The moment the door closed behind me,I finally noticed it.
My hands were still shaking.
Not the kind of shaking from fear,but the leftover tremor after the adrenaline has nowhere else to go.A residue of the chaos in TESCO—the twisted silhouettes of those two creatures,Emilia's words echoing in my skull:"It's not them. It's you."And the sound of my own heartbeatslamming against my ribsas I ran for my life.
I took a long breath and dropped my keys onto the table.
"Monster candidate, huh…"I muttered."So I came to Slovakia for a vacationand somehow ended up in the paranormal experience package… great."
Joking didn't help.But humans need something to hold onto when reality cracks.
I reached for the light switch.
The lights turned on—not instantly,but like someone was adjusting the resolution from the backstage:blurry for one second,then snapping into clarity.
"…Okay, can we NOT do this today? Seriously."
I looked down.
My shadow lay normally beneath me…but something felt wrong.
I lifted my hand.
The shadow followed—a fraction of a second late.
I lowered it.
Again, a tiny delay.
"Hey hey hey—cut it out.Now is not the time to play the Lag Simulator."
The shadow didn't care.It moved half a beat behind me,quiet and slow.
I walked to the table and grabbed my phone.The moment the screen lit up—
A full second of blurry pixel wash.Then: normal.
Not my eyes.The world.
It was re-rendering.
I poured myself some water and set the glass down.The reflection dragged sideways—like an invisible hand tugged itthen snapped it back.
I sighed.
"Today is really… something."
Soft footsteps brushed my ankles.
The cat stood there,looking up at melike it was examining a mentally unstable human.
"Hey… what are you?Tech support?"
No reply, of course.
It walked to my shadow,raised its tail—
Tap.
It slapped my shadow.
The lights flickered.
It slapped again.
My shadow trembled at the edges.
"You want me to… look at the shadow?"
The cat ignored me,jumped onto the bed,then stepped back across the mattressbefore sitting squarely on my lap.
I froze.
"W-wait, you're not usually this affectionate."
It stared at my hand.
I lifted my right hand slowly.
The cat placed its paw on it.
That instant—
The world didn't freeze.
Only a small area did.The noise collapsed.The background hum of the fridge faded.The faint traffic outside muted completely.
I raised my hand again.
This time—
My shadow followed almost immediately.
Lowered it.
Nearly perfect synchronization.
Only a tiny delay left.
I huffed out a laugh.Not from humor—from the absurdity.
"So I'm supposed to… train my shadow sync?"
The cat withdrew its paw,sat straight,and gave me a look that screamed:
Finally.
My stomach growled.
"…Fine, fine. Here's your reward."
I set the cat down and opened a can of food.Its ears perked at the smell,but it didn't eat immediately.It sniffed,looked back up at me,like it was checking if I had stabilized.
I crouched and reached to pet it.It didn't dodge.Instead, it flicked its tail—right across my shadow.
The outline rippled again.
Like it was waiting for me.
I focused on that tugging sensation in my chest,the one pulling at me ever since last night.
My hand didn't move—but my intent did.
My shadow reacted first.My body followed right after.
Not stronger.Not bigger.
Just faster.More precise.More aligned.
My heartbeat steadied.
"…Holy shit. I really am getting faster."
Only then did the cat start eating.As if saying:
Acceptable.
I carried my food to the table and unlocked my phone.
The neighborhood chat was exploding.
Photos of the sky above UFO Park—clouds dented like something punched down from above.People reporting low-frequency vibrations.Dogs barking at empty corners.Elevators stopping at the wrong floors repeatedly.
I stared at the messages.The pulling sensation in my chest returned—sharper,clearer,more insistent.
Then—
Ding.
The elevator.
It stopped on my floor.
Ding.
Again.
Ding.
Same timing.Same pattern.
Someone was pressing the buttonover and overbut never stepping out.
A second later—
Violent retching sounded from downstairs.Real, raw, uncontrollable.
I stood up, chopsticks in hand,and moved toward the door.
The elevator chimed again.The exact same rhythm.Too precise.
Then—
A low vibration rolled through the whole building.
Bmmmmm—
Not loud.But the pull in my chest yanked hard.
The cat jumped to its feet,fur spiking,eyes locked on the door.
The entire floor went silent.
The elevator stopped.The retching disappeared.The hallway became… empty.As if no one lived here.
I inhaled slowly.
"…The anomalies are getting stronger."
The pull in my chest intensified,no longer a hint,but a direction.
I looked down at my shadow—almost synchronized now.
And for the first time since all of this began,a thought surfaced—clear, fierce, grounding:
If the threats keep escalating,then so do I.
I need to survive.Protect the people I care about.Protect her.
I can't run forever.