Dreisterne

INTERLUDE

The moon hung high over Londinium, casting a pale, eerie light over the maze of alleys that wound through the city's forgotten corners. Midnight had long passed, and the streets, typically brimming with the hustle and bustle of the urban night, were now abandoned. In the darkened recesses of the city, where even the bravest of Watchmen wouldn't dare tread, something more sinister lurked.

A man, breath ragged and eyes wide with fear, sprinted through the twisted labyrinth of back alleys. His footsteps echoed against the stone walls as he twisted and turned, hoping against hope that he could lose the presence that had been on his heels for the last hour. Sweat soaked his brow, and his chest heaved with each frantic breath.

He glanced over his shoulder, half-expecting to see a shadow darting in pursuit, but the alley behind him was empty. No footsteps. No sounds. Just the oppressive silence of the night.

I've lost him... The thought was a fleeting one, a sense of temporary relief washing over him as he slowed his pace to a jog. He rounded a corner, his heart pounding in his ears, and paused to collect himself. He thought he could feel the weight of his own fear pressing on his chest, suffocating him. His hand gripped the hilt of a knife, but he knew that nothing he carried would save him.

He let out a shaky breath and looked around. The alley was narrow, the walls towering on either side like silent sentinels. The silence seemed unnatural, suffocating, as though the city itself held its breath in anticipation of something.

To the man's horror, something did show up.

From the depths of the shadows, another figure emerged. He was silent, like the night itself. He stepped forward with an unnatural grace, a predator whose very presence seemed to swallow the light. Clad in black from head to toe, his face was obscured by the windswept mane of dark hair that framed him like a cloak of shadows. But it was his eyes, stone-cold and piercing like daggers, that struck fear into the fleeing man's heart.

The man gasped, his body instinctively going rigid with terror. He stumbled backwards, the knife in his hand trembling as he tried to make sense of the figure that loomed before him.

"No! No! Stay away!" he cried, his voice cracking as he threw a flurry of knives, hoping to drive the shadow-man back. The blades flew through the air, but they never reached their mark. The shadow-man moved faster than the runaway's eyes could follow, his body a blur as he dodged each strike with effortless precision as if time itself bent to the will of the predator.

Desperation surged within the fleeing man. He turned and ran again, this time with every ounce of energy left in him. His steps were clumsy from fatigue, and his mind was disoriented from the terror that gripped him. The alleyways seemed to warp, twist, and stretch before him, but no matter how fast he ran, he could feel the shadow-man closing in.

With a final, terrifying realization, the man felt a cold presence at his back. Before he could turn around, something cold and sharp pierced through his body. He let out a strangled scream, but it was muffled by the blade that cut through his heart. His body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground with a soft thud.

The shadow-man stood over him, his sword still embedded in the man's chest, his expression unreadable. With a smooth, practised motion, he withdrew the blade and allowed the lifeless body to crumple to the ground. His gaze lingered for a moment longer, a subtle, almost imperceptible sigh escaping his lips. Then, with the same grace and speed, the shadow-man hoisted the body onto his shoulder and carried it with ease toward the nearby manhole. He discarded the corpse, dropping it into the dark depths below like the refuse it was, where it would be swallowed whole by the city's population of giant vermin. Without a word, without a second glance, the shadow-man melted into the shadows from which he had come. His presence was gone, leaving only the silence of the night to reclaim the alleyways of Londinium.