It was my first glimpse of the Shadow. It bore no resemblance to a human being, and yet, from the start, it reminded me of a person. There was no reason it should have. Its shape and color were difficult to comprehend. It seemed a dark cloud caught in a state of flux between a solid and a vapor. It also appeared to be a part of the surroundings, a dam of some sort on the plasma that continued to flow through my new world. It was painful to behold.

It was watching me.

I got up very slowly and began to back away from it. It shifted as I moved, following me. I couldn’t see its eyes, but I could feel them on me. I didn’t like it. When the concrete walkway came to an end and the asphalt parking lot began, I ran.

It ran after me.