Night descended like a heavy, leaden blanket. The world he knew lay in ruins. Smoke rose from charred houses, the smell of burning stung his nose, and the wind, as if aware of everything that had happened, scattered silence among the empty streets. Every step Vlad took echoed in the emptiness, as if the earth itself protested his presence.
He ran, his feet getting caught in crumbling bricks and embers, but the thought of his family wouldn't let him slow down. Behind him, he could hear the hoarse roars of monsters. Their eyes gleamed red in the darkness, their teeth sparkled in the moonlight, and every sound of their approach made his heart beat faster.
"No, not now, not them..."
He burst into the square where their house once stood. Now, only charred walls, collapsed roofs, and the dark holes of windows remained. His heart clenched. In the center of the square, his father was fighting something huge and insanely fast. A monster covered in bone spikes was tearing into him, blood splattering on the stone, leaving dark puddles.
"Papa!" cried his younger sister, her voice trembling but piercing the darkness like a small torch.
"Stop, stop!" — his mother ran over, trying to push the monster away, but it batted her aside with one paw, and she crashed to the ground.
Vlad lunged forward. He tried to make it in time, but every second felt like an eternity. His hands reached for the monster, trying to somehow protect his parents.
"Why... why is this happening? I can't lose them..."
The monster twisted, as if sensing fear, and threw itself at him. Vlad managed to raise his arm, but couldn't push off in time. A blade, sharp and cold, pierced his head, and the light around him went out. He felt a strange relief and searing pain simultaneously.
His body stopped obeying. His legs gave way, his eyes rolled back. And suddenly, something unimaginable appeared before him.
White eyes looked directly at him. They were not human, but they held no threat. They were cold and ruthless, both frightening and alluring at the same time.
«You have come here too soon», — a voice, like the whisper of wind and cold stone, crashed down upon his consciousness.
Vlad wanted to answer, but his tongue seemed glued to the roof of his mouth. Inside him was an emptiness, deep as an abyss, and it screamed as if it knew everything about pain, fear, and loss.
"Where... where am I?"
«Look around. The world you knew died together with those you loved. All that remains is what you are able to accept. If you do not accept it, you will vanish together with them».
Scenes flashed before Vlad's eyes again. He saw his father fighting and falling, his mother trying to get up, his sister screaming as she rushed towards him. He saw every drop of blood, every movement of the monster. And he felt it all, every pain, every sensation, as if it was carving itself into his body and soul.
"No... I can't save them... I can't..."
The voice descended again, soft but merciless.
«You can no longer be who you were. Everything you knew ended the moment your body ceased to exist. Now you can only move forward through what will remain after you».
Vlad fell to his knees before those he had lost. He felt the emptiness inside him growing, as if every whisper, every pain and fear was turning into something tangible. There was no malice in him, but there was no fear either. There was an understanding that the world would never return.
He saw the monster approaching him, but now it looked different. He could feel its movements, see every muscle, every bone, every swipe of its claws. And suddenly, without effort, he raised his hand. The monster shuddered, then vanished.
The pain in his body remained, but it was no longer physical. It was deeper, internal, as if life itself demanded a sacrifice to preserve the remnants of consciousness.
He opened his eyes and found himself not where he had been before. Everything was unfamiliar. He stood by a garbage heap on the outskirts of a city he had never seen. The air was damp, smelling of rot and iron. The moon barely illuminated the streets, shreds of light falling on charred containers.
"Where am I... what is this place?"
He looked up and realized there were no parents, no sister around. Everything he had seen was gone. Tears burned his eyes, his throat tightened, but in his chest, he felt a strange calm. He was alone, and that was final.
Vlad touched his head. Where the blade had penetrated, there was no pain left—only emptiness. Inside, something moved, alive, like a breath, like a dark shadow waiting to become a part of him.
"They... they died... I... I'm alone..."
And then, for the first time, he felt that he could move. Not just move, but see more than before, hear, feel space and time differently. He didn't fully understand what was happening, but he understood one thing: the world had changed, and he had changed with it.
The city that seemed foreign to him was now his starting point. He took a step forward and heard something whispering quietly through space: every breath he took left a trace, every movement could change what was around him.
He didn't know who he was now, or what lay ahead. But he knew he would never be the same again. Something had awakened inside him, something cold, fearless, and greedy. He felt it every moment.
Vlad looked at the garbage heap before him. It was shallow, but the moonlight fell in such a way that every detail was visible. And suddenly he understood he could move it without exerting any effort.
It was a feeling of power, not human, not the strength of an ordinary person, but something else. This sensation was frightening and exhilarating at the same time.
He walked further along narrow streets lit by the occasional streetlamp. Every step echoed in the empty world. He didn't know where to go, but he understood that now everything depended only on him and what remained inside.
It was at that moment he first felt that the world that had been destroyed was now open to him, that he could go where no one else dared to tread. His journey began with pain, with loss, with what seemed impossible, but now, with the emptiness inside him awakened, he knew: this path was his only chance.
He took a deep breath, and the cold air cut his chest, but his heart did not clench. He raised his head, and the gaze of his white eyes met the night. In this emptiness, he felt alive for the first time since losing everything.