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Chapter 3 - CHAPTER 4: The Madness of the Neighbor

The old building where Kelvin lived seemed even quieter than usual. The stairs creaked under his footsteps, as if trying to warn him. But he didn't stop. Not tonight.

Since the bridge, since that smile he had seen in the water, something had broken inside him. He no longer wanted to run away. He wanted to understand. He wanted to know.

He climbed up to the fourth floor, where Mr. Delmas, his neighbor across the hall, lived. A quiet, solitary man, a former philosophy professor, once respected… and now, just another shadow.

Kelvin had recently seen him talking to himself on his balcony, staring into the void, his eyes hollow, as if holding a conversation with an invisible being. And maybe he really was.

He knocked. Once. Twice. The door opened slowly with a creak.

Delmas stood there, in the dim light of his living room. The room was shrouded in semi-darkness, the curtains drawn. He looked like he had lost twenty years in two weeks. His reddened eyes held the trembling look of someone who has stared into the abyss.

"You came..." he whispered.

Kelvin nodded. No explanation was needed. Delmas knew.

"You see it too, don't you? The shadow… It feeds on you?"

Kelvin stepped inside silently. On the walls were scrawled diagrams, incomprehensible phrases, circles, and eyes drawn in charcoal. On the table lay a black notebook. Delmas approached and opened it.

"I observed, I took notes. You need to understand how they work… or they will end up consuming you from the inside."

He handed him a page. On it were words scribbled as if torn from a broken mind:

The Laws of Shadows

The shadow is born from an unresolved mental fracture.

A fear, a guilt, a regret, or a deep trauma. The more the emotion is repressed, the stronger the shadow at its birth.

It feeds on negative thoughts.

Not just yours. Others' as well. Judgments, criticisms, humiliations. Every word becomes a seed the shadow can nurture.

The more you deny it, the more it devours you.

People who fight their shadow by rejecting it go mad. Their reality cracks. They end up seeing their shadow take form in reality… sometimes until death.

The shadow manifests through hallucinations, voices, distortions of the world.

The bigger it grows, the more it alters your perception. It wants you to feel alone. It wants to be your only truth.

It can merge with others' shadows.

If two beings carry similar wounds, their shadows can unite… and create a more terrible, more conscious entity.

Kelvin felt a shiver run down his spine. He now understood better why some places seemed cursed. Why some groups all sank together. Shadows could unite. Strengthen.

Delmas placed a trembling hand on the notebook.

"The shadow is not your enemy, Kelvin. Not at first. It is your mirror. Your scream you never let out. But if you refuse to listen, it will scream for you."

A dull noise echoed through the apartment.

Like a blow against the walls.

Then a second. Closer.

Kelvin stepped back.

"What…?"

Delmas also retreated. He slowly turned his head toward the dark hallway behind the half-open door of his bedroom.

"It's not happy we're talking about it."

A heavy silence. Then a whisper came from the darkness:

"You talk too much, Delmas…"

Kelvin then saw a shape emerge from the room. Floating. Dense. A human silhouette made of black mist, its edges vibrating like a poorly erased memory. Lightless eyes fixed on him.

The shadow's voice resonated, deep and muffled:

"You too, Kelvin... You want to know? Then look closely."

It moved closer, and with a slow gesture, plunged its "hand" into Delmas's chest.

The man screamed, fell to his knees, trembling. Kelvin dared not move.

Then Delmas's voice returned, weak:

"Look at me… but don't look away. Even if it shows you horror… it can do nothing to you if you don't refuse what you are."

The shadow vanished, as if dissipated by that declaration.

Kelvin rushed to Delmas, who was still breathing, but his skin was pale, his eyes half-closed. He handed him the notebook, trembling fingers.

"You must finish what I started... Learn them. Observe them. Maybe… we can still undo them."

Kelvin closed the notebook, his heart heavy.

As he left the apartment, he realized the world had changed on a deeper level than he had imagined.

The coming war would not be fought with weapons.

It would be fought in minds. And every nightmare would be a battlefield.

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