He closed his eyes.
If I awaken, he thought not for the first time I won't ask for much.
Just enough power to stop running.
Just enough to choose.
Just enough to not die quietly in a gutter no one remembered.
The alley lights flickered. Crackling loudly
He opened his eyes and frowned.
That wasn't normal.
The temperature dropped.
Not cold....empty. As if the warmth had been removed rather than lost.
The dripping water stopped mid-fall.
The rats froze.
The boy opened wide his eyes.
Dusk had come early,Darkness pooled at the far end of the alley at the end of everywhere, thick and wrong, folding inward like a wound refusing to heal. A shape dragged itself forward thou looked humanoid too many joints, not enough form. Its presence pressed against his chest, heavy and suffocating.
A Dusk Beast.
Too close.
Too strong.
No warning sirens.
No guards.
Around him, beggars screamed or tried to. Sound died halfway out of their throats. One by one, they vanished into the dark, pulled apart by something that didn't hurry.
The boy didn't move. didn't blink ...terrified he stood bearly but stood regardless willed his legs to move but it didn't.
He watched.
And for the first time in his life, he understood something with terrifying clarity:
I'm about to die.
.gcl
Something cracked.
Not outside.
Inside him.
The world stuttered.
Then
Darkness folded inward, collapsing toward his chest instead of away from it.
Words carved themselves into the air, pale and trembling.
> [DUSK INTERFACE ACTIVE]
Anomaly Detected
Tide Resonance: NULL
Classification: Error-State
His breath hitched.
> Primary Tide Identified: HOLLOW
Status: Should not exist
The Dusk Beast recoiled,stared and focused on other begging that was screaming
Not from light.
From absence.
The boy smiled faintly.
Tired.
Hopeful.
Terrified.
And utterly unaware of what he had just invited into himself.