The sun had long abandoned the cityscape, leaving behind jagged silhouettes of collapsed buildings and flickering neon lights that buzzed without purpose. Zane Arokonya and Nomso Idika moved like shadows through the ruins of what used to be a commercial district in Outer Lagos.

  "You sure this is where the signal came from?" Nomso asked, scanning the broken skyline with his drone controller tucked beneath his arm.

  Zane didn’t answer immediately. He slowed, eyes narrowing at a sharp turn in the alley ahead. “Something’s off.”

  Nomso rolled his eyes. “That’s not new.”

  But Zane wasn’t joking. His steps slowed. He sniffed the air.

  Grime. Burnt plastic. Blood.

  And—

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  “Beef?” Zane muttered.

  “What?”

  He pointed at a small, pristine package sitting on the pavement like it had fallen from the sky: a sealed burger box. It looked impossibly fresh.

  Nomso stepped closer and raised an eyebrow. “Wow, your sense of smell is so good. I didn’t even—”

  A blur.

  A crack.

  Nomso was *gone*.

  Zane pivoted, instincts flaring, sword unsheathed before his thoughts caught up. A dark figure had crashed from above, pinning Nomso against the concrete, claws already digging in.

  Zane charged.

  Steel met fang. Sparks flew. The demon hissed—a new breed, fast and skeletal, skin rippling like oil. Zane struck again, carving its chest. It screeched and lunged, catching him in the ribs. He gritted through it, slid beneath its next swipe, and decapitated it in one clean strike.

  Ash.

  Silence.

  Nomso groaned. “Still breathing.”

  Zane helped him sit up. “Barely.”

  He glanced back at the burger. Still untouched. Still fresh.

  Then, the world **bent**.

  His knees buckled.

  The alley faded. A different place unfolded.

  **A memory. A nightmare. A trance.**

  He was home.

  His father laughed from the next room. His little sister danced, her voice rising in sweet, off-key hums.

  Then—*crash.*

  Smoke. Screams.

  His father’s voice—cut short. His sister, crawling, blood trailing behind her.

  “Zane…”

  A figure stepped from the flames.

  A demon. Not just any demon.

  **The one.**

  Too tall. Too thin. Too many teeth.

  And it smiled.

  **That smile.**

  Zane screamed.

  —

  “ZANE!”

  He snapped back.

  Nomso stared at him. “What the hell was that?”

  Zane’s hands trembled.

  But he said nothing.

  He only looked toward the shadows—and felt them looking back.