Chapter 2

It was morning.

Mateo woke up.

It was like a usual school day. Except for the fact that yesterday he nearly died and still felt the 'sensation' of cold darkness seeping deep into his skin.

He shivered. That feeling… Even if it was only a memory… It was unsettling, to say the least.

Izzie walked out of the bathroom. "Good morning, sleepyhead. It's your turn to go to the bathroom."

"Hey, Iz" Mateo was surprised by how static-like his voice had become.

"…" Izzie looked at her brother in surprise. "Woah! What's with the robo-voice? I didn't know you could do that!"

"Yeah…Me neither" The brother sounded a lot less enthusiastic than his sister.

An awkward silence filled the room.

...

Mateo quickly cleansed his throat and sped off to the bathroom, locking the door. "What's wrong with my voice?" He thought to himself. "Doesn't matter. I need to get ready." The boy looked to the mirror, about to brush his teeth, but something felt off.

He kept intensely looking into the mirror until a distorted voice was heard, or that's what he thought it was at least. "Day Terror"

Mateo freaked out, quickly backing away and nearly falling into the bathtub.

He still kept looking into the mirror and someone or rather… something else was looking at him.

The creature's hair was just like his, but tied into a low side ponytail, the splotch was also there, but had a weird glow. And so did the eyes. It's had a sharp smile and it looked like the creature was about to laugh at him. The clothes strangely also looked like his, but more vibrant and oversized, with golden stripes covering the hoodie. White fingerless gloves were something original at least. The horns and wings didn't look like they were his too, but rather one's of a Night terror's. Those were also glowing.

Then he noticed the worst thing: the thing that was on the mirror wasn't just his imagination. It was him. There were glowing lines that gave Mateo the same form of the figure in the mirror. The boy inspected them closer. The lines were like shackles, yet at the same time so freeing… Like this was the REAL Mateo Garcia.

"And that's where it all started" The boy ended his story.

Agent Strick looked dumbfounded "But after you got touched by the Night terror and healed with the Edison ray for first time, none of this should've happened"

"Yet, it did happen"

The inspector sat down in a small corner, looking like she just had a breakdown.

"What's so important about all this? I pushed the thing away for months. Why is it so important now?" The boy moved a little to find a comfortable position.

"Because it seems that the first time you were healed by the Edison ray, it didn't help as much as it was supposed to. That little piece that was left inside your body must've been feeding on your creativity. That might also help explain why you lost your creativity when the blob sacrificed itself. It might've been where the rest of your creativity was stored, as a safe measure. It's like you knew this was going to happen…"

"OK? You weirdo…" Agent Strick made Mateo feel even more uncomfortable when he first woke up.

"Now, the chain that connected the piece might've been reignited, which could also mean that you could turn into a Night terror at any second! Or maybe even a hybrid of a Dream chaser and a Night terror… This has never happened before! Tell the rest of the story right now! It might be a matter of life and death."

"…You definitely seem lost in thought…Well, any who! I'm actually really tired again so… Come back tomorrow…I guess?" The boy immediately passed out on the bed, he seemed to be more comfortable in it now.

"This might turn out worse than we intended…"