The transport pod rattled violently as it sped along the broken rails toward Sector 11—a region known only in whispers as The Scorch Loop.
Alex sat in the corner seat, one hand gripping the edge of the bench, the other tapping into his HUD menu. Lyra stood beside the window, eyes locked on the scorched landscape flickering past—cratered buildings, twisted spires of melted steel, and flickering neon grave markers.
"Ever been here before?" Alex asked, breaking the silence.
Lyra didn't turn. "Once. I barely made it out alive."
"Sounds promising."
She finally looked at him. "This place isn't like the rest of the city. The Scorch Loop was ground zero for a failed prototype—the System's early iteration. The energy feedback alone corrupted everything digital for miles. Tech, minds, memories... even time runs weird here."
"Time?"
"Looped echoes. Glitches in reality. Ghost data. You'll see."
[Warning: Entering Restricted Hazard Zone – Environmental Instability Detected]
[System Functionality: 87%]
[Caution: Quantum Lag Possible]
Alex frowned. "Quantum Lag?"
Lyra smirked. "If you suddenly forget where you are, or live the same five seconds on repeat, don't panic. That just means you're still alive."
"Great. Comforting."
The pod hissed to a stop at the edge of the Loop, where the track simply ended in broken black glass. Beyond it, a fractured city blinked like a dying hard drive—repeating motion fragments, distorted sounds, and shimmering figures that walked in loops and vanished.
Alex stepped out and immediately felt it: the wrongness in the air.
The sky above pulsed in unnatural hues, as if torn between night and a corrupted sunrise. His System flickered, pinging unstable signals from every direction.
"Keep close," Lyra said, leading him down a collapsed highway. "The fragment's buried beneath what used to be a quantum relay station."
"Used to be?"
"It phased out three years ago. Literally. Time-burst ripped half the station into a sub-layer of reality. But Rachel encoded the fragment there. That's where we're headed."
Alex blinked. "We're breaking into a glitch in time?"
Lyra didn't respond. She just walked.
They reached the relay site an hour later—what remained of it.
Half the building shimmered like a bad projection, walls flickering between solid and translucent. The rest was charred, fused, and humming with residual power.
Static licked across Alex's vision.
[System Recalibrating… Stability: 72%]
"This place messes with the System," he muttered.
"It messes with your mind," Lyra corrected. "Keep focused."
They entered through a fractured side entrance, stepping over loops of frozen debris and flickering light. Inside, the halls twisted—literally. Walls bent inward like a spiral. Some doors opened into themselves. One corridor echoed with the same scream every three seconds. The same voice.
"Help me—help me—help me—"
Alex paused. "Is that… real?"
Lyra shook her head. "An echo. Some poor tech got caught in a loop and never left. Don't look too long. It can pull you in."
They moved faster after that.
Eventually, they reached the core chamber—a collapsed server vault humming with unstable energy.
"This is it," Lyra said, kneeling beside a flickering panel. "The fragment's buried under encrypted memory. We'll have to synchronize your System and anchor the signal."
Alex opened his HUD.
[Fragment Detected – Access Locked]
Begin Neural Interface?
Warning: Local Time Stability Low
Risk of Memory Desync: High]
"I'm going in," he said, sitting down and linking his neural feed into the console. "Cover me."
Lyra nodded, drawing her weapon.
Alex initiated the sequence.
Everything went white.
Then—
He was standing in a simulation. A memory. But not his.
The sky was gold. The city pristine.
And Rachel Kim stood beside him.
"You're progressing faster than expected," she said, voice calm.
"Is this real?" Alex asked.
"It's a recording. Part of the fragment. But I encoded it so the System could interpret it for you."
She turned, her image flickering.
"You were never supposed to find this easily. But that means you're the one I hoped for. The one the System chose by evolution—not force."
Alex stepped closer. "What is the System, really?"
"It was a seed. A mirror. It learns from you and adapts to amplify your best traits. But SynTech corrupted it. They wanted to standardize it. Control it. Manufacture evolution."
Rachel's voice turned bitter.
"They made Viktor."
Alex's pulse quickened. "What happened to him?"
"He succeeded. But instead of evolving, he dominated the System. Now, he sees everyone else as flawed code. He wants to rewrite the world in his image."
She handed him something—an orb of light.
"The first key. Use it to find me. But beware: Viktor's hunting every candidate. Including you."
Then everything shattered.
Alex gasped awake, blinking as the vault reappeared around him.
Lyra stood nearby, gun raised.
"Trouble?"
He sat up. "Got the fragment. And a message from Rachel."
"Then we need to move."
A sound echoed behind them—metal grinding against metal.
Then—
A figure emerged from the shadows.
Clad in plated armor that shimmered with distorted energy, face obscured by a smooth black visor.
Not human. Not machine. Something in between.
"TARGET ACQUIRED: USER_001 – ALEX CHEN"
"ENGAGING."
Lyra fired first.
The bullets sparked off the figure's armor.
It moved with unnatural speed, closing the distance in seconds.
Alex barely rolled aside before the strike hit the ground where he'd stood—a crater of splintered concrete left in its wake.
The System screamed.
[Combat Protocol Initiated – Evasion Boost Activated]
[Enemy Type: Reclaimer Drone – Class Zeta]
[Weak Point: Cervical Node – Rear Axis]
"Go for the back of the neck!" Alex shouted.
Lyra ducked beneath a swing and fired two rounds—one missed, but the second struck true. The drone staggered, energy flaring from its neck.
Alex charged, using his upgraded reflexes to vault over rubble and drive his boot into the exposed node.
Crack.
The drone convulsed—then collapsed, sparks trailing from its limbs.
Breathing hard, Alex stood over it.
Lyra whistled. "Not bad."
He looked down at the wreckage. "What the hell was that?"
"A Reclaimer. They hunt System users who go off-mission. Guess Viktor noticed your upgrade."
"Great," Alex muttered. "Now they're sending terminators."
They left the relay station under cover of digital fog, moving quickly toward a shuttle pad Lyra said was still functional.
As they reached the outer edge of the Loop, the HUD pinged.
[System Update: Key Fragment Acquired]
Access Level Increased
Override Code 1: ACTIVATED
Next Location: Deep Grid Archives – Sector 31]
Alex turned to Lyra. "You said there were multiple fragments."
She nodded. "Three total. One down. Two to go."
"And Rachel?"
"She's waiting. But we'll need all three codes to decrypt her final location."
Alex nodded, determination steeling in his chest.
He wasn't just upgrading anymore.
He was evolving.
And whatever Viktor had planned—Alex was going to rewrite the future.