The night was eerily quiet, broken only by the occasional rustling of wind through the gnarled branches of the old graveyard. A low fog clung to the earth, swirling like the breath of something long dead. My heart raced, but I steadied my hands. The man—if he could even be called that—stood at the edge of the clearing, an indistinct figure cloaked in shadows that moved like living things around him. His presence was an unsettling mix of arrogance and malice, but beneath that, I could sense something else. A flicker of caution, even fear.