The shopping district thrummed with life. Laughter filled the air. Sizzling grills added a smoky aroma of grilled meat and fresh bread. Neon lights flickered above, painting the narrow alleys in red, blue, and green. Their reflections rippled off vendor stands and food carts. The glow barely cut through the deepening shadows. They seemed to breathe, hiding their secrets.
Ahead of me, Daisy wove through the crowded street. She slipped past fire jugglers and groups of shoppers with a grace that showed she belonged here. Every step was light and precise, as if she were part of the district's pulse.
"Rei! Quit dragging your feet!" Her voice rang out, cheerful but with an edge, and heads turned at her call. A few glances lingered, taking in my face and the weapon strapped to my side.
I quickened my steps, catching up. “Just... taking it all in.” But the weight of the SMG at my side was a constant reminder—this wasn’t a casual stroll. Every shadow deepened. Every silence between food stalls felt heavy, like a held breath.
Behind me, Oliver shuffled. His eyes darted over the crowds. His hunched shoulders showed he wanted to melt into them. He glanced at me. His lips twitched into a small, hesitant smile. Then, he looked away, disappearing into the crowd.
We turned a corner. A bulletin board came into view. Faded, rain-warped posters plastered it. Eyes stared from each sheet, wide and pleading. Their faces, worn by time and the humid air, curled at the edges. A chill seeped into my chest, heavy and cold, tightening around my throat. I couldn’t breathe.
“Rei?” Daisy’s voice softened, breaking through the fog of unease. "You're okay?”
I forced myself to shrug it off, tearing my gaze from the posters. “Yeah. Just... thinking.”
We moved on, swallowed by the crowd. But the district felt different now. It seemed larger, as if it might swallow us whole. Each sound grew sharper, pressing in.
A shoulder bumped Oliver hard, sending him stumbling. He blinked, wide-eyed, and caught off guard.
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“S-sorry,” he muttered, stepping aside, his voice swallowed by the noise.
The stranger—a tall, hooded figure—made a brief stop. He muttered something as he continued on. Our eyes met for a moment. His cold, calculating gaze sliced through the crowd like a blade through cloth. A chill prickled at the back of my neck.
In the next moment, he was gone, dissolved into the shifting bodies around us. I felt an inexplicable pull, a gnawing needed to follow, to chase down that cold stare. But he was already lost in the crowd.
“Rei?” Daisy’s voice brought me back, her brows drawn with concern, her usual smile slipping.
“It’s nothing.” My voice felt distant and hollow. “something just caught my eye” It sounded flat, forced. Even I didn’t even believe it.
Oliver glanced over, a small, apologetic smile playing at his lips, as if to lighten the moment. His mouth opened as if to speak, but he shut it and looked down again. Daisy studied me a moment longer. She didn't press, only nodded. But I felt her eyes linger, sensing something was off.
We kept moving, each step heavier. The cobblestones seemed to throb beneath our feet. The crowd closed in. The noise grew, almost smothering us. The missing posters, their faded eyes, felt like they were tracking us. They held questions that scraped at my mind, silent yet unshakable.
---
Elsewhere, under the shadowed mouth of an alley, the hooded figure moved with purpose. His steps produced a faint sound on the damp pavement, while the darkness clung to him like a cloak. He reached a secluded corner. Brick walls towered, hemming him in. They muffled the sounds of the bustling district beyond.
“This is it,” he murmured, pulling back his hood. Blue hair tumbled over his face, his left eye hidden beneath an eyepatch. His one visible eye, sharp and cold, scanned the alley as if measuring every inch.
Before him, the air shimmered, bending as though in the heat of a desert. A jagged tear ripped through the world, a rift opening with a low, pulsing hum. From within, a figure emerged, face concealed behind a smooth, metallic mask. The warped, metallic voice that slipped out laced with authority.
“Did you complete your mission, Asher?”
“Yeah.” His voice held no emotion, just a flat certainty. “It’s done.”
The masked figure nodded, stepping back into the darkness of the rift. Asher followed, disappearing into the void with practiced ease.
Beyond the rift lay a dim lab. The air was thick and stale. Faint green lights cast a sickly glow on the walls lined with glass tubes. Inside each, half-formed shapes twitched beneath swirling liquids. They were indistinct shapes, existing in a state between life and death.
Asher's gaze fixed on a tube. Something massive shifted inside it. A hulking, distorted, monstrous figure. It stood at a height of almost three meters. Its skin was a raw, throbbing crimson, stretched tight over jagged muscles. Spiked ridges ran down its back, and a single eye sat beneath a heavy brow, closed for now but waiting.
"So, this is what we're releasing," Asher muttered, almost to himself. A dark spark flickered in his gaze.
A man in a lab coat stepped forward, eyes gleaming, hair spiked like a twisted crown. His fingers moved over the control panel, each button pressed with reverence. Asher’s mouth twitched into a smirk.
“Let’s wake him up, Günter.”
“With pleasure.” The man’s hands flew over the console, hitting a final switch with a flourish. A low hum filled the room. The lights flickered, casting dancing shadows across the glass tubes.
The air crackled, buzzing with raw energy, and the massive figure in the tube stirred. A primal, fierce growl resonated from within. It vibrated through the lab walls.
“It’s time to play, Cyclops.”
[End of Chapter]