Phrase 1: The Lost Echoes
Part 2: The Pulse of Change
The city lay suspended in the misty light of early morning, caught between the hush of night and the stirrings of daybreak. Han Suk walked in a daze through its streets, his mind drifting somewhere just beyond the horizon. He'd hardly slept, his head still filled with images of flickering shadows and faint lights in the sky, an omen in the distance. The warning he'd read—"The Sun's Fall will herald the rise of the Shadows"—felt more like a living weight pressing into his chest than a phrase he could simply shake off.
As he trudged through the familiar bustle of Seoul, the ordinary seemed subtly out of place. Every face he passed looked sharper, almost etched in relief against the washed-out sky. He found himself hyper-aware of the faint sounds of footsteps, the blare of horns, even the smell of stale coffee from a nearby cafe. It all seemed almost alive, as if the entire city was watching him.
Inside his office building, the hum of routine blanketed the air, but today it felt hollow. Han Suk slumped into his chair, barely hearing Jihoon's usual morning greeting, only giving a distracted nod in response. His gaze drifted to the rows of windows, eyes drawn to the skyline beyond. There was a strange tension within him, like a drumbeat echoing in his chest, out of sync with his own heartbeat.
---
Han Suk spent the morning in a haze, barely registering the emails piling up in his inbox. He was trying to keep his mind on the work in front of him, to ignore the strangeness clinging to him, but the harder he tried, the louder that beat became—a phantom rhythm, pulsing just under the surface. It was quiet yet undeniable, pushing against his thoughts, filling his head until the office noises around him faded away entirely.
Halfway through the morning, as he tried to shake the sensation, his phone buzzed on the desk. With a sigh, he reached for it, expecting another reminder email from his manager.
It wasn't.
It was from Valtheren.
"You feel it too, don't you?"
The message made his pulse stutter. There were few people Han Suk would call close friends, but Valtheren was someone he trusted without question, someone who seemed to understand him in ways even he didn't quite understand. Yet something about this message felt off. The tone, the wording—it wasn't the kind of thing Valtheren would usually send. It sounded more like a warning.
He hesitated before replying, his fingers hovering over the screen.
"Feel what?"
The reply came almost instantly.
"It's nothing. Just… be careful."
Han Suk's brow furrowed as he read the words. That was it? Be careful. Valtheren had always been reserved, but this was something else. He wasn't one for cryptic messages, especially not in a tone like this, as if he were on edge himself.
Han Suk tried to dismiss it, but the knot in his chest only tightened. Even as he tried to brush off the odd conversation, Valtheren's words nagged at him, casting a shadow over everything he did. The morning hours dragged, each second stretching into minutes. He could barely focus on his tasks. The emails on his screen blurred, and Jihoon's words seemed to fade into white noise whenever he came over to chat.
When lunch finally came, Han Suk found himself wandering out of the office, his legs carrying him to a small park nearby. He found a bench in the farthest corner, one shielded by drooping trees, and sat down, his mind still tangled in Valtheren's message. He pulled out his phone again, tempted to call him, to demand an explanation. But what would he even ask? What was he looking for?
As he stared at his screen, he noticed an old article he'd saved days ago, a strange piece on celestial events and ancient prophecies. One phrase in the article jumped out at him, something he hadn't paid attention to the first time: "The Pulse will be felt by those who walk closest to the Shadows."
He sat up, rereading the line. It sounded absurd, some forgotten myth that shouldn't hold any weight in reality. Yet it resonated with the strange sensation he felt, the beat that had been pulsing within him since yesterday. His mind returned to Valtheren's words again, wondering if his friend somehow knew more than he'd let on.
---
As the day wound down, the feeling only grew stronger. Han Suk barely heard Jihoon as he passed by his desk, barely remembered the last project he was supposed to have finished. His mind was elsewhere, turning over memories, searching for something he couldn't name. He had always felt that he understood his world, but now it felt like a lie. Like the ground under his feet was shifting, leaving him adrift in a reality he barely recognized.
