The city was silent — too silent.
Only the wind spoke, carrying the smell of burnt iron and old blood.
A faint sound echoed from a narrow alley — a child's sob.
"Mama… please, don't go…"
The girl clutched a broken lantern.
Its trembling light danced across the walls, shadows flickering like ghosts.
One shadow moved differently.
Too long. Too alive.
Then came the whisper — wet, low, and inhuman.
"Hu…man…"
Her heart stopped. She turned.
A creature stood there — grey skin stretched over bone, eyes cracked like shattered glass.
Its grin was too wide. Its teeth… too many.
"Found… brain…"
The girl screamed. The lantern shattered.
Darkness swallowed the alley.
By morning, only red stains remained.
The infection spread faster than fear.
No one knew where it began — some said it came from the air, others whispered it fell from the stars.
But one thing was certain: when night came, they came.
They hid in shadows by day — unseen, breathing beneath your feet.
And when darkness fell, they crawled out — hungry, twitching, whispering for human life.
They devoured brains to grow stronger, evolving with every kill.
Strangely… they never touched women — as if some deep, broken instinct forbade it.
Soon, the world split in two —
those who hunted… and those still hiding.
Far from the city's ruins, in a forgotten laboratory, a boy worked alone.
Ren Kaido.
The last living scientist of the old world.
His hands were burned. His eyes, sleepless — yet steady with purpose.
A faint blue glow filled the room as he whispered to himself:
"If the virus can rewrite the body… then maybe I can rewrite the virus."
Ten lockets lay on his desk, each glowing with a different hue — crimson, azure, gold, emerald…
Inside each, Ren sealed a fragment of his new creation — a power born of both hope and despair.
It wasn't a cure.
But it could turn the infection… into strength.
"These will be their light."
He glanced at an old photo — his family, smiling before the world fell apart.
His voice broke as he murmured,
"I couldn't save you then… but I'll save them now."
The lockets pulsed once — as if answering him.
Outside, the sun sank behind black clouds.
Night returned.
And this time, humanity would not run.
That night, ten lights pierced the darkness.
And with them, the war between light and shadow began.