“Caw! Caw, caw—!”0

The eerie cry startled him. He jumped back and craned his neck, squinting into the harsh sunlight to see a crow perched on the eaves.0

“Ugh, bad luck!”  0

He snatched up a stone and hurled it at the crow. But the bird simply fluttered its wings and flew off, letting out more cackling cries that seemed to drip with ill omen.0

A sudden chill crept through the narrow alleyways of the shanty district; a wind hissed in through cracks, rattling doors and windows with a sound like a weeping woman, laughing and crying all at once.2

Bear spent the day working, then bought some cheap spirits to drink himself into a stupor. Finally, he crawled into the small tent pitched on open ground by the merchant caravan and lay on his side to sleep.0

Before long, he sank into a deep dream.0

His body began trembling, his breathing grew ragged, his chest rising and falling as if he had sprinted miles without stopping. In the dream, he found himself abruptly inside a dim, silent room. Harsh, blinding light poured in through a window, where a pale figure stood...0