When they reached his room, Slava was still absent-minded. Seeing this, Sasha bitterly smiled.

Paying her no heed, he opened the door and stepped in. When he did, the window that lined the wall facing the door slowly darkened until the light passing through it was almost imperceptible. With the walls starting to glow, the door slowly closed behind him. The desk also lit up, revealing the now slightly colored sketch.

“Ah, I see you’re still obsessed with that dream of yours," Sasha said, nodding towards the desk. "I really wonder what that’s all about,” every time he worked, he would also simultaneously draw. It was a habit he never got rid of.

As she got closer to examine the desk, the monitor lit up. Seeing the strangely shifting object appear in front of her, she froze, exclaiming in surprise: “Holy shit Slava! I didn’t know you were working on the theories of spatial geometry!” Slava was equally shocked.

“I wasn’t, I was actually…” When the shape shifted once more Slava stopped talking noticing his friend’s mesmerized expression.

Intrigued, he leaned in to see what she was so captivated by and that’s when his hand was grabbed. Taking his hand, Sasha swiped it across the shape-shifting figure.

“Give me a second…” she said without letting her eyes shift away as the setup brightened up even more.

Slava nodded. Tucking his hand away from her grasp, he stepped back to lean against the wall. He understood what she was going through, he was even excited to see what she would come up with. The feeling of inspiration. The feeling of holding onto it and making it bloom into something... Greater.

He watched her frantically move her hands, the shapes, the formulas, and the numbers changing with every one of her movements. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but soon enough he was captivated by the sight. They had always worked on different subjects, but at this moment their understandings overlapped. His eyes following her movements, he saw what she didn’t. A spark appeared in between her fingers. He understood it now, the flow of space through itself created different vibrations that would overlap, defining momentum.

As this understanding sank in, the world slowed to a crawl. Slava, realizing what had just happened, focussed back on Sasha’s hands. His vision gradually began to dim, despite that, he could clearly see the purple lights forming around them. Reaching forward, a dark trail was left in his wake. This shade mixed with the faint white sparks dancing around him creating a mesmerizing sight.

When he finally reached her, he tried to grab her shoulder. Against his expectations, a purple spark formed in between them, it slowly expanded until it reached his hand. When it did, his hand twitched and the world snapped back to its normal flow. Before his eyes, Sasha’s figure vanished in a zap of lightning.

The sudden change caught Slava off guard. With nothing to lean on, his hand grabbed onto thin air and he fell face-first onto the ground.

“What the fuck just happened?” said Sasha in a quaking voice. Recovering, he glanced back. Behind him, crouched against the wall, Sasha was shaking. His calm gaze met her shaky blue eyes. Purple sparks still danced around her irises. “That’s what happened earlier, but this…" she paused, grabbing her head, "this was...” Seeing the purple glow coming from her back slowly fading away, Slava finally decided to speak.

“I still don’t know what it is but…" pensively, he grabbed his chin, "Maybe, it’s somehow related to our understanding,” he concluded.

“What? Then why did you stop me?" She said, raising her head. "This…” she paused, biting her lip in regret, “this could’ve been the discovery of a lifetime!” Not bothering to answer, Slava simply pointed at the projection that Sasha was just working on. The projection was distorted and if one looked close enough the outlines of a warning message could be seen.

[Warning! System Abnormality Detected!]

[Scanning…]

Seeing that she’d understood, Slava lightly slammed the curved monitor and in turn, the distortions stopped while the message disappeared. They both stared at each other for a while before Sasha eventually broke the silence.

“I was working on my uncle’s experimental portable spacial refractor earlier and…" recalling the events, she frowned, massaging her temples. "The thing almost blew up in my hands!” She was grinding her teeth so hard that Slava could almost hear it. “I was so close to making it work too." He had heard of those back in the army. They were supposed to be probable alternatives to the beacons. Theoretically, portable versions of the teleportation device shouldn't land into the realm of impossibility, but no one had ever succeeded in bringing that theory into practice. It was already hard enough maintaining the beacons which were stationary. Such a technology would've been useful in the numerous conflicts against The Union. Maybe, just maybe if such a thing existed back then, his sister could've survived. Regardless, Sasha's incident was indeed odd. "Now that I think back on it, was I…” Sasha looked troubled. Thinking about it for a while, he eventually answered.

“Hmm… It’s possible. Something similar also happened to me today during training." Seeing her raise her eyebrows, he continued. "Remember the internal damage on my suit?" She nodded. "Well, apparently I scorched part of it during training," he recalled. "I was fighting a simulated Bàn Shén and…” Realizing the meaning of his words, Slava abruptly stopped himself. Weren’t the Tainted also characterized by mysteriously glowing backs? But then, that meant…

“Wait… You don’t mean that we…” Sasha didn’t want to say it so Slava voiced her thoughts instead. “Seems like this is somehow linked to the Tainted.” Only the tainted could do such things. They could bend the world to their will, turning plausible into possible.

“But how?” Her thoughts spun as the questions pilled up one after another. “What the fuck is going on? I thought that the Tainted were made by The Union. How could we… I mean I guess…” Feeling the weight of the words that she was about to speak, she restrained herself. Sasha was fully aware of Slava’s past. She didn’t know if they could call each other friends, but they were all that they had. And she didn’t want to insult him.

“No, you’re right,” he replied emotionlessly. “Ruling out my past from the equation would be a mistake.” He didn’t remember all of his childhood, for all that he knew, he could’ve been born in a lab.

She knew about his sister and he knew about her mother. In this era where most chased simplicity and comfort, they both chased challenge and adversity. They had only known each other for a few years, but to them, it felt like a decade.

“I think that we should investigate this on our own for now," Slava said, gazing at the waves of people circulating outside. "Controlling whatever this is should be a priority. We wouldn't want this to happen in the open.” He couldn't even imagine the repercussions of their eyes accidentally changing color in public.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she said, standing up. “I’ll have to check through my uncle’s stuff to see if I can find anything related to that scanning business.” Right as she was finishing her sentence, Slava heard the sound of the door unlocking. Looking at Sasha under a now much clearer light, their eyes met and that's when he noticed that one of her eyes still hadn’t completely returned to normal.

"Shit," he murmured under his breath. What should he do, if Kolya noticed this it would become a headache. He had to find a way to hide her. Looking around the room, his eyes landed on the floating projection. It was truly magnificent. Every part of it was twisting and turning, moving with purpose. He couldn't believe he could actually discern the subtle movements that they represented. Shifts, rotations, all spreading from one particle to the next.

Ah, wait what was he thinking, this wasn't the time… He didn't get to finish this thought as the world spun around him and when it stopped, a familiar dimming world presented itself to him. Looking down, he noticed his arms covered in white sparks. Everything was moving slowly, he could see the door handle gradually shifting. Next to it, his reflection was clear.

Contrasting the rest of the blackening world, his figure was vivid. His eyes were glowing, his hair was drifting up, and the sparks surrounding him seemed to congregate around his back where the previously black tattoo was glowing a vivid white.

Stopping himself from being completely immersed in his appearance, he shifted his eyes towards Sasha. Behind her, he noticed the barely opened closet. Seeing this, his eyes twitched. In a swift motion, he moved to grab his friend. This time, when the purple sparks appeared, he pushed through the strange sensation. With purple and white sparks clashing, he swiftly spun her in what looked like an intricate dance. Letting her go, she slowly fell onto the ground, softly rolling under his bed. At the same time, Slava slammed the closet.

When he did, the sparks disappeared, his eyes returned to normal and the light on his back faded away.

In the next moment, the door slammed open and a massive figure with glowing red eyes burst into the room.