---
That night
By the time he returned home, the city was cloaked in darkness, but Han Suk's unease hadn't left. He paced his small apartment, hoping that doing something—anything—might shake him out of this haze. As he walked, his mind wandered to the strange myths he'd read that afternoon, of "The Pulse," and the legends of the Shadows. The stories were fragmented, lost over centuries, yet they all pointed to one idea: something ancient was returning, something that was drawn to those who felt its presence.
It was then that his phone buzzed again.
A single message from Valtheren appeared on the screen.
"Are you safe?"
The question, so blunt, cut through his racing thoughts like a knife. Safe from what? The words lingered, filling him with a dread that felt almost primal.
He tried to reply, but his hands shook as he typed.
"I think so. Why? What's going on, Valtheren?"
No answer came. Han Suk stared at the screen, waiting, his heart pounding. Seconds stretched into minutes, and just as he was about to try again, he noticed another article notification from his news app, the same one he'd opened the night before.
"Unusual Energy Surges Detected: Authorities Issue Statement."
The headline seemed innocuous enough, but as he clicked on it, a strange chill ran down his spine. The article detailed reports from residents across the city—people experiencing strange sensations, vivid dreams, and unexplainable flashes of fear. It mentioned the energy surges in a clinical tone, yet something about it felt almost… accusatory.
One line stood out: "For those who feel it, the Pulse is a warning. It heralds the coming of something that has been dormant."
Han Suk's thoughts raced, colliding into one another. He couldn't understand it. He felt his mind grasping for answers, but they slipped through his fingers like sand. The Pulse. The Shadows. These things didn't exist, yet he felt them, a rhythm thrumming through him, matching the beat he couldn't ignore.
The phone buzzed in his hand again. He almost dropped it in his haste to check the new message.
It was from Valtheren.
"Stay alert. Trust no one. We're being watched."
Han Suk's mouth went dry. He wanted to ask more, to demand an explanation, but before he could type a word, his phone vibrated again—an unknown number flashing on the screen. His heart raced, and against his better judgment, he answered.
A voice, low and distorted, came through the line.
"Han Suk, you've been marked."
The words sent a chill through his bones. He opened his mouth to speak, but the line went dead before he could say anything. He stared at his phone, barely able to process what had just happened. Marked? Marked for what?
---
The next morning
Han Suk felt like a stranger in his own city. Every face he passed on the street looked different, every building felt distant. The noise of Seoul was louder, harsher, grating against his senses. It was as if the entire world had shifted without him knowing, and he was left stumbling in the aftermath.
At work, Jihoon noticed his distracted state, offering coffee and some lighthearted banter, but Han Suk could barely muster a response. He'd barely slept, haunted by strange dreams of shadowed figures and distant lights. They felt more like memories than dreams, as if they were fragments of something he'd once known but had forgotten.
Midway through the day, Han Suk's phone vibrated again. This time, it was a single message from Valtheren:
"We're close. Don't let them know you see it."
Han Suk's mind reeled. The phrase "we're close" echoed in his head, followed by an avalanche of questions. Close to what? And why couldn't he shake the feeling that this was only the beginning?
---
That night, the strange pulse returned, stronger and louder, filling his apartment like a heartbeat in the walls. Han Suk sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the darkness around him, and for the first time in his life, he felt as though the shadows were staring back.
It was then that he remembered the last line of the old article: *"The Shadow's friend will walk a path of silence, yet his light may be the first to fall
"The Shadow's friend will walk a path of silence, yet his light may be the first to fall."
The words clawed into Han Suk's mind, igniting a sense of urgency he couldn't contain. Was Valtheren the "Shadow's friend"? The questions twisted in his mind, a spiral of confusion and fear. The pulse pounded in the background, echoing louder now, synchronized with his heartbeat. He could feel it deep in his bones, a rhythm that no one else seemed to hear.
As he sat alone in his dim apartment, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he became aware of a shifting shadow at the edge of his vision. He turned slowly, and his breath caught. In the corner of the room stood a figure cloaked in darkness, watching him. Its outline was barely discernible, a distortion in the air, as if light itself bent around it.
