CH1-EP2:

That night, sleep didn’t come easily. And when it finally did, it dragged Lucio into something dark.

He stood beneath a red sky — painted in blood, shrouded in cold mist that clung to his skin like a second layer. The world was still, but not silent. Screeching footsteps echoed through the fog, twisting around him like a curse.

In the distance, broken whispers floated toward him — warped, layered, unnatural.

“It’s your fault.”

The voices grew louder. Closer.

Then — silence.

A silence so sudden it felt violent.

Lucio’s breath caught. He looked down.

A shadow gripped his leg.

From the darkness rose a distorted, almost familiar face — cracked skin, pitch-black eyes, and tears of blood streaming down its cheeks.

His heart slammed in his chest. He tried to run. But more shadows rose.

Clawing. Grasping. Dragging him into the abyss.

Lucio gasped and sat up, drenched in cold sweat.

The room was still.

The only sound was the frantic beating of his heart.

His hands trembled, fingers twitching as he struggled to catch his breath.

Just a dream. Just a—

He turned toward the nightstand.

The sunglasses were there.

Perfectly placed. As if waiting.

He blinked.

Didn’t I leave them in my jacket?

A familiar weight settled in his chest — cold, unsettling.

Without a word, he placed the sunglasses in the cupboard and crawled back into bed.

Sleep would not return easily.

The next morning, Lucio prepared for the day ahead.

But before heading to work, he took a quiet detour — down an old, half-forgotten path that curved through the outskirts of the city.

The air was crisp.

Mist clung low to the ground. Birds stirred quietly in the trees.

He arrived at the riverbank — a place he used to visit often... back then.

The water moved lazily beneath the pale morning light. The stones along the shore looked just as he remembered: weathered, silent, sacred.

Lucio knelt beside a smooth rock near the edge — the one they used to sit on.

With a slow hand, he brushed away moss and dirt, revealing a name etched in fading lines:

Victor.

He stared at it in silence. A quiet sorrow settled over him.

“This place... this world... it’s not the same without you.”

The wind carried his words away, as if even the river refused to hold them.

He didn’t linger.

But just as he turned to leave, something on the ground caught his eye — a pair of sunglasses, gleaming in the sunlight.

He froze.

“No way... it can’t be.”

He picked them up.

Same matte-black tint. Same weight. Identical to the ones from yesterday.

How did they get here?

This time, something felt wrong.

The lenses shimmered faintly — and deep inside them, strange flickers danced. Like shadows trapped behind glass.

A chill crawled down his spine.

It was almost as if the sunglasses... wanted to be worn.

Lucio’s jaw tightened.

Without hesitation, he hurled them into the river.

They vanished beneath the surface with a soft splash.

Swallowed by the current.

Gone.

Or so he hoped.