BEFORE STEEL AND CIRCUITS REPLACED BLOOD AND MAGIC,
before humanity crowned itself the master of the world, there were beings that did not belong to daylight.
They walked unseen.
They ruled from the shadows.
And they shaped history in ways time has tried desperately to erase.
Once, they were feared. Worshipped. Hunted.
Now, they are dismissed as myths—bedtime stories told to frighten children into obedience.
But legends do not vanish.
They rot. They wait.
And when they return, they do so wearing the face of truth.
Somewhere in the present—
in a city drowned in neon light and human noise—
a man sleeps through dreams that are not his own.
He does not remember the screams.
He does not remember the blood.
He does not remember the choice that reshaped the world.
But his heartbeat still follows an older rhythm.
And something ancient listens... every time it quickens.
This world was not always as polished as it appears today.
There was a time when survival was decided by strength alone—
when darkness claimed entire lands, and blood soaked into the soil until it became part of it.
Humanity stood at the bottom of that world.
They were weaker. Slower. Fragile.
And to the things that stalked the night, they were little more than prey.
Some fed on flesh.
Some fed on fear.
And some watched... waiting for the right moment to strike.
Yet even in an age of monsters, humans were not entirely defenseless.
There were those who could stand against the darkness—
warriors whose very presence bent the world around them, who wielded forces no ordinary man should have been able to command.
They were rare.
And they were feared almost as much as the creatures they fought.
But power is a fickle thing.
With time, something changed.
The strength that once shielded humanity began to fade.
The warriors vanished. The stories grew quieter.
And when the last ember of resistance burned out—
The darkness moved.
What followed was not a single battle, nor a single war,
but a chain of choices made in desperation.
Alliances were formed that should never have existed.
Trust was placed in those who thrived on blood and shadow.
And ancient knowledge... never meant to leave human hands, was offered as payment for survival.
The cost of that bargain would echo through centuries.
Because in the midst of ruin and slaughter,
something far more dangerous than war took root—
A bond that should never have been allowed to exist.
A connection forged between predator and prey.
A love born where only hatred should have survived.
And love, in a world governed by power,
is not salvation.
It is a fracture.
From that fracture, bloodlines were cursed.
Laws older than kingdoms were broken.
And forces that once ruled in silence were driven into hiding.
Some swore never to repeat that mistake.
Some swore to erase every trace of it.
And some—watching from realms beyond human sight—
swore that if such a bond ever surfaced again,
the world itself would be burned clean to prevent it.
Now, the age of myths has ended.
Steel hums. Circuits glow.
And humanity believes itself safe.
But beneath the surface, old forces stir once more.
Secrets buried in blood begin to resurface.
And the sins of the past are no longer content to remain forgotten.
Because history has never been kind
to those who refuse to remember it.
The truth is this—
The past did not disappear.
It was sealed.
And when the one carrying that seal finally awakens,
the world will not face another war.
It will face a reckoning.
And the most dangerous enemy...
is the one no one sees coming.
Welcome to The Secrets of CHIAROSCURO.
Where light bends... and darkness learns to wear its shape.