Chapter Four: The Stripped Light

The wave drove Bai Shu to the roof's edge. His pleasant expression hardened. He pressed the blank negative into his left eye, and his fractured image repaired itself. “Every time you borrow a power, you surrender another piece of yourself to me,” he said. “Seven years ago you thought forgetting would seal the door. You merely left the key in an empty room.” The distant clock tower rang. A black screen opened behind him. He stepped backward into it. “Go save them. Each rescue will take you farther from who you were.” The tower began to collapse. Daystar bent light into a ramp, and the three of them slid down a falling billboard into the alleys. Once they landed, she turned and embraced Lin Mi. Their outlines were identical, but they did not merge.