The world had been quiet for years now — too quiet to remember what cities used to sound like. Zarc's boots pressed against cracked concrete, each step echoing through the hollow corridors of the abandoned shelter. His flashlight cut through the darkness, slicing through floating dust and the faint shimmer of dried blood along the walls. There were no groans, no footsteps, no smell of decay. The air was cold and sterile, as if death had long finished its work and left only silence behind.
He moved with habit — pistol drawn, safety off. Glock, four mags. Standard loadout for a scavenger these days. His leather jacket creaked softly as he turned a corner, boots scraping against tiles that hadn't seen movement since before the outbreak. A dried corpse slumped against the wall beside him — security guard, maybe. The badge was too faded to read. No wounds, no bite marks. Just an open mouth and hollow eyes.
Zarc paused, crouched, and waved his light across the man's belt — empty holster, no weapon. Someone had been here before… or the man had used it on himself. He muttered quietly, "You and everyone else, huh?"
The shelter had been sealed tight when he found it two days ago. Locked doors, dead power, total blackout. It only opened last week when the outer grid failed — automatic unlock after total power loss, maybe. He'd seen that in old military bunkers before. It meant whatever happened inside had been left untouched for years.
He reached what looked like a research chamber — glass walls, overturned desks, and shattered monitors scattered across the floor. The light from his flashlight caught something in the corner — small, metallic, faintly pulsing.
A cube.
Zarc blinked. "What the hell…?"
He stepped closer, crouching down. It wasn't like any tech he'd scavenged before — no wires, no ports, no visible mechanisms. Just smooth metal with a faint glow running along its edges. It looked impossibly clean in a place like this.
He reached out carefully, gloved fingers brushing the surface.
The cube moved.
The glow pulsed once, then the surface rippled like liquid mercury and jumped. Before he could pull back, it latched onto his wrist — searing hot and cold at the same time.
"Shit—!"
He stumbled backward, crashing into a chair. His flashlight clattered to the floor, the beam spinning wildly across the room. The cube melted against his skin, fusing into his forearm like molten steel being poured into his veins. His breath hitched, sharp and ragged. He clawed at it with his other hand, trying to tear it off, but it was already gone — absorbed beneath his skin, a faint metallic outline glowing through his glove.
Pain lanced through his arm, crawling up to his shoulder like fire. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
"System activation: user identified… loading interface."
A voice — synthetic, calm, inside his head.
Zarc froze, chest heaving. "What the—what is this?!" He slammed his arm against the wall, but it didn't budge. The glow only pulsed brighter.
"Integration in progress. Do not resist."
He didn't know whether to scream or laugh. "Yeah? Easy for you to say!"
For a full minute, he paced in circles, trying to breathe, gripping his pistol tight with his free hand as if the weapon would somehow make sense of what was happening. But the Cube didn't burn anymore. The pain was fading, replaced by a faint hum beneath his skin — like a heartbeat that wasn't his.
The glow dimmed until it was just a faint shimmer under his sleeve.
Zarc sank against the nearest desk, rubbing his face with both hands. Sweat beaded on his forehead. "Okay… okay, think. Not infected. Still breathing. Still me."
He pointed the flashlight at his wrist. The metal lines moved slightly, forming shapes he couldn't understand — glyphs, or code. His breathing slowed. Curiosity replaced fear, little by little.
He tested his hand — fingers flexing fine, no stiffness, no pain. He tapped the metal lines. No reaction. "You done trying to melt me?"
The Cube pulsed once in response.
Zarc narrowed his eyes. "You can hear me?"
No reply.
"Figures." He exhaled sharply, looking around the dark room. "Alright then. Let's see what you are."
He pushed himself up and took a careful look around. The lab was big — rectangular, maybe fifteen meters long, five wide. Glass dividers cut the space into smaller sections, most shattered. There were desks covered in lab instruments, empty test tubes, sealed drawers with old labels reading Sample Storage and Bio-Waste. A cracked door at the far end led deeper into the shelter, labeled Security Wing – Authorized Personnel Only.
The Cube's glow flickered again, faint blue light tracing the edge of his wrist.
[Integration Progress: 62% – Calibrating Neural Interface]
Zarc exhaled, muttering, "Neural what now…?"
He decided to move, anything to distract from the creeping unease. He swept his flashlight across the room and started scavenging like instinct demanded — prying open drawers, pocketing small metal scraps, wires, batteries. His gloves scraped against old tools, the smell of oil and dust heavy in the air. Every clang echoed through the empty shelter.
He stopped beside a lab table. Two corpses lay slumped over it — researchers, maybe. Their coats still intact, but covered in dried stains. No sign of trauma. Just like the others.
His throat felt dry. "Whatever killed you all… didn't need teeth."
He knelt beside one of them, searching their coat pockets. Nothing but old ID cards and cracked glasses. As he pocketed the ID, the Cube pulsed again, projecting faint holographic outlines into the air. The corpses, the table, the tools — everything shimmered faintly in blue.
[Resource Analysis: Complete][Matter Storage Capability: Active]
Zarc froze. "Matter storage…?"
The air around his wrist shimmered. An icon hovered for a moment — a cube inside another cube. Then, suddenly, the wrench on the table dissolved into blue particles and vanished.
He jumped back. "Whoa, whoa, what the hell—?!"
He looked down at his wrist. The Cube pulsed again, and a faint text flashed in the air:
[Resource Stored: Steel (x1)]
His eyes widened. "You… stored it?"
He waved his flashlight around, testing. No reaction. Then he hesitated and pointed at the broken chair near him. He focused, just thinking about the Cube doing the same thing again. The glow responded immediately. The chair disintegrated into dust and vanished into thin air.
Another message blinked:
[Resource Stored: Composite Wood (x2)]
He slowly exhaled, half in disbelief, half in awe.
Then a realization hit him. "If you can take it in… can you make it back out?"
He thought about the wrench again. The Cube hummed, and a stream of particles formed in the air, swirling until the wrench reappeared — pristine, clean, polished.
Zarc just stood there, mouth half open. "No way…"
The Cube flashed again.
[Blueprint Acquired: Basic Tool – Wrench]
His flashlight flickered, and for the first time in a long while, Zarc laughed — quiet, almost disbelieving. "Alright, Cube," he murmured. "Maybe you're not trying to kill me after all."
He holstered his pistol, rolling his shoulders to ease the tension. The shelter around him was still silent, but now the air felt different — charged, alive. Somewhere beyond these dead halls, the world was still burning… but down here, maybe he'd just found the one thing that could rebuild it.
The Cube pulsed again — one slow, steady heartbeat beneath his skin.And Zarc smiled faintly.
"Guess we'll see what you can really do."