"Sometimes shadows don't disappear, they just wait for us to dare to look back."
---
The sky in the north was fading, as if the world had lost its breath.
Aina crossed the border of the sunless city, a place where every light seemed to be trapped in the air.
She knew this was what the museum painting meant...a place without the sun.
The buildings here were colorless, only black and gray.
The streets were quiet, the streetlights were standing but not on.
Aina's every step echoed for a long time and sometimes she felt her steps echoing from behind.
But when she turned around, there was no one.
---
The Man on the Side of the Road
As the fog began to thicken, Aina saw something in the distance.
A man dressed entirely in dark stood by the side of the road, holding a hat in his hand.
He stood tall, his back to the faint light from afar.
His face was unclear...just a silhouette.
But around them, something strange was happening.
Every cracked mirror, every reflecting window all showed Harith's face.
Aina stopped immediately.
Her breath became short.
"...Harith?"
She walked slowly, but the man began to move away, each step leaving no shadow on the ground.
The people walking across the street did not turn around at all, as if they did not see him.
Aina shouted, "Did you see him?!"
But everyone only smiled with empty smiles, the smiles of a soulless human.
The man dressed in dark stopped at the end of the street.
He did not turn around, only raised his hand and released something small,
which fell to the ground...a black note.
Then, he disappeared into the fog.
---
A Note from the Shadow
Aina ran to get the note.
The paper was cold, wet as if it had just come out of the water.
The writing on it was not in ink but in a faint light.
"Aina.
I am under the light, don't believe them."
Her hands were shaking.
"Harith... are you alive?" she whispered.
But in the air, there was no answer, only the echo of her own footsteps growing farther away.
---
The Stifling World
Night was falling, but there were no stars, no moon.
Only white light drifted across the sky like clouds of glass.
Aina began to run aimlessly.
Every breath felt heavy, as if the air itself was pushing against her chest.
She covered her ears, hearing the voices of people speaking echoing from the building,
but not human language.
Their sounds were flat, layered, like a voice recording played upside down.
"No sin. No shadow. No Harith."
Aina screamed, "Silence!"
And the world suddenly fell silent.
Every light went out at once.
---
The Living Mirror
In the darkness, only one thing still shone... Aina's phone screen.
She had to turn it on to see the way, but the screen began to vibrate on its own.
Lines of interference appeared and in the middle of the black reflection of the screen, a face slowly began to appear.
The face was half human, half shadow.
"Aina..." the voice trembled, as if coming from water.
Tears fell unconsciously.
"Harith?"
The face smiled slightly.
In two seconds, only two words came out before the image disappeared
"I'm back."
The screen went blank.
---
Aina stood in the middle of the quiet street.
There was no wind, no sound.
But on the ground below her, for the first time since the world was born,
her shadow moved on its own, smiling.