"Light is not always white. Sometimes it shines from the darkest places."
---
Dawn in Perlis is always peaceful. But that morning, the world seemed to have forgotten how to be calm.
The birds were silent. Even the wind was afraid to pass by.
Harith sat on the steps of Tok Halim's house, his right hand still wrapped in a white cloth, the marks of the wound from last night still stinging.
Tok Halim came out from inside, holding an old thermos and two enamel cups.
"Drink this. Lemongrass water mixed with salt. To cool the blood."
Harith greeted slowly.
"Tok…" his voice was hoarse. "What exactly did my father do to get trapped there?"
Tok Halim thought for a long time before answering,
"In the past, your father, Hadami bin Saad, was not a random person. He was the last leader of the Heir of Light. But he made a mistake… he believed that shadows could be tamed."
---
Tok Halim opened an old cupboard in the corner of the house. From inside, he took out a wooden box carved with the sign of an eclipse.
He placed it in front of Harith.
"This is the last legacy he left before he disappeared."
Harith opened it slowly. Inside the box was a metal amulet, and the same black leather book that Tok Halim had shown him last night.
But this time, Harith saw a new engraving on the front cover, the sign of a bloody palm.
"This book cannot be read with the eyes," said Tok Halim.
"Only the blood of the heir can open it."
---
Harith looked at his finger, the wound was still a little wet.
He touched the drop of blood to the surface of the book.
Instantly, the ancient writing on the book's cover began to glow red.
The letters moved on their own, spinning, forming new sentences in a language he didn't know but somehow, he understood.
"Shadows are born from light that deceives itself.
And when light falls in love with darkness, the world will split in two."
Harith breathed heavily.
"Tok… what does that mean?"
Tok Halim bowed, his voice low.
"What I mean is… your father once tried to unite the two worlds. He married a woman from the shadow world."
---
Harith gasped.
"Mom…?"
Tok Halim nodded slowly.
"Mom, you are not fully human, Harith. That is why you are different. That is why your shadow lives. You are a mixed blood between the two worlds."
Harith woke up, his breathing getting heavier.
"So all of this… is it really destined?"
Tok Halim let out a long breath.
"Destiny is just a line. The path you choose. But remember, the longer the shadow is free, the weaker the light in your blood."
---
Harith looked at his hand, the fine veins under his skin began to glow faintly, a golden white color.
"But I don't know how to control this power."
Tok Halim stood up, took the metal amulet from the box earlier, and placed it on Harith's chest.
"This thing is called the Chain of Light.
If you wear it, your shadow cannot touch you without permission. But…"
He paused for a moment.
"…if you wear this chain during an eclipse, your own blood will burn."
Harith gripped the chain tightly.
"Then that's the price to control this power… I'm willing."
Tok Halim smiled thinly.
"It's easy to talk. But when the light burns, even the dark will cry."
---
That night, Harith returned home.
His mother had long passed away, the house was quiet, but the smell of emptiness still clung to the walls.
He looked in the living room mirror, his shadow was still.
For the first time since those strange days… no movement, no smile.
He took the chain, put it around his neck.
In the blink of an eye, the air in the house changed.
A subtle sound began to be heard from the walls like a whisper.
"The chain belongs to your father…"
"He used the chain to lock me up…"
"Now the chain is a bridge between us…"
The shadow on the floor moved on its own.
His smile slowly appeared, but this time his face wasn't Harith's, it was his father's.
"Harith…" the voice was soft but deep, echoing off the wall.
"If you want to know the truth, find me… in a place where there is no light."
---
Harith backed away, but the floor beneath his feet turned black, liquid.
He fell, drowning in his own shadow.
Aina's voice screamed from afar, indistinctly, but he heard her name called.
The last light he saw before the world went completely black, the full moon turned into another eclipse.
---
Harith opened his eyes.
He stood in a strange place where the sky was gray, the ground reflective like glass.
Each step of his reflection moved slower than his body.
The world was silent, but there was an echo from afar like millions of whispering voices:
"Welcome to the Shadow World…"
---
And at that moment Harith realized that he was no longer in the human world.