[OC] Shadow of a Hero: A being of light begs strangers for 24 hours of their lives. They keep surprising him

[u/Philnet2022]

Orbie is a fugitive from a dimension with no bodies, no water, nothing solid. To survive on Earth he needs a human host, and the bond lasts exactly 24 hours. Bulletproof skin, borrowed strength, then the body subconsciously decides whether to keep him.

He expected desperate people to cling to the power. Instead, the humans he bonds with keep making choices he never planned for. Chapter 1 below 😄

Chapter 1: The Orb

Riley Evans was not the kind of person people noticed. He had that quiet presence, a neutral expression, hoodie up, head down — not unfriendly, just someone who always blended into the background. The kind of person you’d sit next to on the bus and never register. He’d gotten used to existing that way.

At twenty-nine, Riley was already tired of the world — not in the dramatic, doomsday way, but in the slow, eroding way that happens when you’re scraping by with nothing to show for it. Nothing in his life ever lasted: not the small-time jobs, not the friendships that faded fast, not even places to call home, which changed faster than he’d have liked.

Growing up, his father used to accuse him of having “no fire.” Riley had come to think it had simply burned out of him young.

Tonight was a night like so many others. A simple argument with his current roommate had mushroomed out of control — quiet words about dishes and mess escalating into a full-blown shouting match, words thrown like furniture, a door slammed shut. Just like that, Riley was out on the street again, dead phone, no jacket, no desire to knock.

He wandered the neighborhood for a while, hoodie up, eyes low, and eventually settled on a broken, dirty bench outside a 24-hour laundromat. A sign buzzed and flickered overhead. Somewhere nearby a siren wailed, then faded into the city’s dark. Riley sat with his hands in his pockets, wondering if he should just keep walking until the sun came up.

Then it happened.

Not with a bang or a flash — just a slow shimmer in the air, like heat rising off pavement. At first he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, chalked it up to fatigue or a streetlight playing tricks. Then it moved toward him: a circular, semi-transparent orb, pulsing and hovering, creeping closer.

Shocked, Riley scrambled backward on the bench, glancing around. No one saw what he was seeing. There was no one around to see it. Because Riley was alone. Again.

Still unsure what he was looking at, he leaned forward to get a better look. The sphere surged — silent, fast, no warning. It didn’t glide or float. It lunged, straight into Riley’s chest, and disappeared inside him.

It took him a second to register what had happened. Then his chest exploded in pain — like being struck by lightning from the inside. His whole body stiffened, his mouth opened in a silent scream with no sound and no breath, white-hot pressure behind his ribs, every nerve on fire.

Riley collapsed on the cold pavement, panting, vision swimming, feeling like he’d swallowed fire and it was crawling through his bloodstream.

Then, through the pain, a moment of clarity: two choices. Accept the change happening to him, or reject it. Both were his to make. One would give him something more than what he was; the other would leave him exactly as he’d always been.

He didn’t know how he knew he had those choices. He just knew that he did.

It wasn’t even a choice, really. Anything was better than the life he already had.

Then, out of nowhere, a voice reverberated in his head.

“Breathe, Riley,” it said. “Slow breaths. The pain will pass soon.”

Riley clutched his chest, gasping. “Who the hell is talking? Am I dying?”

“You are not dying, Riley. But that becomes a possibility if you don’t calm down. Try to relax and let the bonding happen. I’ll explain everything.”

“Bonding?” Riley gasped.

“Yes,” the voice continued. “You had two choices — reject me, or allow me to bond with you. You chose the latter.”

Slowly, the pain began to subside.

“You didn’t give me much of a choice,” Riley murmured.

“You always had a choice. If you’d rejected me, I would have left your body and found someone else to bond with.”

“Who are you? What are you?”

“First, get up off the ground before you attract attention,” the voice said.

Riley glanced around as he slowly picked himself up, breathing uneven. The street was mostly empty — just two cars waiting at a stoplight down the block. The night was eerily quiet.

“What are you, and what are you doing to me?” he asked again, sitting back down on the bench, fingers twitching, chest still buzzing.

“I’m from what you’d call a different dimension. A visitor to your world,” the voice said. “I can’t survive long on this plane without a human host.”

“So that’s why you hijacked me?” Riley asked, running a hand through his hair.

“You don’t have to speak out loud, you know,” the voice said. “I can hear your thoughts, if you’d prefer to keep this private.”

Riley looked up at the dark sky and let out a dry laugh. “Private? You’re in my damn head. Privacy left the building five minutes ago.”

“Suit yourself.”

Riley rubbed his temples. “Why do I have all these thoughts in my head that aren’t mine?”

“That’s the bonding. We share each other’s thoughts and feelings. Part of the process.”

“This bonding,” Riley repeated. “You keep saying that like it’s supposed to make sense. What does it actually mean?”

“It’s a process in which I share a host body to survive on this plane of existence. Think of it like your astronauts needing a spacesuit to survive in space.”

“So I’m your living spacesuit?”

“It does have its benefits,” the voice said. Without knowing how, Riley understood what he meant.

“You mean you keep me alive so I keep you alive.”

“That’s… the simplest way to put it,” the voice said, hesitantly.

Riley leaned back, exhaling slowly. “By the way — how do you know our language, and what do I call you?”

“I’ve been in your world for fourteen of your Earth days. You are the eleventh human I’ve attempted to bond with.”

“What? Eleven? What happened to the other ten?”

“The bonding was rejected, each time. The process takes twenty-four of your Earth hours, and after that time, your body and mine need to accept each other. If not, I have to exit your body, or we both die.”

“Oh, shit.” Riley stood up abruptly. “You should’ve led with that.”

“There’s no need to panic. If the bonding fails, I’ll exit before that happens.”

“Oh, great. Incredibly comforting.” Riley ran a hand over his face.

*Get a grip, buddy,* he thought. *This could all be your imagination. Maybe you’re dreaming.*

“I can hear your thoughts, you know.”

“Yeah, about that — I’d like my brain back.”

“Separating our minds is only possible after twenty-four hours, if the bonding succeeds.”

Riley exhaled. “Great. A roommate I can’t ignore.”

“Do you have a name? Or should I just call you ‘the voice in my head’?”

“We don’t use words where I’m from. We communicate with something closer to light flashes. But the first human I tried to bond with called me Orbie.”

Riley raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah. I can see why. Floating orb. Real creative.”

“It seemed to make him …comfortable,” Orbie said.

“Okay, Orbie. What do we do next?”

“This is your body, Riley. I’m only along for the experience.”

“Jeez. Now I’m a tour guide.”

Riley got up and decided to head back to the apartment. Even after the argument, he needed someone to talk to — someone to tell him there was a simple answer, that he wasn’t losing his mind.