"Cynthiya?" Yuri's voice was a thin, fragile thread that seemed to be swallowed by the shadows instantly.
There was no answer. Not even the hum of the refrigerator remained. They were the only three people left in an echoing world.
Ryon stood up, his chair screeching against the floor with a sound that felt like a physical blow in the oppressive silence. He stumbled toward the large front window, his breath hitching. "Guys... look at the sky."
Julian and Yuri joined him, their shoulders touching as they pressed toward the glass. Outside, the suburb of Rustia had been devoured by a darkness that was far more absolute than a "usual" night. It wasn't the absence of light; it was a thick, ink-like void that had erased the streetlights, the houses, and the horizon.
And then, they saw.
High above, etched into the velvet blackness with a brilliance that hurt to look at, was a gargantuan symbol.
A deep, swallowing abyss of black light swirled like a slow-motion hurricane—the mark of Darkness.
The symbol hungs over the empty world like the eyes of a god. The strange space they were in didn't feel like a dream.
Yuri's face was pressed against the glass, the sapphire of her eyes reflecting the terrifying icon above. Her breath hitched, and she began to tremble, but it wasn't just from fear—it was the tremor of a locked door finally being forced open in her mind.
"I remember it," she whispered, her voice sounding like it was coming from deep underwater. "The mysterious Symbols... I've read about them before."
Julian moved closer to her, his shoulder brushing hers. The contact was grounding, a small spark of human warmth in a world that had suddenly turned into an ice-cold void. "Where, Yuri? Was it in another dream?"
"No," she said, shaking her head slowly as she turned to look at them. Her light blue hair seemed to glow faintly under the light of the symbols. "In the ancient book. My father has a collection of ancient texts in the back office. There was one called the Legend of Celestia."
She looked back up at the sky, her gaze lingering on the swirling black abyss of Darkness. "The book stated that these aren't just mysterious Symbols. They are the eyes of the Celestia. It said that anyone who sees the Celestial eyes—who truly witnesses them—will be granted supernatural abilities. They call it the 'Awakening of the Stride.'"
Ryon, who had been pacing the perimeter of the room like a caged animal, stopped dead. He looked at Yuri with a look of incredulous frustration. "Really? You're telling us this only now? We've been sitting in this café for thirty minutes, and you wait until we're in a ghost dimension to mention that?"
Yuri's eyes flashed with a spark of her usual spirit, a brief return of the "Young Boss" persona. "I only just remembered now, Ryon! What do you want from me? When I read it, I thought it was just a fairy tale or a collection of old poems. And it was ten years ago when I was eight!! My memory wasn't perfect—we all agreed on that! It's not my fault I can't remember a random fairy tale that I happen to read ten year ago!"
Julian stepped between them, his hands raised in a calming gesture. "Hey, easy. We're all on the same side here. Yuri, keep going. What else did the book say?
"
"I forgot most of the context," Yuri admitted, her voice trembling as she tucked a strand of light blue hair behind her ear. "The book was... dense. But I know for a certainty that it spoke of creatures. Not animals, and not exactly monsters, but entities with supernatural abilities—beings that don't follow the laws of biology or physics."
She paused, her gaze drifting toward the darkened windows where the gargantuan symbol hanged above. "It mentioned other dimensions, too. I think... I think we're standing in one of those dimensions right now. And there were also mentions of advancements. An advancement of the stride. And also said that those with supernatural abilities will encounter supernatural events."
Ryon let out a sharp, jagged laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, great. Fantastic. So not only are we in a creepy, empty dimension, but we're also basically beacons for supernatural entities? It's totally fine. Everything is totally fine." His sarcasm was thick, a defensive shield against the fact that his hands were visibly shaking.
He turned to the black void outside the window. "Now what? Do we just wait here? Do we have to find an exit, or do we just have to believe our way out of this dimension?"
"We stay together," Julian said, "Ryon, watch the door. Yuri, stay close to—"
Julian's words died in his throat. Behind them, in the deep, unnatural shadow of the kitchen corner where the shadows seemed to move like liquid, a shadowy figure stepped out.
It was appear to be a girl. She was wearing the familiar black lace and frilled apron of the café's staff, the velvet cat ears perched atop her head. But the playful, "Nya~" persona was gone, replaced by a chilling, vacant stare. In her right hand, she held a sleek, matte-black handgun. The metal caught the silver light from the sky, glinting with a predatory sheen.
She didn't hesitate. She leveled the weapon at Yuri's chest and pulled the trigger.
BANG!!!
The sound was deafening in the silent café, a violent rupture that shattered the stagnant air.
Julian didn't think. There was no time for physics or logic. His body moved on a hair-trigger instinct he didn't know he possessed. He lunged across the small space, his shoulder slamming into Yuri's side.
"Get down!"
He shoved her with enough force to send them both tumbling toward the floor. The bullet hissed through the air exactly where Yuri's head had been a fraction of a second before. It missed her cheek by a mere two centimeters—a hot, whistling breath of lead—and slammed into the ceramic vase on the counter behind her.
