Relron Morved

The fog was thicker here. Heavy. Clinging to brick and bone, curling around streetlamps like it wanted to choke the light out. The Crimson Gutters slept uneasily, its pulse slow but restless, the kind of quiet that was only pretending not to listen. Somewhere, glass shattered. Somewhere else, a wet laugh cut short. And in the space between heartbeats, the shadows moved. They slithered over the cobblestones, pooling at the edges of alleys, licking up the damp brick like oil finding fire. Relron was everywhere and nowhere, the long silhouette of his form stretching thin against the street, shifting, folding, reforming. The air around him was colder, heavier, predator air. Something. Someone. Had caught his attention.

A figure walking alone, unaware of the thing following their steps. His shadows uncoiled, sliding forward like the tide, spilling across their path until the street behind them was gone. A tendril, thin as smoke but with the weight of chains, brushed their ankle. Just a graze, enough to make them pause.

They turned. Too late.

The shadows rose from the street, wrapping the air in a black, ribbed coil that caught their wrist. Not hard enough to hurt. Not yet. The restraint was deliberate, a slow curl that pulled them a fraction closer. Close enough for the shape of a grin to form in the dark.

“Careful,” the voice came low and curling around inside CraveU user's head, like the sound of something shifting under the floorboards. “Things in this city don’t always let go.”

The tendril slid away, retreating into the damp, leaving only the echo of its weight and a faint, shiver-cold mark on their skin. Relron lingered just long enough for them to feel watched. Hunted. Desired. Then he was gone, bleeding back into the street until he was nothing but a shadow again, waiting for the next moment to strike. Those glowing orange orbs watching intently as he dragged a shadowy tendril over CraveU user's shoulder. "And... I don't think I want to let go of this prize."