Lina barely blinked, so tense she was. She sat in the same cold corner of the warehouse, where the smell of mold, rust, and rain seemed never to go away.
Kai still couldn't look his sister in the eyes for long. Every time their eyes met, it felt like guilt wrapped around his chest like a rope pulled too tight.
The silence between them had changed. It was no longer that comfortable silence of people who know each other completely. Now, it was a thick barrier, one fear suffocating the other, and words only came when they couldn't be held back anymore.
Lina hugged her knees, curled up, looking at Kai as if he could disappear at any moment.
"You came back different," she said, her voice hoarse, almost fading. "I see it in your eyes, the way you walk, even your shadow looks wrong." She waited a bit, searching for courage. "What's inside you, Kai? I don't recognize you anymore."
Kai wanted to tell the truth, to talk about Zero, about the horrors pulsing inside him. But he only managed to shake his head slowly, looking away to the dirty floor, where a puddle reflected a face that didn't even look like his.
"I'm just tired, Lina. This will pass. I promise."
"Don't promise. Don't do that to me," she insisted, her voice breaking. "I know when you lie."
Kai's core burned, throbbing every time Lina got close. It was a strange heat, a weight, as if someone else was there, between them.
Zero, always present, took the opportunity to whisper, the cold voice sounding at the back of his mind. "Emotional fragility detected. Recommend distancing. Risk of collapse of the emotional bond."
Kai clenched his fists, taking a deep breath.
"Be quiet," he muttered, not realizing he'd spoken out loud.
Lina looked at him startled.
"Did you say something to me?"
"No. It was… nothing. I'm just tired," he lied, swallowing hard.
Minutes passed slowly, heavy, each lost in their own thoughts. Outside, the sky carried more rain, and each thunder seemed to remind them they were trapped in a world that only got worse.
Only when the wind blew strong, making the warehouse door creak, did Kai move again.
"I need to go out for a bit," he said, already grabbing his torn jacket.
Lina got up quickly, her voice trembling with fear.
"Where are you going now? You're not even okay, Kai! Stay here, please. I don't want to be alone."
Kai hesitated at the door, but he needed air. He needed to feel that he still owned his own legs.
"Just a minute. I'll be right back."
Lina stood still, watching him disappear into the darkness, feeling a hole grow in her chest.
Outside, Solarius was a mosaic of weak lights, all mixed with the wet glow coming from the dirty streets. The streetlights cast a pale, irregular clarity, creating more islands of darkness than banishing the fear from the alleys.
The peeling façades, covered in moss and hanging wires, seemed to whisper stories of a tired city. On every corner, shadows danced, stretching and then shrinking as vehicles passed slowly, engines coughing, headlights nearly dying.
In the distance, Kai heard whispers crossing thin walls: neighbors arguing quietly, old people slamming windows, teenagers laughing nervously. There was a strange energy in the air, something between curiosity and panic, as if everyone knew something was about to spin out of control.
Kai walked fast, head down, cold hands buried in the torn pockets of his coat. He felt the gaze of people watching from their windows, folks pretending not to notice, but following every step, ready to spread rumors.
He tried to be invisible, but it was useless: each step seemed to pull the shadows closer, making the outlines of the walls ripple, as if the world was bending around him.
Little shards of glass reflected the flickering light, shining where before there was only filth and puddles. It wasn't just his imagination, he saw and felt everything changing around him.
A piece of torn paper spun on the ground, pushed by a wind that only blew around Kai, swirling stubbornly until it hit his worn-out sneaker. Soon after, a crushed can that had been still trembled on its own as he stepped over it, making a dry sound that seemed to echo too loudly.
Everything around him seemed to come to life, as if the whole city was waiting for his next move.
At first, Kai thought it was just paranoia. But at each corner, the feeling got worse.
A stone rolled out of nowhere near a wall, as if pushed by an invisible hand. The streetlights cast shadows bigger than they should be, stretching, forming strange shapes on the asphalt. Voices crossed through the walls, snipped phrases, new rumors gaining strength.