CRACK!
The vase exploded into a thousand jagged white shards, raining down on the floor like porcelain snow.
Julian scrambled to his feet, shielding Yuri with his body as Ryon dove behind a heavy velvet armchair. The figure stepped further out of the shadows, the light finally hitting her face. It was Cynthiya. She was still smiling, but the expression was wrong—it was too wide, too static, as if her skin were being pulled by invisible wires.
"Wow~ that was unexpected," she said, her voice dripping with a seducing, melodic purr that made Julian's skin crawl. She tilted her head, the cat ears twitching in a mockery of life. "I thought Nya wouldn't notice me~ You've grown quite fast, Master Julian~. The 'Tranquility' in you is so... appetizing."
"Cynthiya, stop!" Yuri cried out from behind Julian, her voice cracking with betrayal. "What are you doing? This isn't you!"
"Cynthiya isn't home right now~" the girl replied, her eyes glowing with a faint, sickly black light that matched the Darkness symbol in the sky.
She tilted the handgun toward them, her movements jerky and unnatural, like a marionette being tugged by invisible, malicious strings. She watched them cower behind the oak table with a look of predatory amusement.
"Killing all of you right now would be boring," she purred, the cat ears on her head twitching with a life of their own. "Where is the art in a quick end? No, no... let's play a game. I will only shoot you. One by one. Try to dodge it. Game start!!"
Her finger tightened on the trigger, the metal clicking.
Julian looked at Ryon, who was behind the chair, and then at Yuri, who was clutching his hoodie.
"Ryon! The table!" Julian's voice cracked through the stagnant air.
Ryon didn't need a second invitation. He lunged forward, his face twisted in a mask of panicked determination. Together, he and Julian gripped the edge of the heavy oak pedestal table—the very one where they had been peacefully waiting for coffee only minutes ago. With a synchronized, primal grunt of effort, they heaved. The table flipped with a violent crash, its thick surface becoming a wooden shield just as the shadow across the room erupted in flashes of muzzle fire.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The deafening reports rang out in the hollow café, the sound bouncing off the walls and vibrating in their very teeth. Julian felt the impact of the lead slugs slamming into the other side of the wood—three distinct thwacks that sent splinters flying like shrapnel.
"Get your head down, Yuri!" Julian hissed, pressing his back against the vibrating tabletop. He could smell the acrid scent of gunpowder mixing with the fading aroma of roasted beans, a sickening combination that made his stomach churn.
Ryon, squeezed into the cramped space between Julian and the corner of the wall, let out a jagged, hitching breath.
"Oh, fantastic," Ryon wheezed, his voice dripping with a frantic, sharp-edged sarcasm. "Truly top-tier plotting. We've gone from boring three friends to the low-budget protagonists of a supernatural slasher flick in time. And our first big boss isn't a supernatural entity or a shadow demon—no, it's a part-time barista in a lace apron with a 9mm. This is a great look for us, guys. Really dignified."
Julian rolled his eyes, even as his heart hammered against his ribs. "I'm sorry, Ryon. Next time I'll ask the universe to send a dragon so you can feel more 'protagonist-y.'"
"Hilarious," Ryon snapped back, ducking as another bullet whined over the top edge of the table. "I'm glad my impending death is a source of comedic inspiration for you. If I get a second bullet hole, I'll make sure to bleed in a way that's aesthetically pleasing for your character arc."
"Would you two shut up!" Yuri hissed, her voice trembling but sharp with irritation. She was huddled between them, her sapphire eyes darting between the two of them as if she were contemplating who to hit first. "We are being shot at by a person we literally saw every day, and you're having a roast battle? Seriously?"
Sigh. Yuri looked at the two of them. "Everything is different now." She looked at the bullet holes peeking through the top edge of the table. "What should we do? We can't stay behind this table forever. She's going to move, or she's going to reload."
"Is it just me, or is the 'customer service' at this place really going downhill?" Ryon wheezed, his face pressed so hard against the floorboards he was nearly eating dust. "I'd like to speak to the manager!"
Cynthiya didn't answer with words. She let out a sharp, tinkling laugh, smirked at their desperation, and simply... dissolved. She stepped backward into the pooling shadows of the corner and vanished as if the darkness had swallowed her whole.
Julian turned his head to look at her, ignoring Ryon's indignant huff. "Yuri," Julian said. "Think. Whatever else you remember from that book, even if it's just a fragment, tell us. You said the Celestia grants abilities. If there are creatures and advancements, there has to be a way to fight back. We're supposed to be the ones with the supernatural abilities. We have to figure out how to use it before she decides to stop playing with her food."
At that moment, Yuri realized that the room went quite. "Where did she go?" Yuri gasped, her sapphire eyes darting around the empty room.
The silence that followed was worse than the gunshots. It was a heavy, expectant pressure. Suddenly, the shadows behind the counter rippled. Cynthiya emerged from the darkness directly behind them, her black-lit eyes fixed on the back of Yuri's light blue hair. She didn't make a sound as she leveled the gun once more.
"Found you~"
Bang!