Veyra City never truly slept.
Even after midnight, the streets remained alive with distant traffic, glowing advertisements, automated vehicles sliding silently between buildings, and the soft mechanical hum of machines hidden beneath the city.
But in one quiet neighborhood, something moved through the darkness.
A figure dressed completely in black slipped between two buildings.
A long black coat covered their body from neck to ankle.
Black gloves covered their hands, and a smooth black mask hid every part of their face.
Even their hair was concealed beneath the hood of the coat.
A black bag hung across one shoulder.
The figure stopped beneath a streetlight.
For a moment, they stood completely still.
Above them, a security camera slowly rotated.
The figure noticed it.
They stepped backward into the darkness.
The camera turned toward them.
The figure waited.
One second.
Two.
Three.
The camera moved away.
The figure immediately crossed the street.
Quickly.
Silently.
Behind a parked vehicle.
Across a narrow walkway.
Through a dark alley.
Then behind another building.
No security guard saw them.
No camera caught a clear image.
They had spent too long studying the neighborhood's security system to make a mistake tonight.
This wasn't a random escape.
There was a reason they had left.
A target.
The figure continued toward the center of Veyra City.
The target was waiting inside the city library.
The library was enormous.
Its old stone walls stood between modern buildings like something from another era.
Tall windows stretched across the upper floors, reflecting the city's lights.
At this hour, it was supposed to be empty.
The figure entered through a side window.
They landed on the floor without making a sound.
No shoes.
Not even a whisper.
The window closed behind them.
The figure slowly looked around.
Rows of bookshelves disappeared into the darkness.
Tables stood abandoned.
Computer terminals had gone into sleep mode.
The only sound was the quiet ticking of an old wall clock.
The figure removed the black bag from their shoulder and placed it beside a bookshelf.
Then they moved.
Slowly.
Carefully.
They weren't searching for a book.
They were searching for someone.
A faint sound came from the second floor.
Crunch.
The figure stopped.
Another sound.
Gulp.
Then silence.
The figure tilted their head.
They followed the noise.
One staircase.
Then another.
The sound became clearer.
Crunch.
Gulp.
Crunch.
The figure reached the second floor.
Behind a row of shelves, they finally saw him.
A man sat on the floor.
His clothes were dirty and torn.
His skin looked unusually pale.
Dark veins crawled along his neck.
Something dark covered his mouth.
Beside him was the body of another human being.
The man was eating.
Not food.
A person.
The figure remained motionless.
The man's head suddenly turned.
His eyes locked onto the mask.
Then he smiled.
"Finally."
The figure stared at him.
The man wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"I was beginning to think you weren't coming."
The figure didn't answer.
"You've been following me for three nights."
His smile widened.
"I could feel you."
The figure slowly raised one hand.
The man noticed.
"You're not going to talk?"
No answer.
"Fine."
He stood.
"Let's play."
A book suddenly ripped from the shelf.
It shot toward the figure like a bullet.
The figure ducked.
The book smashed against the wall behind them.
Before the pieces could fall, another book flew.
The figure twisted sideways.
It passed inches from their head.
Three more books came flying.
The figure sprinted between the shelves.
One book slammed into the shelf beside them.
Another struck the floor.
The third exploded against a pillar.
The man laughed.
"Run!"
A wooden table suddenly lifted from the ground.
The figure looked up.
The table shot toward them.
They jumped.
It passed beneath their feet.
Before they landed, a chair came flying from behind.
The figure twisted in midair.
The chair grazed their shoulder.
They landed hard.
The man raised both hands.
Every loose object in the library began to shake.
Books.
Chairs.
Lamps.
Pieces of wood.
Everything rose into the air.
The figure watched carefully.
They had seen this ability before.
Telekinesis.
The man smiled.
"Welcome to my little playground."
His hands snapped forward.
Everything came crashing toward the figure.
The figure ran.
A chair shattered against the floor behind them.
A lamp flew past their head.
A metal cart spun through the air.
The figure jumped onto a table and used it as a platform, launching themselves toward the next row of shelves.
The man followed their movements with his eyes.
"Good reflexes."
He clenched his fist.
The entire bookshelf beside the figure violently lifted from the floor.
The figure looked up.
The massive shelf began falling.
They rolled away just before it crashed down.
Books exploded across the floor.
Dust filled the air.
The man stepped through it.
"You're fast."
He flicked two fingers.
A metal reading lamp shot toward the figure.
They ducked.
Another object followed.
A chair.
Then a table leg.
The figure blocked the table leg with their forearm.
The impact forced them backward.
The man laughed.
"Not fast enough."
The figure stared at him.
The distance between them mattered.
They could feel something unusual in the air whenever the man used his ability.
A pressure.
A presence.
Something connected to the strange lifeform inside him.
But the figure couldn't simply take his ability.
Watching him wasn't enough.
Being close wasn't enough.
The ability belonged to him.
For now.
The man suddenly disappeared.
The figure's eyes narrowed.
Three identical men appeared between the bookshelves.
All wearing the same torn clothes.
All staring.
The figure stopped.
One of them smiled.
Then all three attacked.
The first came from the left.
The second from the right.
The third charged straight ahead.
The figure blocked the first punch.
Duck.
The second fist passed overhead.
The third man grabbed their coat.
The figure twisted and slammed an elbow into his chest.
Nothing.
The body distorted.
Then disappeared.
Illusion.
The figure immediately turned.
The second man kicked.
They blocked.
The impact pushed them backward.
