EPISODE IV
Alex woke up with the unsettling certainty that something—something invisible and silent—was watching him.It wasn't a threatening or scary feeling, but more like a heavy awareness hanging in the stale air of the apartment. He stayed still, eyes half-open, sharpening his hearing. All he could hear was the distant murmur of traffic, the intermittent wail of an ambulance fading away, and the stubborn drip of a leaky faucet, marking time with almost mocking punctuality.
He got up quietly, walking stealthily toward the bathroom.
And there it was.
It wasn't an entity, nor a shadow, nor a presence with clear outlines. It was something far more subtle, more insidious. A floating crack, with the unsettling symmetry of a perfect natural pattern, like a fracture suspended in the air, as if the mirror had shattered inward toward another dimension.
Too perfect.
"Mayuri?" he whispered, his voice edged with confusion. "Did you do this?"
Complete silence.
He went back to his room.
Empty.
He finally found her in the kitchen, bent over the counter, crouching, sniffing a bag of oregano like it was ceremonial incense.
"You woke up," she said without looking at him.
"Yeah. There's a crack glowing faintly in the bathroom. It's strange—looks like a glitch from a sci-fi movie."
Mayuri calmly stood and walked to the bathroom with the solemnity of someone about to cleanse a desecrated place.She stopped in front of the mirror, staring at the crack with a mix of sadness and resignation. A melancholic smile appeared on her lips.
"They're starting," she whispered.
"Starting what?" he asked, crossing his arms, halfway between skepticism and alarm.
"The threads of what I was. What I chased. What I dragged here with me."
Alex frowned, unbelieving.
"I need you to start talking like someone with a medical file, not like a shamanic priestess coming out of a trance."
She extended a finger and gently touched the crack. It didn't break. Instead, it dissolved into a shower of microscopic lights.
Yes. Light. Like it was made of forgotten stardust.
Alex took a step back, mouth agape.
"Okay. That was not normal. That was not science. That was like a Studio Ghibli movie, but multiplied by a psychedelic dream."
Mayuri sighed deeply, as if carrying an invisible burden on her shoulders.
"There's a creature following me. It's neither enemy nor ally. It just… exists. Like an ancient karma. Like an unresolved desire."
"Then why does it leave glowing cracks on my stuff?"
"Because it's trying to remember its form. And it does so through me."
"Mayuri…"
"Yes?"
"Am I in danger?"
She looked at him seriously, choosing her words carefully.
"Not yet."
That answer didn't exactly bring peace.
Later, as they shared breakfast—toast with butter and a rice soup Mayuri insisted on calling "the dawn's nourishment"—Alex couldn't keep his doubts to himself.
"What exactly are you?"
Mayuri took a sip, then wiped her lips with a napkin, with an elegance that seemed from another era. From another world.
"I'm a myth that refuses to fade away. One of the last resurrected."
"Resurrected?"
"Someone prayed. Not to today's gods. But to the old ones. Those who no longer receive offerings. One of them opened a crack. And I fell. Here."
"Someone summoned you through a prayer?"
"I don't know. But we'll find out."
Alex ran his hand over his face and let out a long sigh.
"This is escalating way too fast. I just wanted a roommate with common sense and decent hygiene."
Mayuri threw a cushion at him.
"I have celestial hygiene!"
"And an interdimensional crack in my mirror!"
They both laughed, though their laughter felt more like a defense than genuine joy. Like someone laughing at a funeral, just to keep from breaking down.
Mayuri stared out the window, thoughtful.
"There will be more signs. Some things will break. Others will move. If a cat starts talking to you, ignore it."
"Okay."
"And if in your dreams you see me wielding a giant sword and colossal black wings rooted in a glowing dark sky… close your eyes and don't open them until you wake up."
Alex swallowed hard.
"Why?"
"Because that won't be me."