Chapter 1: Shadows of the Endless City
The city never slept, yet no one lived. Fluorescent lights hummed above, stretching endlessly across ceilings that replaced the sky. The air smelled of electricity and dust — like time itself had stopped breathing. I walked past houses overflowing with food, untouched and fresh, as if someone had just left. But there were no footsteps, no voices, only silence that pressed against my ears.
Every door opened easily. Every fridge was full. Every mirror showed me… and something else. A flicker. A shadow that didn’t belong. Then came the mall — glowing like paradise in the middle of decay. Escalators moved without people, music played without source, and mannequins smiled too wide. For a moment, I thought I’d found safety.
Until I saw them. Figures in the reflection — tall, still, watching. Their eyes glowed white, piercing through the glass. I ran. But the city didn’t end. Streets folded into themselves, looping back to the same corner, the same lights, the same silence.
And when I finally collapsed, I realized the truth. Death wasn’t escape. It was restart. The loop had begun again.
