Karlen’s breath misted as he sighed.

The sun had set over an hour ago and the night sky was tinted grey by the clouds. Dilapidated buildings—either barely held together or abandoned from disrepair—surrounded him, stretching out as rows in both directions. Between the run-down buildings and the uneven, rocky road, it was easy to tell that they were in the bad part of town.

Nobody spoke a word. Karlen and his fellow pasidnyy—police officers—had been standing outside since before sundown, waiting for the moment they could finally leave. Their patrol was supposed to only run up to an hour, but it’d been pushed back after some khontiva had been discovered in some hidden passageways. Then, they were forced to wait even longer as their coworkers indoors started their sweep over to look for more secret entrances.

Although none of them wanted to be there, it made sense that they were putting so much time into this search. It wasn’t every day they had a lead on the khonitva—the main bringers of crime to their small town—and they had to use this opportunity to its fullest. But that wasn’t the only reason.

Earlier that evening, Caspar—the konyushy, or the right-hand of the governor—had been ambushed and threatened by the khonitva. It’d kicked off such a fuss that even Gennadi—the bolyar, or governor—had come out to help the pasidnyy take care of the situation.

Karlen didn’t know much about politics, but it sounded appropriate that Gennadi, who had powerful magic, would come out to help Caspar, who everybody knew to do most of Gennadi’s job.

Now, though, Karlen had a bigger concern than politics or any of what happened earlier that evening. Now, it was nighttime. And nighttime was when bolyui were most powerful.

So Karlen shuddered as he pulled his scarf over his nose, once again scanning his surroundings for anything unusual.

Just like the rest of the last hour, nothing stood out. The streets were completely empty besides the pasidnyy, who had gathered out front of the khonitva’s base. Their torches were the only source of light besides that filtering through the clouds and the snow piling on the ground was untouched by all but their own footsteps.

Half out of the desire for something to do and half to sate his anxiety, Karlen found his eyes scanning higher than the streets—to the rooftops.

And, there, he saw a figure. 

Heart skipping a beat, Karlen lifted his torch a bit higher and took a step forward, trying to get a better look at whatever he saw. But there was nothing there—as far as he could see, not even the snow was disturbed.

“You okay there, Karl?” a voice asked.

Karlen unwittingly jumped, twisting on his heel to face the source of the voice—another officer and a friend of his, Melina, who now wore an obnoxious grin on her lips.

But Karlen’s pounding heart didn’t let him feel any annoyance. Instead, he forced out a laugh, but still couldn’t help but glance back at the rooftop.

“Yeah,” he said hesitantly, “I just thought I saw something. False—”

More movement flashed out of the corner of his eye—this time, in a nearby alleyway. Karlen jumped, quickly turning to try and catch whatever it was in his torchlight.

But, once again, there was nothing there but snow and shadow.

“—alarm,” Karlen finished, swallowing as he forced a grin onto his lips and met Melina’s eyes again.

He had to hide how desperately he tried focusing in on his peripheral vision, struggling to see whatever it was he kept thinking he saw. An animal? he hoped.

A bolyui, his mind replied.

Not helpful! he complained.

Then something landed on Karlen’s shoulder, making him jump again. When he turned to look ahead once more, though, he got to see Melina’s grinning face again—this time much closer, as she’d approached Karlen to set her hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, I’m not seeing anything, man. You’re probably just feeling jumpy because this is your first shift out this late, yeah?” she asked. There was a bit of teasing in her voice, but also some sympathy. At least that helped.

“Yeah,” Karlen hesitantly agreed, sparing another glance to the rooftop he’d previously seen the figure at. This time, there were footprints.

Stopstopstopstop you’re just imagining stuff now!

“That’s what I thought,” Melina interrupted with a grin. “Don’t worry about it—I’ve had plenty of night shifts, and look at me! Still alive and human!”

Melina paused, sparing a moment to give an over-exaggerated wink.

“Probably,” she added with a smirk.

Karlen gave her shoulder a halfhearted shove, glaring at her before glancing about him yet again.

“Vynost, Lana, what is wrong with you!?” he hissed.

She just laughed.

“Maybe everything. Maybe I’m not human. Maybe I’m just some corpse a bolyui’s reanimating or something,” she said teasingly, giving another wink. Then, shaking her head and waving her free hand dismissively, she added: “look, they’ll probably be out here any minute now. It’ll be fine!”

