Ren had a rule: don’t trust people who show up at your door before sunrise.

The woman in the cloak was breaking that rule.

"Look, lady," Ren said, gripping the strap of his satchel. "You’re gonna have to give me a little more than ‘come with me if you want to live.’ I don’t even know your name."

"Time for introductions ran out the moment you opened that book," she snapped. "Now move."

Something in her tone made him pause. Urgent, but not panicked. She wasn’t just trying to scare him—she was scared herself.

Ren glanced past her toward the bell tower.

The shadows beneath it weren’t behaving like normal shadows. They stretched the wrong way, bending and twisting against the morning light. And they were getting longer.

A cold pit settled in his stomach. "Okay. Let’s say I believe you. Where exactly are we going?"

The woman pulled her hood lower, eyes flicking toward the street. "Somewhere they aren’t."

Ren took a step forward—

—when the bell tower struck.

The deep gong of the bell sent vibrations through the cobblestone. The air itself rippled, like heat rising off stone, except the morning was still cool. Ren staggered back, his vision blurring for a fraction of a second.

When it cleared, the shadows had moved.

They weren’t under the bell tower anymore.

They were closer.

"Run," the woman ordered.

She didn’t wait for him to decide. She grabbed his wrist and pulled.

Ren barely kept up as she tore through the narrow streets of Ashvale, dodging carts and half-awake townsfolk. His heartbeat thundered louder than the bell, louder than the voice in his head screaming that this was insane.

The alleyways twisted in on themselves, familiar routes warping into something unfamiliar. Ren had lived in Ashvale his whole life, but now the streets felt wrong—like the town itself was shifting around him.

The woman must have noticed too. "Damn it," she muttered. "It’s already starting."

"What’s starting?" Ren panted.

She didn’t answer. She yanked him into a side street, then suddenly stopped short.

Ren nearly crashed into her. "Why—"

Then he saw it.

A figure stood at the other end of the alley. Not a man. Not a woman. Just something, wrapped in a darkness so deep it swallowed the light around it.

It had no face.

But Ren knew it was looking at him.

The shadows at its feet slithered forward.

The woman shoved Ren behind her. With one swift motion, she pulled a curved dagger from beneath her cloak. "Stay close," she said. "And whatever happens—don’t stop running."

The air grew heavy. The morning light dimmed.

Then the shadows lunged.