It was summer vacation. Arnivel was living through its quiet, sunny days, occupied with the usual tasks of every year. Around Leo, something had shifted unnoticed—he was seen more frequently with Lina and the school delinquents. Mark, Tyler, and Eva had also begun to hang out with Leo just like before. Only Kai was missing.

​Despite the fact that many things seemed the same, Leo had changed, but no one could say for certain whether it was for better or for worse. He did not do overtly bad things. He was just as polite and helpful. But something was different; back then, he was noisier and showed more emotions. His classmates did not want to look too deeply into it since he wasn't taking any highly bizarre steps, and the villagers simply thought, "The boy is probably just growing up." However, there was one fact: a certain coldness had appeared in his gaze. His appearance had changed as well; Leo's hair seemed to be slowly darkening. The black color did not arrive all at once but rather in sections, half and half; it gave the impression that he was dyeing it, but it was highly unusual.

​While Lina, the villagers, and the students believed that delinquency in Arnivel had decreased, Leo had actually already created a new scheme for criminal activity. For starters, the delinquents were more actively putting pressure on younger students, extorting money from them and terrifying them so they wouldn't tell anyone about it. Leo used Lina to instill fear, since Lina was the daughter of the police chief. Lina herself did not know about any of this; she truly believed that her method of putting the delinquents on the right path was working. Leo's next step was the following: he gave the money stolen from the competition to individuals who had turned into young adults—around 18 to 20 years old—and according to their agreement, they used that money to buy alcohol, cigarettes, and energy drinks, which Leo resold at a much higher price to minors who wished to buy them secretly but were not allowed to purchase them. The profit was divided into three parts: between the adult delinquents, the minor delinquents, and himself. Day by day, Leo's hair darkened, until it became completely black.

​One night, while Leo was deep in thought about what else could be done, it seemed as though a black, shadowy thing emerged from within him—as if it were his own shadow, capable of moving independently. Leo was in shock, but he decided to keep his composure.

"Who are you?"

​"I am your power, your shadow, your only friend, the only one who is always by your side and on your side," the shadow replied.

​"Power? You mean the superpower that I was supposed to have since the day I was born?"

​"Yes."

​"In that case, why weren't you here for all these years?"

​"Your planet and your parents were to blame for all of that; they always treated us cruelly. I had gone into hiding because of them," the shadow began to speak in a pathetic, semi-emotional tone.

​"I always felt that. Since I came to Planet Earth, I feel much stronger," Leo spoke in a dark tone.

​"They kept us locked up, they tortured us," the shadow's voice turned from pathetic into a more aggressive and wicked tone, and it drew closer and closer to Leo until it entered inside him, and now two voices were coming out of Leo's mouth.

​"They caused me pain, they humiliated me, they laughed at whom I was. Everyone must be punished."

***

​A theft took place in the warehouse located near the village administration building. Several documents and gold items had been stolen, which had been kept for a rainy day in case the village faced financial problems. An investigation began.

​At first, they interrogated the employees; one of them was Tyler's uncle, and that was how it became known that among the non-employee people, a few individuals had been near the warehouse, and Tyler was also on that list. The next step was to search those individuals' houses, and the thief was found. The jewelry was discovered at Tyler's place. Everyone was in shock, but since Tyler frequently got into various troubles, there were people who already suspected him of delinquency. His friends, along with Leo, also stood by Tyler's defense, but nothing changed; the adults forbade them from interfering in the matter. Among the stolen items were papers regarding the spring competition, and there were now solid suspicions that Tyler was involved in the theft of that prize money as well. A decision was made for a temporary suspension from school and house arrest.

​It was late at night. Leo was not asleep; the light in the house was on. He was alone, yet there were voices of conversation. A knock came at the door, and silence took over.

He opened the door; Kai was standing on the threshold.

​"Can I... talk to you for a bit?" Kai said in a low, guilty voice.

Leo stepped aside, clearing the path.