More movement drew Karlen’s eye—this time, though, it was the door of the building before them. Nikolai—their pasidnyy captain—and two other officers had just opened the door. They were all now in the process of stepping out into the snow.

“What timing,” Melina muttered, having followed his eyes.

Nikolai wore a tired smile as he caught Karlen’s eyes, then looked between the rest of them. “There was nobody else in there, so you can all go home now. Sorry this took longer than we were expecting.”

“Find anything interesting?” Denis called. He was another officer, but Karlen knew very little about him.

Nikolai’s eyes snapped to Denis at the question. His exhaustion was clear for a moment, but he quickly gave a weak grin.

“No, thankfully,” he said pointedly, but sighed as he stepped down the stairs of the deck. The other two pasidnyy who’d surveyed the building with him followed closely behind.

Something bumped into Karlen’s shoulder, drawing his eyes. Melina was grinning at him, fist planted on his shoulder.

“See? Just as I said. Get home safe, yeah?” she said. As she spoke, she’d started stepping backwards. Finally, she cupped her free hand around her mouth. Her face was lit dramatically by the torch in her off hand. “Oh, and don’t forget! Don’t let a bolyui catch you!!! I wouldn’t want to find your corpse or anything tomorrow~!!! Byeeeeeee!”

Karlen’s heart twisted at the thought, but Melina only cackled as she flipped on her heel and headed off. He looked to he other pasidnyy in hopes that they might be heading in the direction of his house, but—no luck. All four of the others were headed in the opposite direction.

Karlen swallowed. That just left Nikolai and Denis, who seemed to be wrapping up their discussion. Maybe one of them will be heading my way? he hoped weakly.

‘Don’t let a bolyui catch you!!! I wouldn’t want to find your corpse or anything tomorrow!!’ echoed in his head.

Denis gave Nikolai a curt grin and a wave before twisting on his heel, also heading off north—the opposite direction of his house. After Denis turned around, Nikolai sighed and began digging into a bag on his side, fishing through it.

I’m going to have to walk by myself, aren’t I? Karlen thought nervously, a lump swelling in his throat as he looked at the procession of pasidnyy heading north.

Bolyui hunted people who were alone. So how was he going to fare?

“Hey!” Nikolai called, making Karlen jump and drawing his eyes. Nikolai slowed from a jog, stopping a few feet away and offering Karlen a sympathetic grin. “You’re Karlen, right?”

Although Karlen had never really interacted with Nikolai before, he’d heard a lot about him. Nikolai had been in the pasidnyy since he was young, and with that combined with his vykolt abilities—or ice magic—he was far more physically capable than any normal human. Because of that, he’d been quick to rise through the ranks of the pasidnyy when he’d become a vykolt. Everyone seemed to say he was a pretty cool guy, though.

Pun unintended.

Regardless, Karlen didn’t know how to be anything but formal with his superiors. So, when Karlen spoke, his awkwardness leaked into his voice.

“Yessir… Nikolai,” he said awkwardly.

Nikolai didn’t have to laugh. His face pinched as he struggled not to, though it sure seemed like he tried to hide it.

“Just… call me ‘Kolya’,” he said, voice trembling from his barely-repressed laugh.

Karlen’s face flushed, but he nodded slightly.

They weren’t kidding… he’s really informal, he couldn’t help thinking.

Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, Karlen turned his head away, looking around as an excuse to hide his face from Nikolai.

“Y-yeah,” he started, “okay, Kol—”

But Karlen froze, tensing, as he knew he saw something on the rooftop again.

“—ya,” he forced himself to finish.

But whatever he’d seen was gone. Again. Even though he knew he’d seen it. Unlike before, Karlen finally let himself scan his eyes over the rooftop, desperate to find whatever it was he kept noticing.

I’m not crazy, I’mnotcrazy, he desperately told himself, I’m NOT crazy, so where is it!?!?

“Hey,” Nikolai’s voice interrupted. Startled, Karlen jumped to meet his eyes, panicking until he realized it was just Nikolai—an ally.

Nikolai gave him a small smile, but Karlen could see the tension in his face. Whether or not he saw ‘it’, Nikolai seemed to understand his fear.

“Want me to walk home with you?” Nikolai offered with a smile.

