The supervisor stopped suddenly.
Kairo froze.
For a terrifying second, the man turned, eyes sweeping the half-lit site. A nearby worker slowed, his frown deepening as his gaze lingered just a moment too long in Kairo's direction.
Kairo's pulse thundered in his ears.
Move. Hide. Now.
He dropped low and slipped behind a stack of wooden pallets just as a flashlight beam cut through the darkness. The white cone of light slid across concrete, crawled up the pallets
and stopped.
Hovering.
A voice called out, sharp and suspicious."Hey! Who's there?"
Kairo's breath locked in his chest. His hands pressed flat against the cold wood, fingers trembling so badly he was afraid the sound alone would give him away.
Seconds stretched.
Then the beam shifted. The footsteps retreated.
"Probably a cat," the worker muttered, walking off.
The light vanished.
Kairo rested against the pallets, legs threatening to give out beneath him. He swallowed hard, chest burning as he forced himself to breathe quietly.
I almost... I almost got caught…
"Ahhh," Veylor sighed contentedly inside his mind. "Fear sharpens the soul. You're doing wonderfully."
Kairo clenched his jaw. This isn't wonderful. This is insane.
Minutes passed. Then more.
He stayed hidden, watching.
The supervisor paced when stressed. Rubbed his temple when annoyed. Barked orders without looking people in the eye. Adjusted his helmet twice before making decisions. Little habits. Human tells.
Kairo memorized them all.
His legs ached from crouching. His back was slick with sweat despite the cold. Every laugh from the workers made him flinch, every sudden movement sent a spike of panic through his chest.
Finally, the air in front of him shimmered.
A translucent notification unfolded in his vision.
OBSERVATION COMPLETE.
Kairo exhaled shakily.
"Good," Veylor murmured. "Now comes the fun part."
Kairo swallowed. "W-what do I do now?"
"Simple."Veylor's tone was almost cheerful. "To activate the cloning ability, all you need to do is touch him."
Kairo stiffened.
"…Touch him?"
"A hand on the shoulder will suffice."
Kairo stared at the supervisor, who was now alone near the site office, flipping through paperwork.
"What, are you crazy?" Kairo hissed under his breath. "That'll definitely get me caught, won't it?!"
Veylor chuckled softly. "Hehe. Relax."
The god's voice lowered, smooth and reassuring in the most unsettling way possible.
"The moment you make contact, he'll lose consciousness. Completely. He'll remain asleep for the entire duration of the cloning ability."
Kairo's stomach twisted. "You mean… I'm knocking him out?"
"Temporarily."A pause."When the ability wears off, he wakes up. A mild headache at most. No permanent harm."
Kairo's hands curled into fists.
"And if someone sees me?"
"Then," Veylor replied lightly, "you'll learn a very important lesson about timing."
Kairo's heart pounded. The supervisor turned, rubbing his temple just like before, and started walking toward the portable office, straight past Kairo's hiding spot.
Too close.
Way too close.
Kairo's instincts screamed at him to stay hidden. To let the man pass. To abandon the task and run.
But the glowing Failure condition burned in his vision.
Lose 3 months of Lifeforce.
His legs felt weak as he stepped out from the shadows.
Just one touch, he told himself. One second.
The supervisor frowned as Kairo approached. "Hey, who are you?"
Kairo raised a trembling hand.
"I...I'm sorry," he stammered, barely loud enough to hear.
His fingers brushed the man's shoulder..
At the same time, a tearing sensation ripped through Kairo's chest.
Pain.
Pressure.
Splitting.
It was pain Kairo had never felt before, it was like someone had grabbed his bones and smashed them apart, then forced them back together wrong. His vision fractured into overlapping images. The world doubled, then tripled, then snapped violently back into place.
Kairo screamed but no sound came out.
His knees buckled. For a heartbeat, he thought he was dying.
Then the pain shifted.
Rearranged.
His skin burned. Muscles pulled tight, then slackened. His jaw cracked audibly, teeth grinding as his face moved. His spine stretched with a nauseating pop. His hands, 'no, his hands' , which thickened, veins rising, fingers rougher, scarred.
Kairo collapsed to the ground, gasping.
When he looked up
The supervisor lay unconscious in front of him.
And when Kairo looked down at himself
He was wearing the same boots.
The same reflective vest.
The same scuffed helmet.
A mirror in the side of a parked truck caught his reflection.
The supervisor stared back.
"No... no no no no" Kairo whispered, clawing at his own face.
The skin was wrong. Older. Rougher. His voice, when he breathed was deeper.
"Ohhhh," Veylor purred. "Beautiful execution. You wear him well."
Kairo's panic returned full force.
"The body!" he hissed. "What do I do with his body?!"
Silence.
Then
"Why don't you figure it out yourself?"Veylor chuckled. "Hehehe."
Kairo's heart slammed against his ribs.
Footsteps echoed nearby.
Voices.
He spun around wildly, eyes darting across the construction site. Floodlights buzzed overhead. Open ground everywhere. Too exposed. Too many angles.
Think. Think. Think.
His gaze locked onto a temporary storage container at the far end of the site one of the metal ones, dented and half-forgotten. A stack of tarps leaned against it.
That's it.
Kairo staggered to the unconscious supervisor, nearly tripping over his new, unfamiliar boots. He grabbed the man under the arms and dragged him across the gravel, every scrape sounding unbearably loud.
"Hey, you good over there, boss?" a worker called out.
Kairo froze.
His heart nearly stopped.
Then, without thinking, he answered.
"Yeah, stop being nosy and get back to work" he said.
The word came out naturally. Too naturally.
The worker nodded and turned away.
Kairo stared after him, shaking.
That was his voice…
Swallowing hard, he finished dragging the body into the container, shoved it behind stacked equipment, and threw a tarp over him. He slammed the door shut just as another group of workers passed by.
Only then did Kairo sag against the metal wall, breath ragged.
"I... I did it," he whispered.
"Of course you did," Veylor said lazily. "Survival instincts. Humans have their uses."
A new system message flickered into view.
CLONING ACTIVE DURATION: 6 Hours warning: Behavioural inconsistency may draw suspicion
Kairo stiffened.
Behavioural… inconsistency?
As if on cue, someone clapped him on the shoulder.
"Boss, the delivery's late again. What do you wanna do?"
Kairo turned slowly.
Three workers stared at him expectantly.
His mind went blank.
He opened his mouth
and said nothing.
The workers exchanged looks.
"…Boss?" one of them repeated, brow furrowing. "You okay? You're acting… different."
A bead of sweat rolled down Kairo's temple.
Inside his mind, Veylor laughed softly.
"Oh dear," the god murmured. "Six hours is a long time to pretend to be someone you're not."