Delson's breath finally slowed as he reached the edge of the settlement, finding a quiet alley to catch his breath. He was free, for now, but something in the air made him pause. There was an unnatural stillness, a heaviness that pressed down on his chest. Something wasn't right. His curiosity got the better of him, and instead of slipping away as he should, Delson crept forward, following the faint sound of a voice. He stayed low, his instincts telling him to remain hidden as he approached the edge of a courtyard.
What he saw made his heart stutter in his chest. There, in the center of the clearing, stood a figure shrouded in darkness. Even in the dim light, the man's form was hard to discern. It was as if the shadows themselves bent around him, drawn to him like moths to a flame. His face was obscured by the hood of a long, dark cloak, but his presence alone was overwhelming.
Before him, on his knees, was another man, trembling and broken. The man's face was bloodied, his breath ragged, but no weapons had been used against him. He clutched his chest as if fighting to stay alive, his eyes wide with terror.
"You are allied to the Core 7," the dark figure spoke, his voice a low, resonant sound that seemed to vibrate through the air. "Your life is forfeit."
The words weren't a threat, they were a declaration. The man on the ground let out a gasp, his entire body convulsing as if his heart had simply stopped. And then, without another sound, he crumpled forward, lifeless. No weapon had been drawn. No blood spilled. The figure had simply spoken, and the man had died. Delson's entire body tensed. He'd seen plenty of death in his life, more than he cared to remember, but this was something else. This wasn't the brutal violence of the streets or the chaos of survival. This was... control. Absolute control. Power so vast, so terrifying, that it bent reality itself. The figure stood over the dead man for a moment, as if ensuring the life had truly left him. Then, slowly, he turned. The hooded figure's face was still hidden, but Delson felt a cold grip tighten around his chest. He had been so careful to remain hidden, yet he knew now, it hadn't mattered. This figure, whoever he was, had known he was there all along. Delson swallowed, his throat dry, his instincts screaming at him to run. But his legs wouldn't move. The figure shifted, his dark form gliding through the courtyard, moving toward Delson's hiding place with unnerving calm.
"You've seen more than you should," the figure said, his voice soft, almost whisper-like, yet it pierced through the silence like a blade. "Step forward."
Every fiber of Delson's being resisted, but something far deeper compelled him to obey. His feet moved on their own, his body betraying his mind's desperate cries to run. He stepped out from the shadows and into the dim light of the courtyard, standing face-to-face with the figure. Or rather, face-to-shadow, for the figure's face was still obscured, his features hidden beneath the darkness of his hood. The moment stretched on in tense silence, Delson's heart pounding in his chest. Whoever this was, he wasn't human, not in any way Delson understood. The air itself seemed to bend around him, suffocating, as though the shadows were alive, twisting and shifting under his will. The figure's head tilted slightly, as if studying Delson, though no eyes could be seen. "You have no business here," the figure said. His words held no malice, but the weight behind them was enough to crush Delson's resolve.
Delson swallowed hard, forcing his voice to work. "I... I didn't see anything. Just passing through."
The figure said nothing for a long moment, and Delson feared that the next sentence from this man would be his death sentence, just as it had been for the one lying dead nearby. But then, the figure stepped back, his cloak billowing slightly as he moved.
"You'll live," he said, and his voice was as cold as death itself. "But know this, your path and mine will cross again."
Delson didn't dare breathe until the figure turned away, fading into the darkness of the settlement as though he had never existed at all. The dead man's body lay crumpled in the dirt, but Delson couldn't bring himself to look at it. His mind raced with questions. Who was this man? And why was he so impossibly powerful? Whatever answers there were, Delson wasn't ready to find them, not yet. He backed away slowly, slipping back into the shadows, shaken and deeply unsettled. One thing was clear: he had just come face to face with something far beyond anything he'd ever encountered. And though he had survived, a cold dread filled him.
He would never forget the feeling of those words, a life, snuffed out with a mere sentence.