Ryu kept moving, cutting through the thinning crowd as night blanketed the city. The flickering distortion and the weight of that nightmare gnawed at him, but he locked it down beneath an icy exterior. He'd done it before—compartmentalize, endure, move forward.

Tonight, though, the cracks were harder to hide.

Not that he needed to hide them.

No one was around him right now.

The bitter wind stung his face, and he barely registered the sensation. His thoughts were a maze of half-formed questions and instincts screaming at him to pay attention.

He passed a narrow alleyway where a streetlamp flickered weakly overhead. A sharp metallic scent clung to the air—faint but distinct.

Blood.

Ryu stopped.

His senses sharpened, eyes narrowing as he scanned the alley. A figure stood near the far wall, slouched and motionless. They were partially obscured by shadows, but there was no mistaking the dark smear trailing down the bricks.

A knot formed in his chest.

Most people would have walked away without a second glance.

Smart people.

But Ryu wasn't wired that way. His instincts had been honed by years of reading danger where others saw nothing. And right now, every fiber of his being screamed that something was wrong.

He has been feel something was wrong ever since that—thing happened.

'Was it really even a nightmare? Could there be something in the ally connected to it?'

He stepped into the alley, boots scuffing against the cracked pavement. The smell of blood thickened, sharp and metallic.

"Hello?" he called out, voice steady despite the tension coiling in his gut.

No response.

Ryu approached cautiously, his muscles taut. The figure's head lolled to one side, dark hair obscuring their face.

He clenched his jaw. If they were dead—

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A figure lay on the ground, like a marionette whose strings have been cut.

The figure moved.

But then, it seemed as if new strings have been attached.

A sudden jerk, unnatural and wrong, like it had been yanked by invisible strings.

Ryu froze, instincts roaring to life. His breath caught in his throat as the figure straightened slowly, limbs twitching. A low, guttural sound escaped their lips—not a moan of pain, but something guttural and primal.

"What the fu—"

The figure's head snapped up, revealing eyes that glowed faintly in the dim light. Their face was slack, twisted into an expression that didn't belong on a living person.

Cold dread gripped Ryu's spine.

This wasn't normal.

Nothing was normal today.

The figure lunged.

Ryu's body moved before his mind caught up. He sidestepped, footwork clean and precise, as the figure's outstretched hand raked through empty air. The stench of decay clung to them now, overpowering the metallic tang of blood.

His pulse thundered in his ears.

The thing—because it wasn't human anymore—whirled around with a speed that defied its jerky movements. Its mouth twisted into a grotesque snarl.

Ryu's mind worked fast. No weapons, no backup. Just instinct and muscle memory.

He ducked low as the thing lunged again, its nails scraping against the wall behind him. The impact sent a shower of dust cascading down.

Ryu's breath was steady, but his heart hammered against his ribs.

Calm. Stay calm.

'What the fuck! I cannot stay calm, not right now!'

The thing staggered, momentarily off-balance. Ryu seized the opening, slamming his shoulder into its chest. The force sent it sprawling backward, but it hit the ground with disturbing ease and bounced back up as though its bones were made of rubber.

"What the hell..." he muttered, eyes narrowing.

The thing charged again, and this time Ryu didn't retreat. He braced himself, twisting at the last second to avoid its wild swing. His elbow drove into its side, followed by a sharp knee to its abdomen.

It should have gone down.

But it didn't.

The thing let out a guttural screech, louder this time, and its body convulsed. The glow in its eyes intensified, casting eerie shadows across the alley.

Ryu gritted his teeth. His muscles burned, and sweat slicked his palms despite the cold air. This thing wasn't just fast—it was relentless.

He needed to finish this. Now.

The thing lunged for a third time, and Ryu met it head-on. He caught its wrist, twisting hard until he heard a sickening pop. The creature howled, its movements growing erratic.

Using its momentum, Ryu drove it into the wall with a bone-jarring thud. The brickwork cracked under the force, and the creature slumped momentarily.

Ryu didn't give it a chance to recover. He grabbed its head and slammed it into the wall once, twice—

A sharp crack echoed through the alley, and the glow in its eyes flickered before fading completely.

The thing collapsed, twitching violently before falling still.

Ryu stood over it, breath heaving. His knuckles throbbed, and blood smeared across his coat sleeve.

For a long moment, the only sound was his ragged breathing and the faint hum of the streetlamp overhead.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, heart still racing.

This wasn't normal.

None of this was normal.

He crouched beside the body, muscles tense in case it moved again. But the thing lay motionless, its features slack and lifeless.

What the hell had just happened?

Ryu's chest tightened as fragmented thoughts clawed at his mind. The flicker, the nightmare, and now this. The threads were tangled, but one thing was clear:

The cracks in reality were widening, and he was caught right in the middle of them.