The First Encounter

Kudo opened the door, and in an instant, a fist flew past him, missing by mere millimeters and shattering the door into splinters. Stunned, he looked up to see a towering figure blocking the doorway. Sora’s voice dripped with condescension as he smirked.

“Name’s Sora—not that it matters, since you’ll be dead soon enough.”

Kudo’s heart pounded. Trembling, he took a step back and bolted for the back door, desperate to escape. As he reached the door, he glanced back, wondering why Sora wasn’t pursuing him. But just as he thought he’d made his escape, he ran straight into Sora.

Sora sneered,

“You can’t escape from me. My Veil lets me teleport.”

Fear gripped Kudo as he stumbled backward. Sora’s laughter echoed around him.

“Your face is priceless. I love seeing my victims’ last moments filled with fear.”

Panic surged through Kudo. What’s happening? I can’t die like this!

Desperately, he scanned for an escape route and started running again. This time, Sora chased him, but Kudo noticed something:

Sora seemed slower than he should be. Maybe his size is slowing him down. If that’s the case, he’s less agile than I am. Also, if he can teleport, why isn’t he using it more? There must be a cooldown.

Sora teleported in front of him again, but Kudo was quick, jumping back. Okay, so he can teleport, but there’s a delay. Let’s try something.

Kudo ran in the opposite direction, with Sora close behind. He began counting each second.

1 second…

2 seconds…

3 seconds…

4 seconds…

5 seconds…

At the 5-second mark, Sora appeared out of nowhere. Kudo whispered to himself,

“Five seconds, huh? That’s not a lot of time, but it might be enough.”

He dashed into an alleyway, searching for something. When Sora teleported again, Kudo quickly changed direction, spotting what he needed. He began counting down.

3…

2…

1…

Kudo positioned himself just as Sora reappeared.

“You might be one of my dumbest victims yet, trapping yourself like this,”

Sora taunted.

Kudo smiled, saying sarcastically,

“Yeah, how could I…”

Sora swung his fist, and Kudo thought, If this doesn’t work, I’m dead. He ducked just in time. Sora’s fist crashed into a metal beam from a nearby construction site. The beam, along with debris, fell onto Sora. Kudo jumped out of the way, breathing heavily as he looked at the wreckage. The metal beams and rubble formed a grim scene, with blood seeping from beneath the debris.

“I—I killed him... but he was trying to kill me. It was self-defence,” Kudo stammered, trembling as guilt and fear mixed within him.

Standing amid the chaos, Kudo’s mind raced with questions. What did he mean by Veil? How did he teleport? What did Ryu get me into?

Shaking off the guilt, Kudo went home to clean up. After a shower, he turned on the news. The report covered the construction site, speculating about a possible terrorist attack.

While watching with a heavy heart, his phone buzzed with a new notification. The message was from an unknown number:

“Impressive, killing Sora, or as most people call him, Nightfall. Meet me at the abandoned warehouse on Mosswood Street tonight, or else.”

Kudo hesitated but decided to go, suspecting it could be a trap. That night, he prepared and set out. After a 20-minute walk, he arrived at the warehouse. He pushed open the creaking doors, and every step echoed as he walked through the darkened interior. Reaching the halfway point, a female voice broke the silence.

“Don’t take another step, Kudo.”

The figure stepped into the light.

Kudo’s eyes widened.

“No way…”

The figure revealed herself, a chilling smile playing on her lips, as she took a step forward.