The sky was cloudy, the drizzle was still dripping on the old road to Alor Setar.
The old car that Harith had "borrowed" from the side of the road shook violently every time he hit the brakes.
Aina sat next to him, silent, her eyes focused on the tattered files they had stolen from Harith's father's old house yesterday.
"Do you know what we're looking for?" Aina asked slowly.
Harith nodded, but his eyes never left the road.
"My father used to work with the Eclipse Division. But there was a secret project… called Eclipse Genesis. All the first shadows came from there."
Aina opened the file slowly.
The paper was yellowed, but the writing was still clear
"Eclipse Genesis Project – Subject RAI-00"
Below, an old photo of a man with a half-burned face, black eyes, but a smile.
And in the bottom corner of the photo was Dr. Hadami Harun.
Harith's father.
Aina fell silent.
"Harith… is this your father?"
Harith gripped the steering wheel tightly. "No. Not anymore."
Rai suddenly appeared faintly in the side mirror, half of his face visible in the reflection of the rain.
"He is my first master," Rai's voice was slow but cold.
"He created me from the shadow of a human being. But when I realized… I didn't want to follow his orders anymore."
Harith frowned.
"You mean… my father started all this?"
"Yes. But he didn't mean anything. He just wanted to separate the darkness from humans. Unfortunately, when the shadows separated, humans lost half their souls… and the world slowly began to die."
The car arrived in front of a dilapidated building marked
"Eclipse Research Center that has been closed since 2001"
The fence was rusty, but the main door was slightly open as if waiting for their presence.
---
INSIDE THE ECLIPSE CENTER
The building was dark, lit only by the light from Aina's phone.
Each of their steps echoed long.
The walls were full of strange writings with circles of symbols, experimental notes, and pictures of a partially black sun.
In the middle of the hall, a large glass tank, empty… but the blackened palm print was still clearly visible inside.
"The tank where I was born," Rai said, his voice trembling.
"He put the shadows of all the mentally ill patients in and tried to form a perfect entity without sin. But when I was born… I got all those sins at once."
Harith slowly touched the glass.
In the blink of an eye, a flash of images invaded his mind, he heard a scream, his father's shadow, the doctor running, a blood eclipse.
"Harith!" Aina screamed, but he had already collapsed, his eyes open, his pupils half white.
In his mind, he was now somewhere else, in a black and white world, the floor shining like a mirror.
And in front of him, someone stood.
An old man in a lab coat, half his face burned.
"You finally came, Harith."
"Father…?"
"I am no longer your father. I am the master of the shadows."
The man's voice echoed in two tones, like a human and a creature at once.
"You call it a curse, but I call it a continuation. You're not my son, Harith. You're my correction." Rai failed because he had feelings. But you… you're perfect."
Harith screamed:
"What exactly do you want me to be?"
"A link between the human world and the shadow world. When the next eclipse occurs, only you can open the door again."
"And if I don't want to?"
"You will lose yourself because every time you fight fate, the shadow inside you eats you alive."
Rai's voice suddenly broke in:
"Don't listen to him! He's not human anymore!"
"Shut up!" the man shouted, and with a wave of his hand, the shadows around him turned into chains, binding Harith.
"I created you to be perfect. Don't repeat my mistakes."
The chain began to absorb into Harith's body.
His eyes went dark, the pulse in his neck was beating fast.
But before everything disappeared, Aina from the real world screamed while shaking her body.
"HARITH! WAKE UP!"
Shadows throughout the room erupted, the tank glass shattered into pieces and Harith woke up, his breathing ragged.
Aina hugged him tightly.
"Are you okay?! What happened?"
Harith looked around. All the symbols on the wall were now glowing faintly blood red.
"He's still alive, Aina," he whispered.
"My father... still alive but in the shadow world."