Chapter One: When the Sun Returned, I Didn't

It wasn't interference. The line moved across the plaza against the direction of every other shadow. It climbed a wall, crossed a fountain, then stopped directly beneath the camera, shaped like a person staring up at the drone. Lu increased altitude. The line stretched after him. Then the diamond ring burst from the moon's edge. Light returned, and the plaza erupted again. Before the streetlamps could go out, color rushed back into the world. People hugged, wept, and raised glasses. Every shadow settled obediently at its owner's feet. Except Lu's. He blamed the platform angle first. He stepped left. Nothing. He raised an arm. Nothing.