Everything was quiet...
This small town, nestled in the heart of the green plains, was alive. The morning breeze caressed the faces of the children running through the streets, and the sound of the market bells echoed between the warm stone houses. Sohan, a ten-year-old boy, ran with his little sister, Larin, laughing, holding her hand as he raced against the wind.
The world was normal. The sun rose every morning, and night came peacefully. People knew nothing of horror... until the day the light went out.
It all began at midday... when the sun stopped moving. It neither set nor rose. It hung in the sky, then began to fade. It wasn't an ordinary eclipse... the sun turned into a gray hemisphere, with something like ash falling from it, covering the sky, the air, and everything.
People screamed, and some fled. Birds in the sky hit the ground as if struck by blindness. Then... came the first wave.
A gray explosion tore through the silence of the sky. From it emerged black creatures with withered features, their bodies cracked and like living ash. They crawled on all fours, or jumped like insects, their eyes hollow... filled with hunger.
In an instant, everything changed.
Sohan's house shook. His father quickly stepped out, his eyes scanning the sky and the air, which had grown heavier. His mother hugged Larin, and Sohan stood stunned.
Then they heard the first scream.
A neighbor was being dragged by his feet, torn apart in the street in front of everyone. Blood spattered the walls, and his mother screamed. "Inside!"
But it was too late...
A withered man, taller than the others, with red eyes, stormed into the house. The father shouted, "Run! Take your sister and run!"
But the withered man was faster. He dug his claws into his father's chest, bit Larin's shoulder, and then suddenly withdrew... as if something had summoned him.
The shock froze Sohan, then his mother's scream rang out... and it was his last.
Sohan, clutching his injured sister, ran. He didn't know how he survived. He didn't know how he reached the forest, or how he found that dilapidated hut hidden among the rocks.
There... lived.
He, his sister, and a mysterious man who seemed to know what was happening.
Six years passed.
And here he was now, a 16-year-old boy, his eyes unfamiliar with childhood, his heart merciless. The whole world was under the shadow of the imperfect sun. The ash never stopped falling. And the withered... evolved.
One day, Sohan went out in search of food... and returned to find the hut burned, the strange man murdered, and his sister... missing.
Rage exploded inside him, and something in his blood awoke.
He brutally killed the withered ones, as if something strange had moved his limbs...
And here began his journey of revenge, uncovering the truth, and finding hope in a world that knew no light...