The brightness blinded him for a second. The city's light seemed to come from every direction — floating neon, holographic billboards, magical orbs of illumination suspended in the air. The metropolis pulsed like a living organism, breathing technology and magic in equal measure. Kael stepped out of the portal directly onto an interplanetary arrival platform, without a name, without a past. No one asked where he came from. On this world, traveling between planets was as common as walking between neighborhoods.
A companion robot immediately smiled at him, projecting a warm-voiced female hologram:
— Welcome to Gaia Prime! Please select your preferred language. For tourist assistance, urban orientation, or social integration, tap the seal on your palm. Your system will automatically synchronize with the local database.
Kael said nothing. He withdrew his hand from the holographic air as if it were poison. He hadn't even activated his system. He didn't want his presence to be registered in the city's network. The shadows at his feet twisted slightly, unsettled by so much light.
The sidewalks moved on their own. The buildings danced with animations. People smiled, their faces smooth, eyes gleaming with virtual joy. Children tossed small magical orbs to one another while a group of teenagers laughed at a 3D hologram of a "hero-hunter" annihilating monsters in real-time.
A massive billboard floated in the sky, broadcasting the enthusiastic voice of a presenter:
— You could be the next savior! Apply to the Stellaris Academy and unlock your potential! Your system deserves more! Don't miss your chance to become a hero!
Kael clenched his fists in his pockets. Hero? The word burned him. In his mind, heroes wore soldiers' uniforms and crushed the dreams of the weak.
He stopped in a marketplace area. Holographic vendors immediately surrounded him.
— Welcome, young man! — one said, displaying on a floating board: Mana Masks – Hide your aura! Only 5 crysta!
— Maybe you're looking for a travel companion? — another asked, pulling out a pocket-sized golem that did a flip. — Perfectly syncs with your system!
— Or... maybe you need an inventory upgrade?
Kael looked at them all but said nothing. He walked on like a silent shadow in a world of screaming advertisements.
He stopped at only one place. An old bookstore, the only one without holograms, tucked between two massive buildings. A dim digital plaque flickered: Forbidden Truths. Enter at your own risk.
The shadows around him quivered with curiosity.
Kael stepped over the threshold of the bookstore without realizing it. His legs moved on their own, as if something beyond his will was pulling him inside. The door closed behind him with a soft click, and in that instant, all the city's sounds vanished. The noise of holograms, the laughter, the ads — everything went silent. It was as if the outside world had been completely erased.
The scent of old paper and scorched dust filled his nostrils. Tall, dusty shelves, some on the verge of collapse, others entwined with black roots like dried ivy, crowded the narrow space. There were no lights — just a faint blue flame suspended in the air, flickering weakly, casting thick, moving shadows across the walls.
Kael's shadows stretched ahead of his steps like dogs sniffing out something familiar.
— Welcome, seeker of darkness, hissed a voice.
Kael didn't flinch. He no longer had the energy to be surprised. From behind a movable wall emerged a silhouette cloaked in smoke. It had no face. Just two red eyeholes in the sockets of a metal mask.
— I'm not a seeker, Kael muttered. I don't want anything from anyone.
— That is the most dangerous desire, the entity replied. Those who want nothing… end up taking everything.
Kael didn't respond. The shadows beneath his feet were now twitching in different directions, as if drawn to something specific. One of them clung to a book on a high shelf and pulled it down.
When the book fell, the entire air in the room shifted.
Its cover was black and soft, almost alive. An ancient inscription pulsed on it, written in a language Kael couldn't understand — but felt in his bones. His fingers moved on their own. The touch of the cover sent a wave of cold through him, but also a kind of comfort. The book was about Primordial Shadows. Creatures that belonged to neither light nor darkness, but which could be tamed by those who knew profound suffering. By those with old traumas and torn souls.
Kael read a few lines. The language of the book translated itself in his mind as if it had already been implanted. Or maybe… he had read it before?
"Your shadow does not belong to you. It belongs to your pain. You can feed it. You can make it grow. And eventually... you can let it bite in your place."
Kael bit his lip until it bled. Part of him wanted to burn the book. To run. But the other part... the one that still remembered his mother's blood, Seraphine's voice, and the pain of the soldiers… wanted to learn.
— Will you take the volume? the figure with red eyes asked. — It costs nothing. Only a promise.
Kael closed the book and clutched it to his chest.
— I promise… this world won't change me.
— Then… perhaps you'll be the one to change it.
The blue flame flickered twice. Then vanished. The bookstore was plunged into darkness.
When Kael stepped back out onto the street, no one had noticed his absence.
The city kept smiling.
But in his hands now pulsed a new path.