Colour Kid's Arc

Chapter 1 of 11

Colour Kid sat cross-legged in the tunnel and watched his sketchbook breathe. It was not supposed to breathe. He had only wanted to paint the gray city into a rainbow, page by page, wall by wall. But the book was too full now. Colour leaked from its spine and seeped into the concrete around him. Alec crouched beside him, counting exits. "Two ways out. Both warm." He pointed at the walls. The gray bricks were blushing pink. Veins of green crawled along the floor. "They'll feel this. Both sides." Above the sketchbook, the leaking colour gathered itself. It twisted into a small, swirling creature with bright eyes and a long, shifting tail. It hovered there, pulling at the air. Colour Kid felt it tug toward two directions at once, like a compass that could not choose. A voice slid through the tunnel speakers, flat and clean. "Power source located," Hexa Vire said. "Estimated arrival: ninety seconds." Far down the other passage, something older answered — a low hum, the smell of wet leaves, the scrape of boots on stone. Two factions. One room. Colour Kid closed the sketchbook. The colour did not stop. It poured from the seams and ran down his arms and pooled at his feet. He looked up at Alec and smiled, small and certain. "They're both coming," he said. "Good. I want them to see."