Han Suk wanted to scream, to run, but he was paralyzed, transfixed by the thing in front of him. The figure didn't move, yet he felt its presence—heavy, suffocating, pressing down on him. The pulse quickened, echoing louder and louder until it filled his entire mind, drowning out every coherent thought. He heard words, or perhaps thoughts, whispering through his mind, disjointed and fragmented.
"The Awakening is upon you."
In a blink, the shadow vanished, leaving only the quiet hum of his apartment and the fading pulse in his ears. Han Suk collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air, his mind reeling with terror. He could still feel its presence lingering, as if some unseen door had been opened, and there was no way to close it again.
With shaking hands, he picked up his phone, desperate for answers, and typed a single message to Valtheren.
"I saw it."
There was no reply. Just silence.
---
The following days
Han Suk's world became a place of constant dread. He couldn't sleep without seeing those shadowed figures in his dreams, couldn't walk through the city without feeling as if he were being watched. The pulse never left him; it had become part of him, a dark rhythm threading through every aspect of his life. He knew he couldn't ignore it any longer, that something was approaching—something he could neither understand nor escape.
Each night, he checked his phone, hoping for a message from Valtheren. Days turned into a week, and still, there was nothing. The silence grew unbearable, gnawing at his sanity. He knew only one thing with certainty now: he had been marked, and the shadows would not let him go.
In the faint, predawn light one morning, he stood by his window, looking over the city. Somewhere out there, beyond the gleam of buildings and the hum of early traffic, something waited for him. The shadows whispered his name, a murmur beneath the pulse, and he realized with a chilling certainty that his life as he knew it was over.
The Awakening had begun, and he was bound to see it through, no matter the cost.
The days that followed blurred together, each filled with a haunting unease. Every corner of his world felt altered, tinged with shadows that grew thicker the longer he avoided their meaning. Han Suk felt as though he were on the edge of something vast and hidden, an ocean of darkness and memory just beyond his sight.
The pulse never left him. It beat in his ears, a steady and insistent reminder that he was marked. He heard it in the click of keyboards at work, the patter of rain on windows, even the slow ticking of the clock on his bedroom wall. Everything had begun to feel like a sign, or a warning, and it weighed on him, filling his every moment with dread.
Yet, he couldn't help but feel drawn to it. Somewhere, he felt sure, lay an answer he couldn't ignore. And, somewhere in that answer, was Valtheren.
---
The Disappearance of Valtheren
The message he had sent to Valtheren that night—the simple, desperate words, *"I saw it"—*remained unanswered. Days passed, then a week. Han Suk checked his phone constantly, hoping for any sign of a response. He tried calling once, twice, and then gave up. Each time, there was nothing but the endless ringing that stretched on, like a taunt, before clicking into Valtheren's voicemail.
It wasn't like Valtheren to ignore him. He had always been the one to reach out, to check in when Han Suk got lost in his routines. The silence felt unnatural, like a void where Valtheren's presence had once been. And that absence weighed heavily on him, feeding his fear. It felt as though Valtheren, too, was slipping into the shadows, just out of reach.
One morning, after another restless night haunted by cryptic visions, Han Suk decided to go to Valtheren's apartment. The thought of going there made his skin crawl, a prickling sense of foreboding that only grew as he neared Valtheren's building. It was a modest complex on the edge of the city, quiet, with a thin layer of fog settling over it like a veil.
When he arrived, there was no answer to his knock. The hallway was silent, only the faint hum of a distant elevator and muffled voices from a neighboring unit. He knocked again, harder this time. Nothing. The door felt cold under his fingertips, the silence pressing against him like a weight. He swallowed, a knot of anxiety tightening in his chest, but he couldn't bring himself to leave.
After a few minutes, a woman emerged from the apartment across the hall. She was older, with a faint trace of kindness behind her eyes.
"You looking for Valtheren?" she asked softly, her voice tinged with concern.
Han Suk nodded, feeling the question linger in the air.
