The Void of Souls

Chapter One: The Lost Shadows.

Night had settled over the city once again, as it did every day. The flickering streetlights cast their shadows on the crumbling walls, while the wind whistled through the dark alley Kazuya walked down. The city was no longer what it used to be. Its corridors were filled with people who had come here to escape something, or perhaps to escape themselves.

Kazuya was no different. He, too, was running away. But no one knew what he was running from, not even he himself was sure. Was he running from the people he had killed? From life itself? Or perhaps from his soul, which seemed to be fading away little by little, like a lost shadow unable to find its place in this world.

In the dark alley, Kazuya stopped for a moment and raised his hand to wipe the scarf covering his right wrist. Underneath it was the tattoo of time, the mysterious mark that set him apart from others. He didn't know when or how he had gotten it, but he knew it would remain there forever, a symbol he could never rid himself of.

"Kazuya..." whispered the distant voice in his mind, as if it were an echo from the depths of memory. That word was one he heard every time he met a new person, whenever he came close to his next victim. The voice filled his mind with pain, as if those words carried with them an everlasting wound.

Kazuya was an assassin. That's what the city called him, and that's what he told himself. But he was more than just a killer. He was a tool, a tool with no value except in carrying out orders. And the more he killed, the more souls he touched, the stranger the feeling that crept into his mind. Something that tortured his heart more than anything else. The souls he touched were not just fragile bodies; they held deep pain, memories filled with doubts and fears.

"You are not just a killer, you are part of those souls. You are part of the suffering."

Those were the words someone had told him once, words he couldn't escape.

That night, he was assigned a new mission. He was to kill "Saika," a man with a mysterious reputation around the city. Everyone knew him, or at least they thought they did. They said he was a man with supernatural powers, someone who could steal souls and turn them into physical strength.

"What does it mean to steal a soul?" That question lingered in his mind every time he thought of the upcoming task. The soul, that word that always echoed in his mind. What is a soul really? Is it just a feeling? Is it memory? Or is it something much more than that?

As he walked through the narrow alleys, Kazuya began to feel something strange, as if the entire city was breathing with him. There was something in the air, something invisible, signaling that change was coming. In that moment, he felt something trying to slip into his mind, a feeling reminding him that the world was not what it seemed.

And suddenly, he stopped.

At the end of the alley, there was a figure standing in the darkness. He couldn't see them clearly, but the presence was enough. The person stood there, as if waiting for something.

"Kazuya..." The voice came again, the word he had grown accustomed to hearing, but this time it was different. It was distorted, as if coming from the depths of nowhere.

With slow steps, Kazuya approached the stranger in the alley, feeling something strange happen. The air felt thicker, as if time itself had stopped for a moment. And when he got close enough, he saw his face clearly.

It was Saika. His face looked strange, as if something was missing, something that words couldn't describe. His eyes were hollow, as if they contained the entire universe but without any emotion.

"You are Kazuya, aren't you?" Saika said in a calm voice, with no expression. There was no fear in his voice, but something else, something strange as if everything had already ended.

"Yes, I'm Kazuya. And you, Saika, are the target of my mission." Kazuya replied, slowly raising his hand to reveal the weapon hidden in his coat.

But before he could fire, he stopped.

He felt something strange. Saika's eyes looked at him differently, as if piercing through his soul. There was something in those eyes, something beyond words. Something Kazuya recognized more than anything else.

"Do you know?" Saika whispered as he stepped a little closer. "Do you know what it means to steal a soul?"

Saika's voice seemed to resonate in his mind, slowly enveloping him, making everything disappear except those words.

"A soul isn't stolen, Kazuya. A soul is what we leave behind... And in the end, we're just trying to find ourselves in this dark void."

Kazuya couldn't respond. Those words were heavy, too heavy. It felt as if they had shattered something inside him that he had been trying to understand his entire life.

And then... suddenly, a gunshot echoed.

But, it wasn't him who fired it.