From the day I was born, I've felt a monster hiding inside my body.
I know monsters don't deserve to live in the daylight.
So I hid myself in the darkness and became a Shadow.
—Elias Lennox
***
"Countdown initiated: 10, 9, 8..."
Sweat soaked the ground, his vision already blurring.
He didn't know if the salty taste was from sweat or blood.
A small boy, covered in blood, lay on the ground, gritting his teeth as he tried to get up.
Beside him lay countless bodies, sprawled every which way. They were all around his age, their faces twisted in agony, their eyes wide open in death.
"Aargh..."
Overwhelming pain contorted his features, his pale little face completely drained of color.
His hands struggled to pull a steel blade from his body. With three seconds left on the countdown, he finally staggered out of the room.
With a loud BANG, the transparent glass door behind him slammed shut, and the entire room was suddenly engulfed in a raging inferno.
He had survived... again.
