yet.
Heavy fog crept through the streets of the city, muffling the sounds of distant traffic. Kaito leaned against a cold wall in a back alley, his breathing shallow. His shirt was torn, claws retreating slowly into human hands, though blood still dripped from his side.
"Are you sure you can walk?" Rina asked softly, her voice shaky but full of concern.
"I'm fine," Kaito lied, wincing as he tried to stand. "It's… fading."
But it wasn't.
The beast inside him wasn't asleep. It was watching, waiting.
Rina reached out, helping him steady himself. "We need to get somewhere safe. There might be more of those things."
"I know a place," Kaito muttered, his voice hoarse.
They moved through the fog-drenched streets until they reached an abandoned warehouse near the edge of town. Kaito collapsed onto a stack of dusty crates while Rina found an old first-aid kit.
As she patched him up, silence filled the air.
"Do you remember anything?" she asked. "From when you changed?"
Kaito hesitated.
"Flashes. Sounds. Voices… whispering things I didn't understand. And… a door."
Rina blinked. "A door?"
"In my mind. Like something behind it is trying to break through."
She fell silent, then asked quietly, "Do you think this is a curse?"
"I don't know. But it feels ancient… like it's been waiting for someone."
Before Rina could respond, a sudden metallic clang echoed through the warehouse.
They froze.
A silhouette appeared in the fog beyond the broken windows—tall, cloaked, unmoving.
Then a voice, low and inhuman, echoed:
"The cursed blood has awakened… The Gate of Shadows begins to open."
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End of Chapter 3