The slums of Sector D were alive at night not with music or laughter but with coughs from damp lungs, the clatter of scrap being scavenged and the feint growl of something not quite human stalking the gutters.
In this place streetlights flickered like dying stars, and hope had long since been pawned for bread or bullets.
Kai crouched behind a stack of rusted oil drums his breath shallow, heartbeat thunderous, beside him curled tightly into herself, was a girl barely nine years old.
Her thin arms wrapped around his leg trembling
"Don't let them find us Kai"
She whispered, voice trembling.
"I won't " he muttered, scanning the alley with narrowed eyes. Three blocks away a fire still burned, remnant's of a raid by the fangs, one of the bigger slum gangs.
Someone had ratted out a supplier a supplier, The fangs responded like they always did burn, bleed, and break. Kai and his sister Lia had barely escaped the explosion that tore through the market square.
But they weren't safe yet, he could still hear the boots crunching on broken glass, still feel the oily stench of gasoline in the air. Still see the glow of torches bouncing off graffiti covered walls and now they were hunting, not just looters.
Witnesses.
Kai was no stranger to running, he'd been doing it since their mother died coughing blood into a torn cloth.
Since their father went out for medicine and never returned, Since lia was left in his arms, whimpering from fever while sirens howled and no one came.
But tonight was different, something about the air, thick and metallic felt wrong,
"Kai", Lia said, tugging on his sleeve, i hear them.
He placed a finger to her lips then slowly peered around the corner, three of them FANGS, black leather jackets with the fang mark painted in neon white across their backs.
One held a crowbar, another a serrated blade the third had something worse, a syringe filled with black liquid that hissed as it steamed in the cold.
The gang's new drug "Spectre" said to let you see things, said to open your soul to powers.
Kai had seen what it really did, turn men into monsters who couldn't feel pain, men who couldn't tell friend from foe.
He had no weapon Just a piece of rebar wrapped in tape, It might as well have been a twig.
He considered running again but Lia couldn't keep up, not anymore not with her leg twisted from the fall earlier. If he tried to drag her they'd both be caught,So he made a decision.
"You remember where the church ruins are?" he asked quietly, she nodded her big brown eyes shimmered with tears There's a pipe behind the statue,crawl through don't stop until you reach the old drain tunnels.
I taught you how to lock the grate, right
Her lip quivered, What about you
i'll draw them off.
No! I want to stay. Lia,he said grabbing her chin gently, but firmly. I promised mom I'd keep you safe and I keep my promises.
She started to cry not loudly just those tiny hiccuping sobs that tore at his soul,
He kissed her forehead.
Go. Now.
Then he stood walked out into the open, The three gang members stopped well well well, said the one with the syringe, his voice oilly Little Kai.
Thought you were smarter than this.
I am, Kai replied, Smarter than you three clowns at least. Crowbar guy chuckled Got a mouth on him.
Serrated Blade moved first fast. But Kai was faster ducking low and swinging his rebar hard, It caught the man in the knee there was a crunch and a scream.
But that was all he got, crowbar guy tackled him from the side. Kai grunted, air rushing from his lungs as he hit the pavement he twisted, jabbing upward with the rebar but the third man kicked it from his hands and slammed the syringe down into his shoulder.
Pain
Like fire and ice tearing through his veins,
He screamed everything blurred his mind splintered, shadows danced across his vision.
You should've stayed hidden, the syringe man said grinning.
Now we get to see what Spectre does to gutter rats.
Kai's vision flickered but even through the pain, he saw something that made his heart steady
Lia Limping into the shadows,Safe
He smiled burn in hell, he muttered.
The last thing he felt was the blade tearing through his chest Darkness Then stillness.
Not the cold silence of death Something deeper
Hungrier
System Initialization in Progress..
Kai's consciousness floated in a sea of black
He couldn't move
Couldn't breathe
Analyzing Host: Low Vitality, Spirit Severed, Soul Fragment Stabilized...
Reconstruction Authorized ,Shadow Hunter Path Detected.
Suddenly, pain surged through his being but not like before.
This was different,Focused
It felt like he was being stitched together with threads made of smoke and starlight.
Welcome, Initiate.
A single line of glowing text appeared in the darkness. burning itself into his mind
You died but your will resisted oblivion, You have been chosen by the System of Shadows, Your hunt begins anew.
The blackness shattered like glass.
Kai gasped.
His eyes shot open he lay on cold concrete, heart pounding, chest bleeding but alive.
No not alive.
Not exactly.
Everything was darker, Sharper. He could see the grains in the wall, hear the drip of water five alleys over, smell rusted blood in the air.
And floating before him
Shadow Hunter System Activated
Name: Kai
Level: 1
Class: Rogue Initiate
HP: 40 / 100
Shadow Points: 0
Fear Sense: Active
New Title: [First Flame]. One who defied death for another.
Quest Initiated: First Blood
Eliminate your first target to prove your worth.
Target Identified: Fang Lieutenant [Goro the Bleeder]
Status: Nearby. Unaware of your revival.
Reward: +1 Level | +20 Shadow Points | Skill Unlock
Kai blinked, the messages burning into his mind.
A system? A second chance?
He heard boots.
Goro. The man with the syringe still here. Laughing about how the slum rats squeal when stabbed.
Kai's hands curled into fists, the pain was still there, but behind it was something else cold, focused clarity.
He stood. Slowly, Quietly.
No heartbeat, No breath, He was a shadow now.
Fear Sense Activated
He felt it Goro's unease, the prickling on the back of his neck. The predator's instinct that something wasn't right.
Kai smiled, eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
Time to hunt.