The alley didn't feel real in the slightest. It wasn't because of the cracked concrete or the faulty electrical system of the flickering street lights above, not even the cold breeze that caressed his face.
Vireo awoke from where he lay a few minutes after he fell unconscious, using his last bit of energy to prop himself against the wall. His gaze met his shaking hands, not from pain but from something far more unexplainable. The blade that manifested in his hands was gone, yet the weight of it still lingered as if it had embedded itself into his nerves.
The alley should've been empty, just with him alone. He watched her disappear into the darkness as his body slipped into unconsciousness. Yet, something stirred nearby; it was a soft sound, and no footsteps or breathing could be heard. There was a noise in the distance, scraping against the concrete as it drew closer, like nails running against a file.
Vireo turned his body toward the noise to get a better look, but it remained elusive, appearing only as a blurred silhouette.
"Hello?" Vireo said, shakenly.
There was no answer.
Regardless, the sound kept creeping closer towards him; the noise echoed ominously through the alley. His mind began to panic, hoping it wasn't the girl from earlier coming to finish what she started. The memory of her cold stare and brutal demeanour sends a shiver down his spine every time he remembers her. His palm gripped his chest as it tightened, his heart racing like a drumbeat against his ribcage. He pressed himself against the wall, steeling his will to remain silent. Sweat ran down his brow as he squinted into the murky gloom of the moonlit morning while he waited for the next sound, the next indication of whether he was truly alone or if danger lurked right around the corner.
He saw it at the edge of the alley wall, where there was a properly working street lamp. It was small, not bigger than his hand, as it curled up against the base of the street lamp, as if it belonged there. It wasn't human, not in the slightest. The body of the creature was thin and almost fragile-looking, as if it would shatter with the smallest of pebbles. It looked as if it was woven together from shadow and faint light. It's small limbs that were visible to Vireo clung to the street lamp unnaturally, while its head tilted at an unsettling angle towards his direction, watching him.
Vireo didn't make a gesture with his hands, legs, or face as he was frozen out of fear.
"What in the world are you…" Vireo whispered.
The creature stood utterly still, as if it were a lifeless doll frozen in time. He sensed a familiar pressure radiating from it, a sensation that reminded him of the energy he felt earlier when the blade had materialized in his hand. The atmosphere around the creature was thick with tension that warped the air, heightening his awareness and stirring a mix of apprehension and curiosity within him.
A flicker of text crossed his peripheral vision.
[SYNCRONIZATION: 21%]
[ALTER LINK DETECTED]
The once motionless creature shifted ever so slightly as though it felt a resonance. It released its limbs that were wrapped around the streetlight, cautiously moving towards him as if it had something only it could understand. Its claws gripped the concrete while it struggled to balance itself on all fours, dragging its hind legs and creating a rhythmic scrape against the cold ground; the noise echoed within the stillness of the night.
"Alter…?" Vireo said without thinking, the name slipped from his lips like a whispered secret in a quiet room.
The word felt alien as it escaped his mouth, swirling in his thoughts as his mind was in confusion over whether he was trapped in a vivid dream or if this bizarre scene was truly unfolding before him. The moment he uttered the name, the air around him seemed to thicken, heavy with unspoken energy.
In an instant, the creature stopped all movement, freezing mid-stride as if time itself had paused to take notice. Its eyes, dark pools reflecting an inner world, locked onto Vireo's gaze, not leaving contact. Reality began to warp slightly around it, a sensation like the rippling of water, as if the creature were struggling to render itself properly into the tangible world. For a moment, Vireo felt his heartbeat synchronize with the creature's quiet breathing as their breath could've been seen like a mist under the night sky. He stayed rooted in place as the streetlight above flickered, casting a shadow that danced around him. Was this a figment of his Imagination? Questions darted throughout his mind like fireflies, illuminating the dark corners of his thoughts. The creature began to shift slightly as the tension thickened in the air.
Another message from his peripheral vision appeared.
[ALTER GENERATION: IN PROGRESS]
[USER: VIREO VALE]
His stomach sank. He didn't realize that pressing a single button could change everything so drastically in just a few hours.
"Wait… please. I didn't know this would happen." Vireo pleaded.
The creature wasn't summoned, nor did it appear out of thin air. It was a manifestation within himself; the alter generation progress started the moment he fell unconscious.
The air grew tense around him, creating such a heavy pressure rendered him unable to move a muscle as he felt like something inside him was being pulled outward and into the creature. The creature's shape continuously flickered; it was unstable and incomplete. Its limbs shifted from being solidified to translucent, and inside it was something worse… images and fragments that weren't his. A classroom he didn't recognize, a hand adorned with a ring on the index holding someone else's, a laugh that evoked nostalgia but wasn't his own, and a moment of warmth that didn't belong in his life.
Vireo used his feet to push himself backward in fear, grinding his shoes on the cold concrete, almost tearing them apart in desperation. He didn't have enough energy to properly stand.
"No, that's not mine." He wailed.
