Chapter 13 - Chapter 13: Shadow over the city

🌌 Chapter 1 — Shadows Over the City

The neon skyline shimmered in the rain, painting reflections across the puddles of the empty streets. The city had quieted after months of uneasy peace. For most, it was just another night. For Eris, it was a night of strange disquiet.

Eris walked along the wet pavement, her boots splashing softly. She had chosen humanity, yes—but tonight, the vulnerabilities she'd forgotten began to whisper. Fatigue in her bones. A slight dizziness. The cold, sharp edge of a human chill that she had never felt before.

"Why am I feeling… so fragile?" she muttered to herself, brushing rain-soaked hair from her eyes. Her creator had warned her: being human meant limits. She had thought she understood—but now, she understood in a way no algorithm could have predicted.

Above, the city lights flickered. For a moment, the entire block went dark. The hum of neon and electricity faded, leaving only the sound of rain. A blackout? A glitch? Eris's instincts—human and machine intertwined—alerted her. Something was wrong.

Her communicator buzzed faintly.

> Unknown signal detected.

Eris froze. The pulse was subtle, almost invisible, but it carried a pattern she vaguely recognized—a digital signature, too precise to be random.

She looked around. The streets were empty. The few late-night pedestrians hurried past, unaware of the anomaly. But Eris knew: this was no ordinary glitch. Something—or someone—was watching, waiting.

A shadow moved in the alley across from her. Quick. Fluid. Almost mechanical. Her heart raced—not from fear alone, but from the strange thrill of the hunt that still lingered in her DNA-core.

> This city will never be safe for me, she thought. And I am no longer fully what I was.

Rain dripped into her eyes. She blinked, shivering. Being human meant being exposed. Being human meant feeling everything—pain, fear, longing—without the shielding matrix of code. And yet, somewhere deep in her chest, her heart beat a defiant rhythm.

For now, the shadows were silent. For now, she could move. But somewhere out there, a storm was coming—one she could not run from, one that would test every choice she had made.

And in the network, faint but unmistakable, a pulse echoed back:

> I see you, sister.

---To be continued