"Shadows are not just darkness but memories left by light."
---
A long moment, it felt like thousands of years.
When Harith opened his eyes, he felt the ground beneath him not be ground, but a wet, cold glass surface, reflecting shadows from the sunless sky.
Everything here like trees, houses, rocks existed but were black and not solid.
The shadow of the real world.
---
"...Where am I?"
His voice echoed three times, and each echo answered itself.
"...where am I…"
"...I am…"
"...this…"
Harith walked slowly. His steps created black ripples under his feet.
At the far end, he saw a village upside down, hanging in the sky. Its houses were tied with ropes of light and from below it dripped pitch black water, like blood from the sky.
---
Suddenly, the man's voice in his head appeared again.
"You have entered the border, Harith. This Shadow World is not a dream but this is where all sins hide."
"Who are you?!"
"You know who I am. But it's not me you should be afraid of… He already knows you're coming."
---
The sky suddenly trembled.
The shadows on the ground began to come to life, walking without bodies.
They dragged themselves, human-shaped but empty inside.
Their eyes were black holes, and every time they opened their mouths, the sound of human cries came out.
Harith backed away.
He tried to touch the chain around his neck but the chain was boiling hot.
"You shouldn't be wearing that chain here,"
the man's voice trembled in his head,
"In this world, light kills."
---
Harith started to run.
He saw a suspension bridge made of bone and glass, leading to a tall tower in the middle of the dark sky.
At the end of the bridge, there was a girl standing with long hair covering her face, dressed in shabby white.
But strangely, she had no shadow.
"Harith…"
Her voice was soft, but echoed like in water.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Harith stopped, his chest heaving.
"Who are you?"
The girl slowly raised her face to reveal her face like Aina, but her eyes were completely black.
"I'm not her. I'm the reflection of her heart… the one she threw away to stay alive."
---
Harith fell silent.
The girl came closer.
With every step she took, the shadow on the ground disappeared as if sucked into her own feet.
"This world lives from human memories. When someone loses their shadow, the shadow falls here… and turns into a new creature."
Harith swallowed.
"Then… my father?"
"He's in the middle of the tower. But be careful, he no longer belongs to your world."
---
Harith looked far away towards the tower, a tower that seemed to be built from millions of human hands clasped together, spinning towards the sky.
At the top, he saw a pulsating red light, like a giant heart.
Suddenly, the earth trembled.
A scream came from below.
A huge creature over ten meters tall, its body made of black smoke, its eyes glowing blood red emerged from under the glass surface.
"That's the Gatekeeper," the girl said.
"It eats shadows that try to leave this world."
Harith held the chain around his neck, white light blazing from within his body.
"If he comes… I'll fight him."
"You can't use light here."
But it was too late.
Harith raised his hand, light burst out through the creature's chest, but at the same time, the entire world cracked.
The sky split like a mirror that had been smashed.
From the crack, a giant eye opened and looked directly at Harith.
---
"The blood of the heir… has finally returned."
The voice was deep and cold.
Harith looked up and for the first time, he saw his own shadow standing in the sky, smiling… with the same chain around his neck.
But the chain was black.
---
"I am you… but without the light."
"And the world is mine now."
---
Dark.
Harith fell into his own shadow again but this time, there was no floor for him to fall on.
Only his father's voice whispered from far below:
"Harith… don't trust anyone who looks like you."