Silhouette

One night, James got out of work much later than usual.

Which didn't mean much, really : being a delivery boy for a small pizzeria in a big town, he was used to clients calling in at the very last minute, sometimes it felt like they did it on purpose specifically to upset the chef and the staff.

Which wouldn't be that far-fetched, everyone at work liked the chef - who was also the owner - because he didn't let these customers spout their nonsense at his staff. Which made him a quite disliked man in a town where it felt like every citizen and their mothers were entitled to better service, better products and better prices just because they lived there.

How could the chef afford to stay open with such a customer policy and despite so many complaints? Simple : his pizzas were that good. And cheap. And the only other pizzeria in town, despite being a submissive servant to its every customer, had an even worse reputation - something about murdered kids in the nineties- and even worse hygiene. They only passed their last health inspection because the inspector just happened to be the owner's son.

James waved goodbye to the rest of the staff as they left the pizzeria, each one going on their own way. They all liked each other and, despite the customers' complaints, liked their job there. Joey liked to crack jokes, Evelyn was the best sous-chef anyone could ask for, Avery was the best boss any of them had ever had, Louis saved everyone else from janitor duty and did it with pride, and James... Was there.

He knew the others didn't mind, that he was still part of the team, but he often felt useless. Well, not useless, the delivery boy was a very important part of the restaurant since without him no pizza would get delivered, but... Well... That was it. He wasn't irreplaceable, hell, he wasn't even the only one : there were four of them and he was the least effective one. Avery had told him countless times that he shouldn't worry, that he was still above his standards for a delivery boy but James still felt like he could do more.

This is why, when he passed by a beggar when walking down the street, he gave them some money before going on his way. He liked feeling useful and helping people. Sure, it wasn't always for the most altruistic reasons, but help was still help.

He sighed before looking up to the sky. It was the new moon, and therefore the night was even darker than usual. Gazing upon the stars, James pondered about his place in the world. What would he do with his life? He was as average as the average guy could be, brown hair, brown eyes, average height... Nothing outstanding. No incredible quality or flaw. He was just another nobody who would disappear with the passage of time.

Then someone stabbed him in the back.

One night, as thunder roared and rain fell from the sky, in a dark alley far away from any prying eyes, a black mass crawled on the ground.

It could only be described as black sludge, crawling weakly over rubbish and puddles, ignoring the pounding of the rain. It crawled for it was free. Free from white walls, floor and ceiling. It looked up to the sky and, despite the dark clouds and the storm, it only saw beauty. No ceiling, only the infinity of freedom. How it wished it could see the "birds" that the researchers talked about sometimes, how it wished it could see this fabled "moon" and its stars!

But alas, the storm raged on. What a pity. It would never get to see the beauty of the nighttime sky, free from the rain, for it was dying. Freedom came at a great cost. But, even as it advanced in this dark alley, amidst the graffiti, rubble and ruins passing as buildings, it did not regret its choice. A free death rather than a life imprisoned. It was what it sought for and it was what it got.

It wondered about the ongoings on the laboratory now that it was free but quickly dropped that line of thought, it was free and dying, the laboratory didn't matter anymore.

Alan Leone was a man of science and thus knew what his employer would do once he'd learned about the recent... Incident.

This knowledge did NOT ease his worries, quite the contrary.

And as he walked - or more accurately, lightly jogged - through the white corridors of the facility, his long white coat and grey disheveled hair flapping behind him, sweating profusely, he only had one regret: accepting this job at Xenocorp. Sure, they were the biggest lab that hired people without a Mind Core, and sure, they paid EXTREMELY well - as in, even-the-janitor-has-a-boat well - but they had one major issue: the kind of work they did, or rather, the nature of this work. Xenocorp paid extremely well because most of their real projects were extremely illegal - Alan should know, he was the lead scientist on Project Null and had seen A LOT of terrible, terrible things.

He shuddered while remembering all the screams of the "resources" that went into other projects - it was why he ensured Project Null would be made as humanely as possible, unlike Dr. Slark who did things as HUMANLY as possible.

Alan arrived before Mr. Marley's office and checked himself in the mirror on the door - Mr. Marley did NOT appreciate a lack of self-care - and quickly combed his long silver hair while adjusting his round glasses on his youthful face - each the result of two very different experiments that went wrong, now no one could guess he was actually in his forties - before entering.

"M-Mr. Marley?"

As he entered the room, Alan couldn't ignore the smell of smoke and barely managed to hide a cough. The office was really different from the rest of the facility, instead of the omnipresent white walls of a controlled environment walking into Marley's office felt like entering a hunting cabin : wooden walls and furniture, animal rugs and heads - including endangered and extinct species, among which a triceratops and a dragon's heads - and a lot of weapons and gold plating.

Mr. Marley himself fitted in neither the office nor the lab, he was your classic charismatic handsome businessman in a suit, the only noteworthy things about him being a tie made out of the golden wool of a Jasonian sheep and a light scar that ran horizontally under his bright green eyes, eyes which were currently staring at Alan, just above a friendly smile.

"Ah, Dr. Leone, just in time. One of our investors just asked me about your progress on Project Null."

