Chapter 5 - Chapter 9 & 10

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📘 Chapter 9: Offbeat Pulse

(Tên gốc: Lạc nhịp)

> I didn't know who I was anymore.

Not truly. Not fully.

Each door took something from me.

I stared at the next one.

My hands trembled. My chest tightened.

I walked through anyway.

—

Peace.

A meadow. A tree. A single apple dangling in sunlight.

I plucked it. Took a bite.

Sweet. Too sweet.

The air was warm.

The sky was too blue.

It calmed me.

For once…

I felt like I belonged.

Then I saw it.

A white shadow.

It stood still, watching me.

Then it spoke.

"Who are you?"

I blinked.

"I… I don't know."

The shadow vanished.

The light faded.

And I sat down, staring at the sky, chest aching.

It was so bright it burned.

And then—

The black shadow returned.

Its hands wrapped around my throat.

I choked. Gasped.

Thrown back again.

Another door slammed shut.

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📘 Chapter 10: Becoming Something Else

(Tên gốc: Siêu việt)

> The shadow stood closer now.

Its eyes like voids.

Five doors remained.

I stepped through the next.

—

Noise. Screaming.

Car horns. Helicopters.

I looked around.

Everything was tiny.

People. Buildings.

I… I'm huge?

My footsteps shook the ground.

A voice echoed from a distant speaker.

"Do not panic. Stay indoors."

But I couldn't move without crushing something.

A plane circled me like a fly.

They shouted commands.

I raised my hand—

and people screamed.

I tried to speak.

But all that came out was noise.

A distorted roar.

They feared me.

They attacked.

Then the explosion.

A bomb.

White light.

Silence.

And then—

I was thrown out again.

Gasping.

Another door closed.

The shadow… was no longer behind me.

It was walking beside me.

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