I heard the sound of water, drip, drip, endlessly. After a moment, I realized it wasn't water at all, but a clock.
Tick, tick, the seconds passed.
I couldn't help counting silently. When I reached sixty, a minute, the sound suddenly stopped.
The world fell silent again.
At that moment, I opened my eyes.
I was standing on an empty street.
It was the same road, still broad daylight, but there was no one around.
Not only were there no people, there were no cars on the road either.
The entire world was eerily quiet.
Was this a dream?
It wasn't a dream created by my ability. It was a real dream.
I was dreaming, wasn't I?
"Meow."
A cat's cry made the hairs on my body stand on end.
I spun around and looked behind me.
I couldn't find the black cat.
"Meow." Another cry.
This time it came from a shop on my left.
A hardware store, cluttered with all kinds of things and dimly lit.
I couldn't see the black cat.
"Meow."
The third cry came from ahead.
The convenience store door opened, and the chime rang out. Its sound was especially eerie on the deserted street.
I still couldn't see the black cat.
I realized the trouble I was in.
I couldn't see, but the black cat was still there.
Without my most important sense, there was no way I could catch it.
No, I had no chance at all.
If it wanted to eat me, it would have to change shape, turning into a monster like a black panther. Then its yin energy would spill out, and I would be able to sense it.
At that thought, my train of thought paused.
Monsters...
A black panther the size of an elephant was a monster.
Make