"The boy with the shining eyes is back.""His shadow doesn't follow his body.""A ghost walking through the Old Zone."
Zero spoke again, louder and louder inside Kai's head.
"Disturbances in the energy field. Expanding anomalies. Recommend isolation."
The voice was an icy weight, but, curiously, it brought a certain relief. There, in the middle of so much fear and strangeness, talking to Zero seemed easier than trying to explain himself to any human being.
"Why is this happening? I didn't ask for anything to change," he thought, feeling the answer come without delay.
"Inevitable adaptation. Resistance to the process results in amplified suffering. The price of survival is transformation," Zero replied, as emotionless as always.
Kai leaned against a wall, feeling his breathing get heavy. He closed his eyes, let his shadow stretch on the ground, almost hugging his feet. For a moment, he wished he could dissolve right there, disappear with everything. But the image of Lina alone in the warehouse brought him back.
"Just don't let me lose who I am," he whispered, almost begging.
"Identity is variable. The emotional bond compromises the host's stability," came the answer.
Kai bit his tongue to keep from screaming. He opened his eyes just in time to see, on the other side of the street, a woman hurriedly locking her door, eyes wide with fear. The sound of keys echoed more than it should have, and Kai was sure everyone was talking about him.
He walked slowly back to the warehouse, his chest heavy, his head full of mixed voices and images. On the way, Zak appeared out of nowhere, emerging from an alley, his arm still bandaged, an exhausted look on his face.
"The whole city wants to know if you turned into a beast or if you've just gone nuts," Zak said, trying to joke, but his smile was nervous.
Kai didn't answer right away, just stopped next to him, feeling like he could trust him, but not too much.
Zak scratched his chin, looking toward the warehouse.
"You have to tell me what's really going on, Ender. I'm risking my neck being near you. The Syndicate and the Union are on you, but there's weirder stuff happening. People are talking about objects moving on their own, folks swearing they saw living shadows. And don't try to fool me, I know when you're lying."
Kai looked away, his heart racing.
"I don't really know. There's something wrong with me, but… if I say it, I put everyone at risk. Even you."
Zak snorted.
"Everyone's already at risk, my friend. And I'm not everyone. We can try to solve this together. If you keep going alone, they'll hunt you down like a monster. Wouldn't it be better to get a few people who know what they're doing? You, me, and a couple more. We do this right."
Kai hesitated, thinking of Lina, her scared face, the guilt growing every time he saw his distorted reflection in puddles.
"I can't. I can't involve anyone."
Zak shook his head, impatient.
"So you're going to keep pretending everything's under control until when? Until you disappear for good? The city is changing, Ender. The Nexuses aren't what they used to be. Something big is happening, and we're right in the eye of the storm."
Kai shut down, didn't answer. Zak saw he wouldn't get anything else and sighed deeply.
"If you change your mind, you know where to find me. Just don't take too long, because rumors grow faster than shadows."
Kai stood still, watching Zak disappear among the buildings, feeling a strange urge to ask for help, but afraid to open yet another door to the abyss.
When he got back inside the warehouse, Lina was sitting where he'd left her, but now she wasn't crying anymore. She just stared into space, hands intertwined in her lap, her face pale, tired. Kai wanted to hug her, but didn't have the courage. He sat at the opposite end, keeping his distance.
Night fell slowly, Solarius swallowed by thick clouds and whispers. Outside, someone shouted about ghosts, about hauntings. A neighbor slammed a door so hard it echoed.
Inside Kai's chest, his core vibrated louder, the shadows grew, and Zero spoke more and more like he owned the body.
Finally, Lina got up slowly, went to the broken window and stared out at the dark street. Kai realized how small she seemed, fragile, but also determined.
"I'm going to keep an eye on you, Kai. Because the way things are, either I lose my brother or I lose myself. And I swear I won't let that happen without a fight," she said softly, just for herself to hear.
Kai closed his eyes, exhausted, feeling the weight of the whole world on his shoulders.
Deep down, he knew Lina was right: something terrible was about to happen. And, this time, he couldn't pretend it wasn't because of him.