The creature tilted its head. Its voice echoed in his mind instead of speaking aloud, followed by an unfamiliar voice.
"I remember you." as it crept closer, extending one of its claws toward him.
Vireo froze completely, on the verge of passing out because of exhaustion, thinking that this was the end for him.
"No, you don't…." Vireo pleaded to the creature, mustering the little energy he had remaining.
The creature kept moving towards him with the memories flickering once more, stronger this time, like they were reacting to Vireo.
[SYNCRONIZATION 21%]
The number pulsed in his peripheral vision while the creature responded immediately to it, as if it were tied to it.
Text appeared on his peripheral once more.
[ALTER: FRACTURE CLASSIFIED]
[STABILITY: UNSTABLE]
The creature's form shimmered violently in a chaotic array of lights for a brief moment. Slowly, it stabilized… slightly. It still appeared broken and incomplete, but it could now move properly. Vireo cautiously reached out to the creature, not because he trusted it, but because it was the only way to understand it. The moment his fingers made contact, the creature reacted, not with violence or fear, but with an emotional response, as if it recognized him. The air warped around them, shifting ever so slightly, while the phone vibrated violently on the ground, having fallen out of his pocket during his frantic movements.
The screen lit up on its own.
[CONTRACT AVAILABLE]
[ALTER LINK ESTABLISHED]
[STATUS: ANOMALY DETECTED]
Vireo's gaze alternated between the phone and the creature while his finger was still in contact with it.
"Why do you even exist…" Vireo asked.
The creature didn't respond, but the memories inside of it flickered to life this time; the sensation was even stronger. Vireo caught glimpses of a version of himself, standing somewhere else with familiar people, smiling with warmth, living a life he didn't recognize. It vanished immediately. Regaining some strength, he began to rise, using the wall as support.
"That wasn't me," he groaned as he pushed himself off the ground.
A message appeared in his peripheral vision.
[MEMORY INTEGRATION: BEGINNING SOON]
The sky above the alley was illuminated with streaks of the rising sun. Suddenly, the world felt less real than the creature standing in front of him.
The phone vibrated once more; it was a call from his mother. Vireo froze, knowing the outcome that awaited him when he arrived home, as he struggled to articulate a reasonable excuse for what transpired during his chaotic morning. There were three missed calls and one message waiting for him.
"Where are you? You said you were returning home before midnight. It's your birthday…"
His grip tightened around the phone while he dusted himself off with his other hand. The creature looked up at him, staying quiet, still, waiting, and immobile as if spent all its energy showing him those visions. Vireo sighed as he walked out of the alley.
"I just need to go home," he whispered under his breath, saying it like it would stabilize his reality again.
"I'll deal with this later," as he looked down the alley.
The creature did not leave, nor did it follow him; it simply remained as it watched him, as if it already belonged to him.
"Don't" from an unfamiliar voice.
The voice came again. It wasn't from the creature, not from the phone, but from the entrance of the alley. As he was about to leave, Vireo exhaled, slowly turning out of annoyance. Two figures stood at the edge, a girl a bit shorter than him with light brown hair with tips of purple and dressed in a skirt with a long-sleeved shirt that was tucked in, and a boy that looks like he was in his early 20s with medium-length, middle-parted hair and dressed in casual jeans and an office shirt with glasses in the chest pocket. Beside them, there were two Alters, very much different from his. They were more stable and controlled, alive in a way his Alter wasn't.
"That's weird, Cassian, it's reacting to him… our Alters," the girl muttered as she tugged on the boy beside her, as their Alters shifted uneasily as they hid behind the two, scared.
Vireo didn't answer immediately as his gaze was solely focused on his Alter, which stood stagnant at the opposite end of the alley. The air around it was tensed, as if the stillness held a secret, waiting to be relieved. The flickering light cast a creepy glow on the walls, yet the alter didn't move a muscle. His thoughts were swirling like smoke rising from a candle as questions kept erupting within him. Vireo felt himself drawing closer, even though he didn't want anything to do with it, urging him to break the silence and seek an answer to the burning questions he had in mind.
"I didn't get it from anywhere; it came from me," Vireo replied.
Silence immediately enveloped the area. The two strangers stood still, confused and lost in thought with each other.
"That's not how it works," the boy said.
"I swear I'm not, it just happened out of nowhere," Vireo replied.
A slight pause, then the girl spoke up.
"We need to take him."
The sun's rays brightened further as morning drew nearer. Vireo stared into the clouds while he had a simple realization: He wouldn't go home in this state, not anymore, not with that thing watching him, and totally not when he understood nothing at all, not with his life already starting to change by the second. The lack of knowledge could end up doing more harm than good if people who are more clueless than he was are exposed unintentionally. He looked at his phone, the missed calls and the message, then at the strangers.
"If I go with you, I want answers," Vireo demanded.
The boy smirked, "You won't like them one bit…"
Vireo exhaled as he stepped forward, taking up their offer. He walks back down the alley, picking up the immobile Alter of his. He began his journey, not towards his home but into the unknown.