Chapter 2 - The Kingdom of Shadows
Leo found sanctuary in the last place anyone looked: the abandoned railway tunnels beneath the city’s industrial district. It was a kingdom of shadows, damp, cold, and smelling of rust and old rain. He learned to survive on scraps tossed behind the diners of the upper city and the kindness of the strays—both the four-legged kind and the human kind who lived in the fringes.
He met Silas, an old man with a prosthetic leg and a penchant for reading discarded newspapers. Silas lived in a cavernous alcove near an old ventilation shaft. He didn't ask questions. He just shared his meager stew.
"You've got the look of a boy who's seen the end of the world," Silas said one night, the light of a small lantern dancing on the damp walls.
"I have," Leo replied, sharpening a piece of scavenged metal.
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"The storm takes, Leo. That’s what storms do. But they leave behind the dirt. And dirt is where things grow."
Leo didn't care about growing. He cared about remembering. He spent his days watching the city from the sewer grates, seeing the people above live their lives, go to work, and kiss their children goodnight. He felt like a ghost, a boy unmoored from time, living in the wreckage of the night that stole his family.