The first man attacked again.
The figure ducked.
Their fist passed through his body.
Another illusion.
The figure spun.
The third man was gone too.
The real man stood at the other end of the aisle.
Clapping slowly.
"Very good."
He smiled.
"You figured it out."
The figure stared at him.
The man raised his hands.
The library changed.
The shelves seemed to multiply.
The floor stretched endlessly.
Hundreds of identical versions of the man appeared between the aisles.
Some stood still.
Some walked.
Some laughed.
Some whispered.
"Which one is me?"
"Can you tell?"
"Come on."
"Guess."
The figure remained silent.
One version attacked.
The figure dodged.
Another attacked.
They blocked.
A third came from behind.
The figure turned too late.
A fist struck their back.
They crashed into a bookshelf.
Books rained down.
The figure rolled across the floor.
The man appeared above them.
"You can't see through all of them."
He raised his hand.
Every illusion attacked at once.
The figure was surrounded.
Fists.
Kicks.
Movement everywhere.
They blocked one attack.
Another struck their shoulder.
They ducked beneath another.
A fourth hit their ribs.
They fell onto one knee.
The attacks continued.
The figure couldn't tell which one was real by sight alone.
So they stopped relying on sight.
Their fingers slowly touched the floor.
A thin shadow spread beneath their palm.
Then another.
Their own ability.
Shadow manipulation.
The darkness crawled silently across the floor.
The figure closed their eyes.
Every movement above the shadows became a vibration.
A footstep.
A shift.
A sudden change in weight.
The illusions moved.
But the real man disturbed the environment differently.
The figure opened their eyes.
They turned sharply.
The real man stood behind a pillar.
The figure threw a metal object.
The man moved.
The object struck the pillar beside his head.
His expression changed.
"You figured it out."
The figure charged.
The man thrust both hands forward.
A powerful telekinetic force slammed into the figure.
They flew backward.
Their body crashed through a wooden table.
The table shattered beneath them.
The figure rolled across the floor.
The man approached.
"You've learned enough."
He raised one hand.
The figure's body suddenly lifted from the ground.
An invisible grip closed around their throat.
Their feet dangled above the floor.
The man slowly tightened his fingers.
"Tell me who sent you."
The figure grabbed at their throat.
They couldn't breathe.
"Who?"
The invisible pressure increased.
The figure's vision blurred.
"Who sent you?"
The figure struggled.
Their shadow stretched across the floor.
It reached toward the man's feet.
But the distance was too great.
The figure couldn't grab him.
Not yet.
The man smiled.
"You understand now, don't you?"
He tightened the invisible grip.
"Your little shadows won't save you."
The figure's hand trembled.
Then their shadow suddenly stretched farther.
It touched the man's shoe.
The man's smile disappeared.
"What?"
The shadow wrapped around his ankle.
The telekinetic grip weakened.
The figure dropped.
They landed hard on the floor.
They rolled away.
The man ripped the shadow from his leg using telekinesis.
The figure immediately stood.
Both stared at each other.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then the man smiled.
"So that's your ability."
The figure said nothing.
"Shadow manipulation."
He lifted one hand.
"You can't hide forever."
The figure lowered their stance.
The man attacked.
A massive force exploded forward.
The figure moved into the darkness between two shelves.
The telekinetic blast destroyed the shelves.
Wood and books flew everywhere.
The figure emerged from the other side.
They ran along the wall.
The man tracked them.
A table flew.
The figure jumped.
Another came.
They twisted.
A metal chair came from above.
They raised their shadow.
The chair passed through the darkness and crashed behind them.
The man continued attacking.
The figure kept moving.
Neither was giving the other enough time to recover.
The library became a battlefield.
Shelves collapsed.
Books scattered across the floor.
Glass shattered.
Tables overturned.
The walls cracked beneath repeated telekinetic impacts.
The man suddenly created six illusions.
Then twelve.
Then twenty.
They surrounded the figure.
The figure's eyes narrowed.
The illusions charged.
The figure disappeared into the shadows.
The first illusion swung.
Nothing.
The second attacked.
Nothing.
The third turned.
Still nothing.
The real man looked around.
"Where are you?"
The answer came from behind him.
A shadow wrapped around his wrist.
He turned.
The figure appeared.
The man immediately launched a telekinetic strike.
The figure phased backward into the shadows.
The force passed through them.
The figure reappeared.
A kick struck the man's chest.
He staggered.
The figure followed with a punch.
He blocked.
The impact forced him into a bookshelf.
He grabbed the figure's wrist.
"Got you."
.
The man used telekinesis at point-blank range.
The figure was slammed against the wall.
Pain exploded through their back.
The man leaned closer.
"You've been a problem."
The figure stared through the mask.
The man smiled.
"And now you're going to tell me who sent you."
The figure's shadow crawled up the wall.
Then around the man's arm.
He looked down.
"What—?"
The shadow tightened.
The figure pulled.
The man was thrown across the room.
He crashed into a table.
Before he could stand, the figure was already there.
They struck him across the face.
He fell.
The figure grabbed his collar and pulled him up.
The man's eyes flashed.
A telekinetic blast exploded between them.
The figure flew backward.
The man rose.
Both were breathing heavily.
The man's face was bleeding.
The figure's coat was torn.
Neither looked ready to stop.
The man raised both hands.
Every piece of debris in the library lifted.
Hundreds of objects floated around him.
The figure looked up.
The man smiled.
"This ends now."
Everything flew forward.
The figure ran.