February 14, 2027 — Paris, 2:37 AM
The city was emptier than ever before.
Snow fell in silence, as if the sky itself were trying to conceal a crime no one was meant to hear.
Rain Cole stepped into his apartment with heavy footsteps.
His hand hovered over his gun, his breath ragged, and a weight pressed down on his chest...
Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.
Then he saw it.
His wife, Lima, and their two children, Noel and Danny, were butchered.
Their throats slit, their bodies still.
Blood crept across the tiles as if it wanted to flee the sight, and the cold filled the room despite all the windows being shut.
Rain dropped to his knees, something inside him tearing apart.
*"Dear God… I was too late… again."*
And then—
A voice behind him. Low. Hollow. Like a whisper from a grave:
*"No one escapes the end, Rain."*
He spun around—
Only to see a tall shadow.
And then—
A hand gripped his head from behind.
A cold blade touched his throat.
The killer leaned in and whispered:
"I wanted you to see them.
To smell the end.
To die… like they did."
The blade slid slowly—
Rain tried to scream, to fight back—
But blood exploded from his neck like a black fountain.
He fell, gasping, choking, his eyes capturing one final image:
*A face with no features.*
And then came darkness.
Perfect silence.
The end of everything.
February 10, 2027 — Four Days Earlier
Paris — Rain's Bedroom
Sunlight slipped through a faded curtain.
Rain's eyes snapped open.
His breathing was sharp. His hand flew to his throat.
No blood. No wound.
He sat up in bed, stunned.
His eyes roamed the ceiling, searching for proof he was alive…
But the echo of the blade, the killer's voice, the stench of blood—
They still wrapped around him like a nightmare that hadn't ended.
For a moment, he thought he was in hell.
Or worse—
That hell hadn't even started yet.
Then he heard a sound from the kitchen.
His child's laughter.
And his wife's voice calling:
"Rain? You're awake? Breakfast is ready!"
He moved slowly toward the door, hand trembling.
Everything inside him screamed:
"This can't be real!"
And then—
As he passed the mirror, he didn't just see his reflection…
He saw behind him—
*a shadow*
One that wasn't his.
One that had been waiting…
*since the end.*