Twilight Watch

Bangkok, downtown city street, night.

The chill of the night air clung to Max as he strode onto the eerily quiet downtown street. It was a stark contrast to the typical commotion of the city — the area was now cordoned off by black and yellow police tape, bathed in the blue and red glares of police lights. Max's gaze swept over the scene: overturned trash cans, shattered glass from nearby shops, and vehicles abandoned mid-escape. It was chaos frozen in time.

Wearing his usual ensemble of blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket, Max exuded an air of casual authority. His badge, firmly fixed to his belt, gleamed faintly under the intermittent glow of the police lights as he moved through the scene.

Young Officer Park, looking slightly overwhelmed, approached him with hesitant steps.

"Detective," he began, his voice betraying his unease, "As you can see, it's a real mess here. There's no clear perpetrator here. Witnesses are talking about moving shadows and things flying around without anyone touching them. Everyone's spooked, saying they felt something like... dread."

Max offered a nod, more in acknowledgment than reassurance. Sending a newbie to a scene clearly involving supernatural elements seemed like an odd choice from the higher-ups, but then, Max had long stopped trying to make sense of their decisions. The young officer would just have to learn on the job, he supposed.

His dark eyes scanned the scene, taking everything in. He moved through the chaos, noting the irregular burn marks on walls and pavement. "This isn't just vandalism," he murmured, crouching to inspect the scorch marks more closely. "Electromagnetic disturbances, maybe?"

Rising, Max turned his attention to the witnesses. A small group stood huddled together close to an ambulance, some visibly shaken, others just bewildered. A woman in her thirties, with hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, caught his attention. She looked paler than the others, her eyes wide with shock. He'd have to tread carefully.

Approaching her, Max introduced himself gently, "Hello, I'm Detective Rujeerattan. Can you tell me what you saw?"

"It happened all so fast, Detective," she whispered. Her voice was a mix of fear and awe, which didn't surprise Max. "Things were flying around, but... there was a figure, moving in the shadows, fast, like nothing I've ever seen. It was like they were... fighting it."

"Fighting it? Fighting what?"

"The air itself was... alive." The lady sounded more and more bewildered as if she couldn't believe what she was recalling. "And there was this person, moving in the shadows, too fast to be normal."

"Did this person cause all this?" Max asked softly, gesturing towards the scattered debris and the chaotic disarray around them. He hoped the witness would not fall apart before he got every information he could.

"No, no, it felt like they were trying to stop it. They were like a... I don't know, a vigilante or something."

This gave Max a pause.

Vigilantes weren't common here, not like in some stories he'd heard from other places. Sure, he'd dealt with his fair share of the unexplained – Bangkok had its secrets, after all – but a shadowy figure battling unseen forces? That was new.

"Did you get a good look at this person?"

The witness shook her head, eyes looking empty.

"Just glimpses, really. It was too dark, and they were too fast." Max nodded, jolting down the meager information in his notebook. "But they seemed to be trying to stop the chaos, not cause it. They moved with purpose, you know? Like they knew what they were up against."