Zane's mind felt like a foggy abyss. Not the good kind of abyss, like some deep meditation, but the kind where you wake up after a night of mixed signals—half-memories and disjointed thoughts that make you question reality.
"Wait, what happened?" he groaned, trying to piece together his surroundings.
As his eyes cracked open, the first thing he noticed was the absurdly neon glow of the tech in front of him. It wasn't just some random LED lights, either. It was the very core of the Chainbound Protocol—an ominous system that had begun wrapping itself around his consciousness.
Sera?
The voice in his mind answered immediately.
> "Yes, Zane. You're… awake?"
He chuckled weakly. "That's a generous term for it."
Zane's hands trembled as he sat up. He looked around, taking in the expansive landscape. Gone were the friendly streets and quiet corners of their once-safe base. He was inside some kind of alien city—a place that seemed too vast to comprehend, the walls made of shifting holographic architecture. They might as well have been inside a living, breathing organism. It was a place not bound by any logic he understood.
And then there was the question that had been eating away at him: Where's Dex?
"Where's… Dex?" Zane muttered aloud.
> "He's… not far. In fact, he's in his usual mess of trouble."
"Not surprised."
Sure enough, a loud explosion echoed from a distant section of the virtual city. Zane sighed. That's definitely Dex.
Zane stood shakily and adjusted his gear. His fingers brushed against the hilt of a weapon he had never held before, and his eyes narrowed in surprise. A blade. But not just any blade—this was a weapon forged from the same high-tech materials he'd seen in the Chainbound system. It hummed with dangerous potential.
"Well, well," Zane muttered. "Guess I'm a walking weapon now. This'll be fun."
> "Just try not to stab anyone you're supposed to be friends with, please," Sera quipped. "You don't want another 'incident,' do you?"
Zane's face twisted into a smirk. "Oh, I don't know. I've been pretty good at avoiding incidents so far."
With a flick of his wrist, Zane tested the blade. It was light, practically weightless, but sharp. He wasn't sure what it was made of, but he'd seen enough combat in the past few days to know it was dangerous. He felt the subtle hum of energy pulse through his veins, the sensation almost like the weapon was alive.
Suddenly, a burst of laughter rang through the comm system in his ear. It was Dex's voice—distorted, as if he was enjoying a bit too much of the chaos he'd likely caused.
"Zane! Buddy!" Dex's voice crackled. "You won't believe what I've stumbled upon! It's a portal... no, wait, it's not just a portal. It's a goddamn super portal!"
Zane rolled his eyes. "Dex… you better not have activated some doomsday device or something."
> "What do you think I am? A fool?" Dex replied, but Zane could hear the sarcasm in his voice.
Zane rubbed his temples, trying to stifle his annoyance. "Where are you?"
There was another explosion. This time, a chunk of the ceiling nearby cracked open, sending chunks of metal tumbling to the floor. Zane barely managed to dodge one piece, which clattered to the ground behind him with a sharp metallic shriek.
"You know, I should've known better than to ask you," Zane muttered, clenching his fist.
The comms crackled again. "Haha! You love me and you know it. Now get your ass over here before I decide to test how explosive this thing is—oh, wait, I just did."
Zane let out a heavy sigh. "I'll be there. Just… don't blow everything up. Again."
The virtual city around him shuddered, as if it too had heard Dex's chaotic antics. Zane could feel the energy surge through the environment, the space shifting and fluctuating. This wasn't just some standard mission—it was the beginning of a journey far darker than anything they had dealt with in Book 1.
He turned toward the distant explosion, his new blade at the ready, and began walking.
---
Scene Shift: Dex's Antics
Meanwhile, Dex stood in the heart of what could only be described as a mess. The super portal he had accidentally activated was now swirling ominously in the air, and pieces of machinery littered the ground. His armor gleamed under the flickering lights, his face framed by the chaos he had created.
"Oops," Dex chuckled to himself. He had been poking around an ancient device when it suddenly powered up, opening the portal to some unknown location. Of course, he didn't think it was that serious.
"I really need to start reading the fine print on these things," Dex muttered, brushing a strand of his hair out of his face. He was still in his usual cocky, carefree attitude, which was both comforting and terrifying for anyone who had to deal with him.
As the ground trembled, Dex's grin widened. "Zane is gonna love this. And by love, I mean he's probably going to yell at me for about three hours straight."
---
Back to Zane
Zane was making his way to Dex's location, navigating through the shifting landscape of the virtual city. It was like something out of a twisted dream, the architecture constantly changing, the ground shifting beneath his feet. As he approached the epicenter of the chaos, a wall of shimmering energy rose up in front of him.
Sera? Zane called out mentally, feeling the pulse of the city around him.
> "The portal is unstable. Be careful. If you're not careful, it could… well, it could do a lot worse than just blow you up."
Zane grinned. "I've dealt with worse. I've got a blade now. What's the worst that could happen?"
Sera's voice dropped lower. > "Trust me. You don't want to find out."
As if on cue, a group of robotic henchmen, each one more menacing than the last, appeared from the portal's opening. They were armored, equipped with energy blasters, and ready for a fight.
"Well," Zane said to no one in particular. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way."
With a swift motion, he drew the blade and launched himself at the nearest robot, slashing through its armor. The feeling of the blade cutting through the metal was satisfying—too satisfying.
But there were too many of them. Zane couldn't keep up the pace for long.