The day had long since dawned, but Kelvin's mind remained trapped in the night.
The shadows of his thoughts still danced before his tired eyes, refusing to fade with the morning light.
Out in the streets, he noticed that others, too, seemed to carry an invisible burden.
Some walked with heavy steps and empty gazes, as if clad in armor made of fear. Others, on the contrary, looked jittery—on the verge of exploding.
Kelvin quickly understood: the nightmares—entities born from the darkness within—had not just clung to him.
They had spread, like a silent poison.
He moved cautiously, observing a man hunched over on the sidewalk.
The man was talking to himself, glassy-eyed, a thick, shifting shadow clinging to his back. The monster pulsed, ready to leap at the slightest provocation.
The scene gripped his heart. It was a human nightmare—a broken soul whose reason had been devoured by his own fears.
Kelvin felt vulnerable.
That dark weight, lurking deep in his mind, was waiting for him.
It was there—the shadow that had haunted him since that fateful night.
As he turned the corner, a dull pain slithered into his skull, like an icy bite.
His nightmare had chosen to appear.
In a breath barely audible, he felt something cold and mocking whisper in his ear:
"You are nothing. You are alone. You cannot change anything."
His blood froze in his veins. He shut his eyes, gritting his teeth. The shadow was there, crouched, ready to emerge in a tangible form.
He imagined it: a formless, black creature with blurred edges—a mass of shifting darkness that absorbed all light around it.
Sometimes, this entity took the shape of Kelvin's worst nightmares: a grotesque figure with empty eyes, a monster with razor-sharp claws, a mute and suffocating specter.
This creature, born from his doubts and fears, grew with every negative thought, every whisper in his mind.
Kelvin forced himself to walk straight, not to give in to panic.
Yet with each step, he felt himself sink deeper into this mental mire.
In this world gone mad, he understood one essential truth: this nightmare wasn't just a vision, but a part of himself he had to learn to master… or destroy.
As he walked away, he made a silent vow: he would not let this shadow consume him.
But he already knew the road would be long—and full of obstacles.