Shadows

The light in the old room was barely visible.

A dark silhouette sat in a rocking chair, hunched over a small, jewel-encrusted bone box. The figure's boney fingers traced over the bumps and corners of the knick-knacks in it.

There was a knock on the large wooden door. It was rare to see wooden doors in reality now. Only old buildings that were at least 50 years old would have them.

The figure raised its head to look at the door and Went back to caressing the things in the box.

Someone knocked on the door once more.

The figure laid back on the chair and rocked themselves back and forth, unbothered by the incessant knocking.

The door was pushed open and the figure on the rocking chair waved their hand.

The metal chair near the large bed flew towards the intruder.

The man at the door ducked, his silver hair fluttering in the wind that threw the chair at him.

"Mother, it's me!" the man said as the dressing table flew towards him.

The heavy wooden object stilled in the air.

The man with the silver hair sighed in relief.

The wooden dressing table rushed towards him.

The man raised his hand. Many circles appeared in the air next to his palm, glowing in blue and silver hue.

A wall of ice appeared in front of him, protecting him from the projectile aimed at his head.

The dressing table hit the ice wall and shattered to pieces.

The dark figure on the rocking chair disappeared as the fragments of the broken dresser impaled the place the figure sat at before.

"Weak!" a woman's voice echoed from beside his ear, and then the man with the silver hair fell unconscious.

The woman walked out of the shadows. Her red eyes glittered in the bright light of the room outside and her silver hair bounced as she walked towards her fallen son.

The woman's well-manicured red nails tapped the lid of the bone box in her hand.

The silver-haired man gained consciousness again.

"Was that necessary?" he asked in an aggrieved voice.

"Idiotic child," the woman muttered as she looked at the man. "Little Ru, you better have a good reason for coming to me like this! You know what I'm like during this time!"

"Father is in the hospital," the silver-haired man said with a bowed head.

The woman glared. "You agitated your father so much? Did I not tell you to not disturb him? isn't this why I asked you to make Si Fei search before you approached your father?"

The man looked at her with eyes that were filled with grief.

The woman's heart started to beat faster. She felt panic rise in her." What is it? Is your father not alright?!"

"Yes," the man said in a weak voice.

"What is it then!"

"Sister is…sister is…"

The woman looked at her son who was struggling with words and an ominous thought passed her mind. She shook her head in denial.

"Don't say it," the woman said in distress. "Don't say it!"

"She is no more."

The woman slapped the young man hard, leaving behind a deep gash of a wound on his pale cheeks.

"I told you to not say it!"

The man let out a small sob.

The woman grabbed the man's hand and pulled him into an embrace.

The man broke down.

The woman, Mrs Xiu, stared at the bone box in her hand. "I wanted to show her my collections of bone carvings. I finally learned to do the criss-cross pattern that she used to lovemaking."

The man in her arm had quieted down.

The woman sighed. "What about her daughter and her husband? Are they fine?"

Xiu Ru jerked. He stared at the woman in disbelief. "You…you knew she had a daughter?"

The woman gave him a disdained look. "Of course. My Rui loved me so much, how would she hide this from me?"

"You had contact with sister?"

The woman blinked at the accusation in his voice. "Yes. She would send me a letter every two years to tell me what she was doing and how things were doing. Did you know she named her daughter Xiu? I was so happy when I heard of it!"

"Why didn't you tell me!"

The woman sighed. "Because she asked me not to."

Xiu Ru looked hurt by those words. He was just 8 years of age when his big sister had eloped with that nobody Cheng. Until then, Xiu Rui was the person who looked after him.

She was basically his mother even if she had not birthed him and now, he found out his mother was hiding this from him.

"She used to send those paper letters and made sure to send it in such a way that she wouldn't be easily traced. Your father knew I kept contact with her but that stubborn man! Always asking me to not even mention her name!"

Xiu Ru frowned. "Sister died helping to suppress a Fire attributed terrorist on Earth."

The woman sighed. "It was only now that I worried about her safety. It had been three years and yet her letter never arrived."

"There is still her daughter!"

The woman looked at the man in front of her. She recognized the eerie light in his eyes. "I did not let any of you know about her whereabouts because I wanted her to live the life she wanted, Ru. The same goes for her daughter."

A glint of unwillingness appeared in his eyes. "She is my niece! My big sister's only child! I am meeting the child, mother. Whether you approve of it or not."

The woman sighed, her red eyes holding grief that was far deeper than she allowed it to show. "Go to the western ward and prepare everything. Even if we couldn't see your sister once last time. I still want to say goodbye to her properly. Go."

The man's face became blank. He nodded and left, his tightened fist by the side of his body the only indication of his protest.

The woman traced the patterns of the bone lid. "Rui, if only I could see you once more."

The woman put the box back into the cupboard and lay on the bed.

She hid her face under the pillow and began to cry.

In the far distance, in a small underground lab on Earth, a man in a white lab coat looked through the report charts in his hand.

The two were hidden in an alcove, away from prying eyes.

"Is this true?" he asked. There was a hint of disbelief in his voice.

The blonde woman in front of him smiled. "It's true Joseph. The teacher's Hypothesis is proving true! 65% of the Qiless in the game are showing signs of Awakening after the fifth release!"

The man frowned. "I see. And you are still unable to find where the mainframe server is?"

The woman shrugged. "I didn't really look into that aspect of it! The AI Teacher Qin created is really powerful! To be able to create a scenario where it can stimulate the Qi Centreville to activate! I wonder how it is doing this!"

The man smiled at her. "Why don't you go see if we can track down that AI source and I will analyze how to help these Qiless…sorry, these Qi-Awakened further."

The woman nodded and left, a skip to her steps.

The man watched her go for some time. It was only after even her footsteps disappeared that he moved from his position.

The man tapped the Fold Watch around his wrist.

A call went through.

The ID on the screen said Unknown.

"Yes? a rough voice said from the other side.

"It's happening," Joseph said in distress, his green eyes on the lookout for any eavesdroppers. "Those damned Qiless are awakening!"

The other side went silent. "Get me the names of them."

Joseph hummed and a thought occurred to him. A grin appeared on his face. "Are you going to do what I think you are going to do?"

"Nature has decided what should and shouldn't have powers," the voice said from the other side. "Anything that goes against nature should be disposed of."

Joseph nodded. "Okay then! I'll email the names to you!"

"Good."