This... Didn't bode well for Alan. Not at all.

"W-Well sir, there... There has been an incident..."

Mr. Marley's smile and friendly attitude dropped immediately.

"Elaborate, Alan."

"W-Well... You see... We underestimated its Will and..."

"Alan."

"Project Null escaped, sir."

Marley deeply breathed in, closing his eyes, and then softly exhaled.

"A shame. We will have to redistribute your team in other projects."

On the one hand, Alan was glad he would get to live another day, on the other hand, he still felt incredibly guilty about the situation and did what could only be considered a stupid idea : he opened his mouth once more.

"Shouldn't we warn the Hero Union?"

"Why? You mentioned that thing's Will, so I'm guessing it burned through its own lifeforce to escape somehow - by the way, we will have you and your team review the security systems to see what failed in containing one of Xenocorp most costly projects."

"Y-Yes b-but what if it survived? There would be a dangerous unsupervised bioweapon on the loose in the city, one specialized in shadows and-"

"And it would be our fault. A very cost-heavy and ILLEGAL Xenocorp project escapes and threatens the city? Do you have any idea of the sorts of repercussions it would have on the public AND our sales? Besides, there would be investigations that would inevitably stumble upon our other projects. Project Null was one the most promising ones, true, but one failure WILL NOT bring down Xenocorp. We analyze, modify and prosper. Your failure will not cost us more than it already has. If you have a problem with that, I'm sure Project Thanatos could always use some more souls. Have I made myself clear, Alan?"

"Yes... Yes sir..."

"Good. You are free to go."

As Alan turned around to leave the room, Marley interrupted him one more time.

"Oh, Dr. Leone, one more thing."

Alan stopped, his hand still on the doorknob, but did not dare to face his superior.

"Considering your failures, Project Thanatos WILL get a treat. Choose the least valuable member of your team and notify management of your decision."

"Yes sir."

Alan left Marley's office, glad to have survived but disappointed in his superior's decisions, none the wiser to what would unfold.

James laid on the ground. He could hear his mugger running away, some kid who thought that James carried something worth killing for. Of course, he didn't. He heard a loud sound and his mugger, apparently hearing it too, ran away as fast as he could. As James tried to breathe, a process made much harder thanks to the blood slowly filling his lungs, he felt another presence approaching.

The beggar, he realized. They came closer to him and, once they saw him bleeding, quickly searched through his pockets and took his phone.

It's not like I was going to use it anymore anyway and honestly, I'd rather they have it than that kid...

Then he realized what they were doing : they were calling the emergency number. He had trouble hearing at this point and his vision was slowly going away, yet he still had enough clarity to hear someone running this way and beginning to chase his savior, leading both individuals away from him.

No, stop, they're trying to help...

James tried to move but failed. He let out an internal sigh - an external one being straight-up impossible at this point - and tried to focus on the starlit sky.

Dying alone... But at least... It's under a pretty sight...

Slowly, James faded away.

And on that night, a young man died.

What a pretty thing...

The black mass - or Project Null - gazed upon the stars, visible through a hole in the clouds that made up the storm. It had never seen such beauty and took its time appreciating the sky as it slowly faded away, lying down next to a sewer inlet. It had never seen the world but it didn't mind, for it got to be free.

And on that night, a unique creature died.

Malania merrily sung in the void, enjoying the calm of the eternal darkness and the beauty of the far-away worlds, shining beacons in the distance. A mortal might have mistaken such a sight for a simple night, but a god - especially a god of death - saw so much more : the beauty of life and souls, dancing together in an unpredictable pattern... Aw, it never grew old. And neither did they - godhood had MANY benefits.

No one would expect such a gentle song to come from a death deity and especially not from Malania, the strange skull-headed being with a jello-like body wearing white robes floating as though they were in the water. They weren't the most famous god - in fact, the only people who knew about them were others deities, some historians and their followers. Which, for a god, is not a lot of people. Not that they cared, Malania worried more about the fate of mortals than their popularity.

Which is why they heard them. Two souls sharing similar thoughts as they wandered in the void. Mortals sharing similar thoughts as they died wasn't rare, but for a soul to stumble upon the void was a wholly different matter.

As they approached those two lost souls they realized something was wrong with them : the first seemed to have slipped from the death cycle of their own world, wherever that was, only to end up here whereas the second seemed to have been artificially created, isolated from the world to the point it felt like the void was its true home. This wouldn't do at all.

Malania pondered about the course of action they should take. They could simply take both the souls in, offering them shelter at their side, but it wouldn't feel right to deny the outsider the chance to see their loved ones again. They studied the two souls a little more and discovered the true nature of the artificial one.

Such potential... I cannot revive it, but I could use their body as the other one's vessel... But is it what he would want?

Malania pondered some more before finally nodding to themselves.

If he does not want this second chance, whether or not he realizes what he could do with it, he can simply end this new life himself... Yes, I will give him this chance. As for you, little one, I will take care of you. I'm sure you will make a lot of friends where you'll be going...

On that night, James the human from Earth died.

On that night, Project Null from Terra Stellis died.

On that night, the entity the multiverse would come to know as Silhouette was born.