A soft white glow pushed through Zalora's eyelids, warm enough to wake her but sharp enough to sting. She groaned, trying to lift a hand to block it—only to feel pain lance through her entire body.
Her eyes snapped open.
Sterile lights. A ceiling she'd never seen before. A faint hum vibrates through the metal walls.
Where… am I?
Memory hit her in fragments: the forest… the roar… the creature… her fist connecting with its chest… and then darkness swallowing her whole.
She tried to sit up and cried out as pain flared across her ribs, her arms, her legs. Every inch of her felt bruised. But she forced herself upright, teeth gritted, gripping the side of the bed until the shaking stopped.
The sheets crumpled to the floor as she stumbled to her feet.
When she looked around, she froze.
The room wasn't a room—it was a chamber. Smooth metallic walls, glowing blue lines, and machinery that didn't look human-made.
A door-shaped panel glowed faintly. Instinct drew her toward it. When she touched it, the panel slid open with a soft hiss.
Her breath caught.
Inside, lined along the walls, were transparent pods filled with shimmering liquid—six of them. Two pods held Evo and Eugene, floating peacefully as though asleep. Their bodies were surrounded by soft pulses of light scanning through their limbs.
But the next two pods made her stomach drop.
Mark and Diego.
Their pods looked different—darker, reinforced, filled with swirling liquid that glowed with an entirely different color. Something about them felt… off.
"Interesting, huh?"
A calm voice echoed behind her.
Zalora spun so fast she stumbled backward, nearly falling.
A figure stepped into the light—tall, violet-skinned, with silver eyes and markings that shifted like constellations. His expression was gentle, but his presence radiated something ancient.
"Rude of me," he said with a small bow. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Kuro. I'm a Zydonian. And… I'm the one who saved and healed you."
Zalora blinked. "Where am I?"
"You are on my ship," Kuro replied. "It crashed on this planet a long time ago."
"So… aliens are real," she whispered.
Kuro tilted his head. "You say that as if you're not one."
Zalora stared. "What? No. I'm human. Like everyone else."
Kuro touched a panel, and a hologram of her DNA spun in the air—angular, luminous, wrong in ways she couldn't understand.
"Are you sure?" he asked gently. "My database shows your DNA is like nothing else on this planet."
Zalora felt her heartbeat slow, then spike. "So what—my whole life is a lie? If I'm an alien, then… how did I get here?"
Kuro sighed, the kind of sigh someone gives before telling a difficult truth.
"Twelve years ago," he said, "my crew and I were transported by another species across the galaxy. We crashed here. With no way home, we stayed. The species that brought us are called Daywalkers, from the world of Transhollow. Some of your friends… share their blood."
Zalora stared at him. "My friends are aliens too?"
As if on cue, a pod hissed open.
Eugene dropped to the floor with a splash of liquid, gasping and looking around wildly.
"Where—where is it?" he barked. "Where's that thing? I want a rematch!"
"Eugene!" Zalora rushed to him. "Are you okay?"
Kuro stepped forward. "You're awake sooner than expected."
Eugene wiped the glowing residue from his face and looked between them suspiciously. "Zalora… what did he mean by 'alien'?"
Zalora raised her hands. "Guess what. I'm… an alien."
Eugene stared. "You're a what? Stop lying. And who is that guy?"
"My name is Kuro," the alien said. "And I saved both of you."
Eugene blinked hard. "You saved me? And she's an alien? What are you?"
"I'm an alien too."
Eugene groaned. "Bro… how long was I out?"
"Forty-eight hours," Kuro answered.
Zalora gasped. "We missed two days of school."
Eugene stood shakily. "We got beat bad. Tell me where that thing is. I wanna finish what it started."
Kuro folded his arms. "It vanished before I arrived."
Eugene clenched his fists. "It's going to pay."
"Eugene, calm down," Zalora warned.
"No. I'm going to kill it."
"We need a plan," she insisted.
"We need action," he snapped. "What if it kills all of us next time?!"
Kuro lifted a hand. "Fighting something without understanding it is begging for death."
Eugene paused at that.
Kuro continued, "I observed it. The creature copies and adapts to the way people fight and move. That's why it overpowered you. But… I have a proposal."
Zalora and Eugene looked at him cautiously.
"What proposal?" Eugene asked.
"We work together," Kuro said. "Use our combined strengths. I count three aliens… and three superhumans."
Eugene squinted. "What do you mean three aliens and three superhumans?"
Zalora stepped forward. "Wait—who else is an alien?"
Kuro nodded toward the pods. "Your friend Evo. His DNA is unmistakable."
Eugene sighed. "Dang. He's an alien too?"
Zalora crossed her arms. "Then who are the superhumans?"
Kuro gestured at Mark and Diego's pods. "Them. Their physiology is human… but altered. Enhanced. And Eugene—" he pointed "—you are similar. But not the same."
Zalora swallowed. "Makes sense. They did move differently than others."
"Yes," Kuro said. "We must help each other unlock our full potential. Only then can we plan how to defeat the creature."
Before anyone could respond, three more pods hissed open behind them.
Zalora and Eugene turned as silhouettes fell to the floor—
—and their friends began to wake.