C234 EVERY DOOR CLOSED TOO EARLY

Night did not fall peacefully across the lands anymore.

It came like a conclusion already made.

The mortal community slept under a sky too clear for comfort. Lamps glowed low behind wooden doors, their light flickering as if unsure it would be allowed to remain. Even the dogs had gone quiet. The usual sounds—footsteps, murmuring, the scrape of night workers—had reduced to nothing