Face flushing and eyes going wide, Karlen put his free hand up defensively. “I-I mean, you don’t have to,” he began, “I just—”

“It wouldn’t be a problem,” Nikolai interrupted, giving an understanding smile. “You live southwest, right? I’m headed the same way. Plus, what kind of captain would I be if I let one of my officers walk home alone this late?”

Karlen hesitated. As awkward as he felt, he also knew how much of a blessing it was to have a vykolt at his side—especially this late at night. So, finally, he awkwardly ran his free hand back through his hair, smiling weakly.

“Yeah, okay,” Karlen answered.

Nikolai gave him a warm grin, but his face quickly grew serious as he scanned the path ahead himself. Seemingly satisfied, he nodded to himself, took a step forward, and then waved Karlen ahead.

“Come on,” Nikolai said a bit dismissively. “We should probably hurry up.”

“R-right!” Karlen stuttered, quickly stepping forward and pacing ahead.

Nikolai nodded, trailing beside and slightly behind him, but easily within sight. Nikolai surveyed their surroundings as they walked, but still continued dismissively, “yeah, so. I figure you haven’t had any late shifts before?”

Karlen gave a quick, jerky nod, constantly looking between Nikolai and their surroundings while they walked as well. He didn’t know whether or not it comforted him that Nikolai was also keeping a lookout.

“Yeah,” Karlen admitted awkwardly. Is it that obvious? Am I really that much of a mess?

But he still couldn’t help looking around them, heart pounding. The same old dilapidated buildings he’d seen from afar for the past couple hours still stood around him, but something seemed… off.

Swallowing, Karlen shook his head and continued trying to figure out what exactly was bothering him. Meanwhile, Nikolai rambled, seemingly trying to fill the silence.

“Well, from what we can tell, bolyui ignore people in larger groups,” Nikolai said. “So we don’t have anything to worry about from earlier.”

Karlen and Nikolai’s path was lit by the torch Karlen held aloft—unlike the rest of them, Karlen didn’t think he’d seen Nikolai with a torch before. Regardless, the torchlight didn’t seem to be reaching as far as he remembered it to, and the shadows seemed to reach so much closer…

“We should hurry now, though, because it’s just us two,” Nikolai continued, “but it’s still pretty unlikely that we—”

Nikolai’s voice cut off.

Heart skipping a beat, Karlen felt his feet come to a stop. Before he could overthink, he flipped on his heel to face Nikolai and see what was the matter, but—

Nikolai wasn’t there.

“Nik… kolai?” Karlen asked, desperately looking between every nook and cranny Nikolai could possibly hide in. Karlen didn’t notice it until now—as the shadows had seemingly swallowed him whole—but his torch had gone out.

“Kol-Kolya!?” he asked more loudly, raising his voice and letting his torch fall to the side. Maybe Nikolai just wasn’t responding because of the nickname thing? he hoped.

This is just a prank, he told himself. This has to be a prank. A cruel, horrible prank, but still a prank, right!?!?

But the towers around him couldn’t be fake. Instead of the old, dilapidated buildings that’d lined the poorer streets of Kavo, there were now giant obsidian towers extending into the sky. Every second that passed, they seemed to morph and twist more—reaching so high that they seemed to tear into the very sky. The air and clouds above them swirled around the top of each obsidian tower, seemingly being swallowed into their ever-growing mass.

Watching it made him feel nauseous.

As Karlen craned his neck farther and farther back, he managed to lean so far back that he stumbled. He caught himself, rising back to his feet, but he noticed something else wrong in the process.

The air. It was thick and muggy, tainted grey and clinging to him like the sticky fog of a hot summer. Every second that passed, the fog seemed to get thicker, tinting the air darker and swirling about his limbs.

But Karlen fought it. Desperate to find Nikolai—to find anyone—he forced himself to run through the sludgy air. Each step grew harder and harder to take alongside his breathing. He was hyperventilating.

Nothing even moved.

Karlen had taken enough steps to get to the edge of the tower—he knew that. But, even with every step he took, everything had seemed to move with him. Even though the edge was right there, had always been right there, he couldn’t get any closer to it.

It was like all of reality was anchored around him.

Finally, Karlen let his feet come to a stop. Instead, he leaned his hands on his knees, struggling to catch his breath as tears welled in his eyes and his vision blurred.