Chapter 1: The Blue Light
The scrapyard was a world of its own—a place where everything once useful and important now lay forgotten, surrendered to rust and dust. For Enzo, however, it was the closest thing to home he could imagine. While other teenagers spent their time at parties or chasing likes on social media, he preferred the reassuring sound of metal scraping, the snap of loosened screws, and the faint hum of old machines he brought back to life.
This Saturday was no different. Enzo was crouched in the corner of the workshop, dismantling a 1990s stereo system. It was an old model, with worn buttons and partially corroded wires. He carefully extracted the internal components, sorting those that might still be useful. In front of him, several plastic boxes were meticulously arranged: wires, circuit boards, small motors. Each piece had its place, as if he were a surgeon operating on dying machines.
The scrapyard's owner, Mauricio, barely noticed his presence. A burly man with a gruff voice, Mauricio spent most of his time in a makeshift office, leafing through newspapers or taking calls from clients. For Enzo, this indifference was a relief. It was easier this way: no one questioned him, no one interrupted him.
Enzo had always been a quiet boy. At 17, his slender frame seemed to disappear into the environment around him. He wore a faded black T-shirt, worn-out jeans, and trainers that had seen better days. His thick-framed glasses were perpetually slipping down his nose, and he frequently pushed them back up in an almost reflexive gesture. His shyness was almost tangible, an invisible barrier that kept others at a distance.
At school, Enzo was the kind of student no one noticed. He sat at the back of the classroom, answered teachers' questions in a low voice, and preferred spending his breaks reading about mechanical engineering on his phone. He wasn't popular, nor particularly brilliant. He just existed, leaving no trace, like a shadow among countless others.
But here, in the scrapyard, he was different. It was as if the machines understood him, as if the chaos of broken parts was the only place he truly belonged.
As he sorted through some smaller gears, something caught his attention. A faint, almost imperceptible glow flickered in the corner of the workshop. He frowned, standing up slowly. It wasn't common to find anything like that here—most of the parts were lifeless, drained of energy.
He walked over to the pile of scrap where the light seemed to be coming from. His curiosity, almost childlike, drove him forward. Enzo began pulling away pieces of metal, pushing aside rusty iron plates and tangled cables. The closer he got, the brighter the blue light became, pulsing gently.
"What are you doing?" a voice suddenly broke the silence behind him.
Enzo jumped slightly and turned to see Amanda.
She stood with her hands in her pockets, watching him with an amused smile. Amanda had been his neighbour for as long as he could remember, but unlike Enzo, her presence was impossible to ignore. With curly hair tied in a messy bun and a red hoodie that looked deliberately casual, she always carried a vibrant energy that contrasted with Enzo's stillness.
"You scared me," he said, pushing his glasses up.
"It's not hard to scare you," Amanda replied, folding her arms. "What have you found over there?"
"I'm not sure yet. But… there's something strange here," he said, pointing at the blue glow.
Amanda stepped closer, curious. Together, they worked to uncover the rest of the pile, until they finally revealed what appeared to be the shell of a robot.
It was large, about five feet tall, but dismantled and rusty, as if it had been abandoned for decades. Despite its decrepit state, there was something fascinating about it. The joints resembled human arms, but the intricate details of its gears and metal plates had an unusual, almost organic design.
"That's weird," Amanda murmured, running her hand along the robot's surface. "Where do you think this came from?"
Enzo didn't respond. He was focused on the robot's chest, where the blue glow still pulsed. It was hypnotic, as though the light had its own rhythm, almost like breathing.
"This doesn't look normal, Enzo," Amanda said, taking a step back. "Maybe you should leave it alone."
But he ignored her warning. He pulled a screwdriver from his pocket and began removing the metal plates around the robot's chest.
"You're really going to mess with that?" Amanda asked, crossing her arms.
"It's just a machine," he replied, trying to sound more confident than he felt.
After a few minutes, he managed to extract what seemed to be the robot's core. It was a small metallic object, about the size of a coin, but incredibly intricate. At its centre, the blue light still pulsed. Enzo held it in the palm of his hand, fascinated.
"It looks… alive," Amanda said, her voice tinged with unease.
Enzo didn't answer. He brought the object closer to his face, trying to understand how something so small could emit such energy. That's when everything changed.
The moment the chip touched his forehead, he felt a wave of heat surge through his body. The blue light flashed intensely, momentarily blinding Amanda, and Enzo collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
The Awakening
When Enzo opened his eyes, everything felt wrong.
The headache was almost unbearable, a constant throbbing as though something was pounding against the inside of his skull. He tried to sit up, but the sensation was so intense that he had to close his eyes again.
"Enzo!" Amanda was kneeling beside him, shaking his shoulders. "Are you okay? Say something!"
He tried to respond, but his throat was dry, and the words came out as little more than a whisper.
"My head…" he managed to say, clutching at his temple.
Amanda helped him sit up, her face etched with concern.
"You just passed out! What happened?"
Enzo opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the workshop's light. But something was different. He looked around, confused. The world seemed… sharper. The textures of the floor, the cracks in the walls, even the specks of dust suspended in the air were more vivid than ever before.
"Amanda, I…" he began, but stopped. His own voice seemed to echo in his head, as though amplified.
"What is it?" she asked, leaning closer.
Enzo tried to stand, leaning against the nearest wall for support. That's when he noticed something even stranger. He looked at Amanda and saw numbers and letters floating around her, as though he were reading invisible data.
"I'm… seeing things," he said, his voice trembling.
Amanda frowned.
"Seeing what?"
"Numbers, patterns… I can't explain," he replied, running a hand over his face.
Suddenly, the headache intensified, and he staggered backwards. It felt as if something was trying to invade his mind, yet at the same time, he sensed a surge of energy coursing through his body, awakening senses he'd never experienced before.
"Enzo, you're scaring me!" Amanda exclaimed, grabbing his arm.
He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.
"I… I need to figure out what this is."
His eyes fell on the chip, now lying on the floor beside the dismantled robot. The blue light was still faintly glowing. Amanda followed his gaze and frowned.
"Don't tell me you're going to touch that thing again."
"I have to," he replied, with a determination Amanda rarely saw in him.
As Amanda hesitated to stay, Enzo carefully picked up the chip again. This time, he was more cautious. He knew this was no ordinary piece of machinery. Something inside him told him it was bigger than he could comprehend at that moment.