Leo sighed as he walked through the empty alley, an uncomfortable weight pressing against his chest. The hand holding the small package felt heavy, as if it carried a burden far greater than its contents. His mind was clouded, his eyes drowning in mixed emotions.
Leo didn't understand the reason behind this strange feeling. Maybe it was the mental exhaustion from the past few days, or perhaps guilt. He knew his father had expected him to show overwhelming joy the moment he received this gift, but Leo hadn't been able to hide his tension at that moment. He was sad, and negative emotions were closing in on him from all sides.
*"I must have hurt Dad with my reaction. At the very least, I should have pretended to be happy."* Leo muttered to himself as he stepped onto the path leading to the university.
He sighed again. *"I'll thank him for the gift tonight. I don't want him to think I don't appreciate it."*
Truthfully, Leo didn't want to go to university today. He would have preferred staying home alone. But he was afraid—afraid of loneliness, afraid of sinking into the dark thoughts he didn't know how to escape.
It was strange for a grown man like him to feel fear over a mere nightmare, but the nightmare had lingered in his mind, haunting him at every moment of the day. He tried to push those thoughts away, but he failed every time.
This wasn't the first time he'd had a nightmare. Everyone had nightmares, and this wasn't his first. He had dreamed of falling from a high cliff, of being crushed under the wheels of a car—he had even seen things far more gruesome that turned his sleep into an endless horror. But now, he was suffering from a different nightmare, one that refused to be forgotten.
When he turned on the faucet at home, he felt as if blood flowed instead of water. When he looked at his breakfast one morning, the plate was filled with rotting meat. When he drank a glass of water, it was blood that filled it instead. Even when passing by piles of trash on the street, he saw corpses stacked everywhere.
Whenever his mind drifted from reality, even for a second, those dark visions swirled before his eyes as if chasing him.
*"I need to get out. I need to go to university and distract myself from all of this. If I stay home alone, I'll lose my mind."*
With that thought, he decided to go to university—where friends and crowds might help ease this psychological burden. Maybe the chaos around him would occupy his mind and make him forget the nightmare.
*"If these bad feelings keep up, maybe I should see a doctor."* Leo whispered, catching his breath.
As he walked toward the university entrance, he suddenly heard a deafening sound. A massive explosion shook the ground beneath him, as if the sky had been torn apart. Lights flared, and screams rose from every direction. Leo ran in terror, trying to escape the blast that had struck near him.
*"Is this a terrorist attack?"* Leo whispered to himself as the ground trembled beneath his feet, destruction everywhere.
People ran in panic, rubble falling from the buildings around him, windows shattering one after another. The lights flickered under the thick smoke filling the sky. Faces were twisted in terror, and blood covered the ground everywhere.
Leo ran as fast as he could, but chaos surrounded him on all sides. He couldn't tell direction—as if the entire world had turned into a battlefield. In the midst of it all, he collided with something and found himself face-to-face with an old man wearing a strange smile.
*"Are you alright?"* the man asked in a calm voice before quickly pulling Leo away from the explosions.
*"You need to hurry!"* the man urged, guiding Leo toward safety, away from the ongoing blasts.
As Leo tried to process what was happening, the man gave him an odd look and said, "This isn't just an ordinary attack. It's the beginning of something bigger. You need to be ready for what's coming."
Before Leo could respond, the man disappeared into the fleeing crowd. *"What did he mean?"* Leo wondered, trying to gather his thoughts amid the surrounding chaos.
As he caught his breath in the safe spot, he opened the package he had been holding the entire time. The book inside comforted him in a strange way amidst all this terror. Carefully, Leo unwrapped the package—only to be shocked by what was inside.
[ The Black Lotus]
This was the second installment of his favorite series. The writing on the cover shimmered under the light, bringing him a fleeting moment of happiness in the midst of the chaos.
But his feelings quickly shifted. When he opened the book, he discovered something bizarre—the pages were blank.
*"What?"* Leo whispered in shock. *"How is this possible?"*
Just as he began questioning the reality around him, he suddenly felt the ground shake again, as if another explosion was approaching. In that moment, something heavy crashed onto him—and he lost consciousness.
When he came to, water surrounded him. He had fallen into the river, his body submerged while the book remained in his hands. The book, which had been empty, was now pulsing with energy. The pages suddenly glowed with a black light, engulfing him in a vortex of darkness.
Before he could understand what was happening, the pages of the book began to fly as if part of the wind. And as droplets of blood touched the book, the black storm intensified. Leo had become part of this unknown abyss—where the book was weaving his fate.