There was silence. Kai did not speak for a long time. Then he sat down and, seemingly for the first time, allowed what had accumulated inside him to pour out.

​"When we fought..." he swallowed his spit, "I thought that if I stayed away from you, everything would calm down. But every day was getting worse." He did not dare to raise his eyes. "I am always used to carrying everything alone. I am the oldest at home. I have three little sisters. My mother..." his voice broke, "My mother lost her ability to hear and speak after a car accident. My father... he is a different person outside, and different at home."

​Kai went quiet for a moment. Then he continued.

"When he drinks... I always stand in front of him. So that he doesn't touch my mother and my sisters. Those bruises that they saw at school... they weren't just from competitions and training."

​He took a deep breath.

"That day... when I fought with you... my father had struck my mother in such a way that she couldn't get out of bed for several days. I had gone home late, and I kept thinking—if I had gone earlier, I would have received those blows, not my mother."

​For the first time, Kai raised his eyes and looked at Leo.

"As for you... you appeared in my life, and for the first time, I felt that I could breathe. That there is someone around whom I don't need to pretend to be strong, that I can share, that I can express myself. True, I didn't tell you the details of many things; I was ashamed of my real life, and terrified that you wouldn't hang out with me. But whatever I told you, you listened until the end and did not judge. Your communication and attitude toward me did not change."

​Kai's voice trembled.

"I struck you... and every single day after that, I thought I was a monster. You had saved my life, and I... I almost killed you. Out of shame, I didn't come, even though I wanted us to talk again so much, I missed you. But today... after what happened to Tyler... if I keep silent now as well, I will lose you forever. I don't want to look on from the sidelines, Leo. I want to help you, because to me, you are not simply a friend."

​Leo smiled. A cold smile.

"You have suffered a lot, Kai, but in my life, everything is magnificent."

​Kai became confused; he could see that something was wrong with Leo.

"Join me," Leo said in a calm tone.

​"Join what?"

​Leo's voice changed. He began to recount how he had stolen the money, the illegal buying and selling, putting pressure on the younger ones, using Lina, the second theft that he had pinned on Tyler, and receiving his new power. His eyes were dark, his face foreign.

​"This is my justice, Kai. They have hurt you a lot; I will help you restore justice. Join me, and we can rule—first the village, then more."

​Kai froze.

"This... this isn't you. You are not the Leo I know. You were kind. You..."

​"Being kind is a weakness," Leo whispered.

​Kai drew closer.

"Leo, you are not alone. I am here; your actions have a cause, and it is possible to fix everything. I will help."

​Leo suddenly grabbed his head.

It seemed as though something inside was tearing him apart; two wills were fighting. And then... the light went out. His body turned pitch black; the shadow consumed him. Only his eyes and mouth were white—twisted in a wicked smile.

​"You are a traitor," the voice echoed. "I trusted you."

​Outside, the first rays of the sun were already appearing, but in a single instant, everything turned dark, and the clouds roared. Black, tentacle-like shadows emerged from Leo's body, grabbed Kai, and squeezed him, causing intense pain.

"If you are not with me, then you are against me."

​Kai did not move out of fear; he did not scream, unable to believe what his eyes were seeing.

Leo, using the strength of the tentacles, began to destroy everything that fell under his sight. Rain and a storm began; the villagers were in terror upon seeing the incomprehensible black creature that was tearing everything down and harming people. They decided to flee from Arnivel. The electronics were not working; there was no connection. When they reached the borders, they realized that an invisible thing was not allowing them to exit the village.

***

On Eldras, the news arrived not as a whisper, but as a shockwave. In the council hall, the words echoed that they had long feared to hear.

Kaylith—the heir to the throne—had violated the strictest of the ancient laws of Eldras on a foreign planet: "Any person born and living on Eldras is strictly forbidden from revealing their power and their identity as an individual of another planet in foreign worlds without a grave and verified reason."