In the hidden corners, where the neon light couldn't reach, dangers always lurked. A pitch-dark alley, where distorted half-human, half-machine figures gathered to trade cracked data chips—perhaps containing stolen memories.
"Need something, kid?"
A voice, raspy and filtered through a metal larynx, echoed from a dark dead end. A mechanical zombie stepped out. Half his face was still flesh, but necrotic, purplish, and ulcerated. The other half was a chaotic mess of solidified molten metal, forming a horrific mask that glittered under the weak neon light. He smiled, revealing sharp steel teeth. The stench of rancid machine oil and rotting flesh was overpowering.
Celeste, who had been captivated by a Dream Speaker, spun around, startled. She didn't scream. Instead, her galaxy eyes widened, the stars within seeming to slow their rotation, focusing on the threat.
"N-no... nothing! I'm just lost." - Her voice wasn't trembling, but became strangely clear and cold, like an echo from a place far away.
Her skin began to glow with a faint violet light. Cracks of light, resembling fissures on the surface of a star about to explode, became increasingly visible on her porcelain skin. Her body didn't cower, but tensed slightly, as if preparing for a transformation. Her fluffy white hair stopped floating, frozen in mid-air, and the tips began to turn a blazing red, like plasma filaments heating up.
The plastic pet-shaped toy robot in her hand began to vibrate and emit a high-frequency screech, causing a nearby neon light to flicker madly.
The zombie hesitated a step. Instinct told him that what stood before him was no ordinary child. But greed and foolishness overpowered him.
"Nice toy," he sniffed with his metal nose, reaching a mechanical claw-handed gripper towards the robot. "Let me see it..."
It was at that precise moment...
Teron, crawling on the ceiling, saw the scene. The screen on his face flashed wildly: threat_detected! threat_level: EXTREME!. A sharp, anxious beep erupted, not just because Celeste was in danger, but because he sensed a terrifying energy awakening within her—something that could swallow this entire alley whole.
BIP.
Suddenly, a ceiling panel right above the zombie's head, its screws loosened, fell and crashed down right next to him, making him jump back and forcing him to withdraw his hand.
"What the hell?!" he roared, looking up at the ceiling, but Teron had already vanished.
The interruption was enough for Ember to arrive like a storm, a large wrench in her hand. "Back off. She's with me." - The patience in her eyes and the heat radiating from her right eye, concealed behind a lens, combined with the sight of Celeste's strange state, made the zombie step back. He smirked grimly and then melted back into the darkness.
The moment the threat disappeared, the violet light on Celeste's skin slowly faded. Her hair returned to its white, soft state. She let out a breath, and a wave of hot air emanated from her mouth, slightly warping a nearby piece of sheet metal. She looked at the robot in her hand—now still and no longer glowing—and hugged it to her chest.
"He scared my 'friend'," Celeste whispered to Ember, her voice returning to that of a normal child, but her eyes still held the gloomy light of distant stars. "But I didn't let him hurt my friend. I... held back."
Ember looked at Celeste, then at the warped metal, her heart full of worry. She knew the girl had just suppressed something terrifying. She took Celeste's hand, feeling the unusual warmth still on her skin.
"Let's go home," Ember said, her voice softer than ever. "This place isn't safe for... your 'friend'."
They left quickly, leaving behind the dark alley and a dangerous silence that had just witnessed a disaster narrowly averted.