"Haven't seen him in days," she said, her voice lowering. "He used to come and go all the time, you know? But it's been silent lately." She hesitated, glancing at Valtheren's door with a hint of apprehension. "Sometimes, I hear… odd noises at night. I thought maybe it was the pipes, but…"
Her words trailed off, and Han Suk felt his heart sink. She didn't need to finish the thought. He could feel it—the pulse—stronger now, as if it had intensified with every mention of Valtheren. He thanked her, but her words stayed with him, adding to the growing knot of fear lodged in his chest.
As he left the building, he couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible had happened to Valtheren, that he was connected to this strange darkness that had started to seep into his life. And he was right to feel afraid.
---
The First Vision
That night, sleep eluded him. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw glimpses of something dark, something lurking just beyond the edges of his consciousness. He would wake, drenched in sweat, heart pounding as if he had just escaped some terrible fate. And each time, the pulse grew louder.
Around midnight, as he lay in the darkness, he began to feel a pull—a compulsion to look out his window. The city lights flickered below, casting an eerie glow over the buildings. But then he noticed something unusual: shadows moving across the street, slow and fluid, as if they had a life of their own.
He blinked, but the shadows remained, shifting, weaving through the city like tendrils. They seemed drawn to his building, creeping closer, as if aware of his presence. And in their silent movement, he could almost hear whispers—faint, disjointed murmurs that tugged at the edges of his mind.
In the dark, his phone buzzed, startling him. His heart leaped as he grabbed it, hoping for a message from Valtheren. But the screen was blank—no messages, no missed calls. Just the usual icons, the ordinary settings. Yet the buzz hadn't been in his imagination. He was sure of it.
He checked the recent calls again, and there, as if mocking him, was a single message notification:
"The shadow's friend will walk a path of silence."
The words flashed for a brief moment, then disappeared, leaving the screen blank again. His hands shook as he gripped the phone, a cold sweat breaking out over his skin. He knew he hadn't imagined it. The words had been there, as real as the pulse that still beat in his ears.
Desperate for answers, he returned to the old articles about the strange lights in the sky, about the mysterious energy patterns. He read through them again, searching for anything he might have missed. And then, he found it—a single line, buried in one of the earliest reports, a line he hadn't noticed before:
"The Sun's Fall will herald the rise of the Shadows. Beware the friend who walks beside the dark."
He felt a chill run through him. The phrase echoed in his mind, intertwining with the visions, with Valtheren's sudden disappearance, with the shadows that seemed to close in around him. It all pointed to something he couldn't yet see, a truth lurking just beyond his grasp.
---
Embracing the Unknown
The nights grew darker after that, filled with restless dreams and fleeting visions that felt more like memories than fantasies. Han Suk could feel the walls of his reality slipping, bending, like they were mere curtains hiding something deeper. He began to notice things—strange symbols in graffiti on the subway walls, patterns that repeated themselves in the most mundane places, whispers that lingered in empty rooms. He couldn't tell if they were real, or if his mind was unraveling, pulling him deeper into whatever mystery lay at the heart of his awakening.
But then came the strangest moment of all.
It was late, and he was walking home from a late shift, his steps echoing in the empty streets. The city felt different at night, the silence more profound, the shadows denser, as if they were alive. He kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone he passed, afraid of what he might see reflected in their eyes.
But then, as he turned onto his street, he saw a figure standing in the alleyway to his right. He felt a tug of recognition, but the figure was cloaked in shadow, its features obscured. It made no move toward him, simply watching him with an unsettling stillness. He could feel the figure's gaze, intense and probing, as if it saw right through him.
His heart hammered as he took a step back, and the figure tilted its head, as if amused by his fear.
"You're searching for answers, but the truth is already within you."
The voice was a whisper, a shadowed echo that seemed to come from within his mind. And then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the figure melted into the darkness, leaving him alone in the empty street. The pulse in his head throbbed with a renewed intensity, and he felt a surge of clarity—a terrible, inevitable understanding.
Something was coming. Something that had been waiting, dormant, for years—centuries, perhaps. The shadows knew him. And whatever it was, whatever lay on the horizon, he knew that he could no longer ignore it.
End of Part 2: The Pulse of Change
To Be Continued.....