It was taller than a human, its spine curved like a question mark, standing perfectly still.
On the screen, the figure finally touched his shoulder. Elias felt a coldness so absolute it hurt. The monitor flickered one last time, and the room went dark. When the screen rebooted seconds later, the desk was empty. The only thing left was a new file on the desktop, waiting for the next user: X-Ray_PREMIUM (3).exe. X-Ray_PREMIUM (2).exe
The software wasn't a tool to help him see through walls. It was a bridge. And he was being pulled across. It was taller than a human, its spine
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 monitor flickered one last time, and the room went dark
The installation didn't have a progress bar. Instead, a terminal window opened, scrolling through lines of gibberish code that looked less like programming and more like a sequence of biological data. His monitor hummed at a frequency that made his teeth ache. Then, the screen went black.
Experimentally, he lifted his hand. On the screen, the bones of his fingers moved in perfect synchronization. But then he noticed something else. Behind his chair, in the corner of his room where the shadows were deepest, the X-ray filter showed a second skeleton.
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.