The silence was heavier than the fog.
Kaito and Rina stared at the cloaked figure beyond the warehouse windows, hearts pounding. The figure didn't move, but its voice still echoed in their minds, though its mouth never opened.
"The Gate of Shadows… awakens with the cursed one."
Kaito's legs moved on instinct, placing himself between the figure and Rina. His claws threatened to emerge again, but he held them back—barely.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
No reply.
Instead, the figure raised one arm… and the world around them shifted.
Suddenly, the windows showed nothing but blackness. The walls of the warehouse cracked and warped, like reality itself was bending.
Rina gasped. "What's happening?!"
Kaito gritted his teeth. "I think… we're being pulled somewhere."
A pressure filled the air—thick, heavy, and wrong. The ground beneath their feet cracked like glass.
Then—silence.
They stood in darkness. Not just night, but complete, unnatural void.
And in front of them… stood a massive stone gate, towering into the abyss. It pulsed with crimson veins, whispering in a language neither of them could understand—yet Kaito felt it in his bones.
Rina clutched his arm. "W-where are we?"
Kaito looked around, his eyes starting to glow faintly. "This isn't our world… This is the place I saw in my visions."
Suddenly, the cloaked figure appeared again beside the gate.
"This is only a glimpse," it said. "A taste of what's to come. If you do not learn to control the beast within, the gate will open fully… and your world will fall."
Then—a flash.
The warehouse returned. They were back. No gate, no cloaked figure.
Just silence.
Kaito fell to his knees, shaking. "That wasn't a dream…"
Rina stood behind him, silent, but her face was pale.
A shadow lingered in the corner of the warehouse—thin, with glowing red eyes, watching.
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End of Chapter 4