Elias lunged for the power button, but his finger passed right through it. He looked down at his real hand. It was no longer flesh. It was translucent, fading into the same sickly green light of the monitor.
The software wasn't a tool to help him see through walls. It was a bridge. And he was being pulled across. X-Ray_PREMIUM (2).exe
Elias leaned in, checking the power cable, when the monitor surged back to life. But it wasn't showing his desktop. It was a live feed of his own room, viewed from the perspective of his webcam, but filtered through a shimmering, translucent lens. Elias lunged for the power button, but his
He hesitated, his cursor hovering over the icon. The “(2)” in the filename bothered him—it suggested a copy, or perhaps a second attempt at something that had failed. But the desire to win, to finally see through the walls that had hidden his enemies for so long, outweighed his caution. He double-clicked. It was translucent, fading into the same sickly
Elias didn't move. He didn't breathe. He kept his eyes fixed on the monitor, watching the thing in the corner. Slowly, the skeletal figure on the screen began to raise a long, spindly arm. It reached toward the Elias on the screen, its bony fingers inches from the back of his glowing neck.
It was taller than a human, its spine curved like a question mark, standing perfectly still.
He froze. In the video, he could see himself, but he was glowing. Beneath his skin, his skeleton was visible in sharp, ivory detail. He watched his own heart beat, a frantic rhythm of shadow and light.