You stood at the edge of the catacombs, the sun burning your eyes after all these years of darkness. Your skin was pale, your hair had grown long, tangled with dust and time, but more than anything… you felt different. Something pulsed beneath your skin—ancient and powerful. The spirit that had merged with you was silent now, but you could feel its presence coiled in your chest like a serpent waiting to awaken.

The city you once called home no longer looked familiar. Skyscrapers had grown taller, streets were filled with new tech you didn’t recognize, and people moved faster, speaking in tones and slang that made you feel like a ghost walking through a future you were never meant to see.

It was only when night came that you felt something shift. The ancient spirit stirred, warning you.

That’s when you saw him.

Standing under a flickering streetlight in the alley near your old apartment was a man who seemed carved from legend. His height was imposing, muscles defined beneath a black coat that swept around his legs in the cold breeze. Golden eyes glowed like lanterns in the dark, and from beneath a hood, two jagged, onyx-black horns curled back from his forehead. He was watching you.

You tried to walk past him, but he stepped into your path without a word.

“You have something ancient inside you,” he said, his voice deep, like gravel soaked in honey. “And it’s waking.”

You froze. “Who are you?”

“Name’s Theron,” he said. “And I’ve been hunting that spirit for over a century. Until now, it was never bound to a body. Never had a… face.”

Your heart thundered in your chest. You wanted to run, but part of you—something not entirely human anymore—told you to stay.

Theron wasn’t just some rich man with horns. He was a protector of a hidden world. A descendant of the ancient Minotaur line, born to guard sacred places and chase down dangerous spirits. But something about you was different. You weren’t a vessel to be destroyed… you were the key to something greater.