The Nynxreach meeting chamber was circular, windowless, and built for silence. Black walls shimmered faintly with Sovereign veins—glowing silver threads tracing like capillaries across the polished stone, breathing with data. A resonance suppressor hummed above them, low and constant, making the air feel heavier, like the room was listening.
A round table filled the center. Stone-carved, thick and battle-scarred, its surface was etched with overlapping soulprint seals—resonant signatures from past Concord councils. The chairs were unevenly arranged, as if no one wanted to sit too close.
Neo sat stiffly, elbows on the table, fists clenched. Meredith leaned beside him, arms crossed tightly beneath her academy coat. Daniel slouched with his hood drawn low, staring at nothing. Forn sat cross-legged, barefoot in her chair, her whiteboard already on her lap. Mattethis stood behind them—the only one who hadn't taken a seat. Tara stood alone, tablet in hand.
We all sat around the table, Neo thought grimly. Except no one looked like they were here to talk.
Tara began, her voice even but dry. "Kai recently accepted a contract to track down a serial killer. Standard solo mission. He checked in three times. The last message wasn't about the killer. He said he found something."
"A rift," Meredith said quietly.
Tara nodded. "Exactly. He called in about a rift site—said something felt wrong. That was it. Then silence. When we sent a GRARC recon team to the coordinates…"
She paused, lips thinning.
"…We found the stabilizer frame. The rift wasn't active. It had never fully opened. And the code?"
She tapped her tablet.
"Erased. Scrubbed clean. Sovereign can't trace it. It's like the rift never existed."
"This is bullshit," Neo snapped. "We need to know where he is."
Tara's expression remained cool, though a flicker of sympathy passed through her eyes. "If he's not in Greenland, not in North America, and not in the registered Realms…"
She hesitated.
"…Then there's one other place a rogue rift might dump him."
Daniel groaned. "You've got to be kidding."
Meredith's voice sharpened. "You don't mean—"
"The Lawless City," Tara confirmed.
A heavy silence fell.
Forn immediately began writing. She flipped her whiteboard: "That place is real?"
Neo stood, pacing now. "You sent him to investigate a serial killer and didn't even check the coordinates?"
Tara stiffened. "Neo—"
"You were the one who gave him the mission. Now we can't even help him?" He ran a hand through his hair, black strands swaying. "Damnit. I talked to him. The day before. He seemed… calm. And he pushed me away. That's the last thing I saw."
Meredith lowered her gaze.
Daniel swore under his breath.
Forn's board read: "We go in."
Tara shook her head. "We can't. The Lawless City isn't under Concord jurisdiction. If we deploy forces into that zone, we risk igniting every faction inside. The Russians will call it a violation. The CIA might burn their own agents. Cartels will retaliate by killing any Concord-tagged personnel they find. It'll start a war."
"So we do nothing?" Neo spat. "For one person?"
"For one person who walked into a ghost rift alone, with no backup and no oversight," Tara snapped. "If I thought I could send someone, I would."
The tension sat like a storm over the table.
Then Mattethis cleared his throat.
"I have a Black Omen mission in the Lawless City."
Everyone turned.
Mattethis stepped forward. "I can't give you the target. But the mission's real. It starts in five… ten days. If I go early, I can investigate. Quietly. If Kai's there… I'll find him."
Neo blinked. "You're serious? Since when do you work for black omen?"
Matt nodded once. "It was a recent development infact I walked in and grabbed an office and acted like I belonged it was quite funny. But don't worry! I'll bring him back."
Forn held up a new message: "Thank you."
Daniel muttered, "You're either crazy or lying."
"Both," Mattethis replied flatly. "But I don't break promises."
Tara's shoulders eased, just slightly. "Then I'm reauthorizing your mission window. Nothing official. No backup. But if you can locate him…"
"I'll get him out," Matt said.
Neo dropped back into his chair, murmuring, "Tell him he's an idiot when you find him."
Tara nodded and brought up a hologram on the table. A topographical map of the Lawless City unfolded—wide, jagged, layered in strange red light. Tags blinked where Sovereign had partial readings. Most of it was blank.
"This… is the Lawless City."
The image rotated slowly.
"Built as an exile zone for unregistered Resonants and burdened criminals. When the international watchdogs collapsed, it spiraled. Now it's a cesspit."
She pointed across the map.
"The Red Circle Cartel runs the southern sectors. They sell black-market burdens—everything from 'You can't sleep' to 'Your touch is venom.' They auction enslaved Resonants and bind demons into human hosts."
Swipe.
"The Russian Enclave controls the underground. They've turned resonance tech into weaponized drugs. Their enforcers are often children—trained since birth to suppress soulprints and mask spiritual signatures."
Swipe.
"The CIA Node is… complicated. They pose as clans. Manipulate smaller factions. Destabilize from within. And if someone leaks intel to the Concord—"
She gestured across her neck.
"—They vanish."
Swipe.
"The Enforcers are freelancers. They don't swear to anyone. Some are Resonants. Some aren't even human. But they enforce contracts like laws. Reputation is power. Betrayal is death."
The projection shifted upward. A towering spire pierced the clouds.
"And this… is the Soul Tower."
It rose impossibly high—floor after floor, each flickering with different auras, as if every level had its own Realm physics.
"Three hundred and fifty floors. Each one an arena. Survive your floor, you climb. The deeper you go, the more you're worth. They broadcast the fights to the entire Human Realm through hidden black channels."
She swiped down. The tower's base flickered, revealing a tangle of lower tunnels.
"The basements are worse. Slave arenas. Hidden levels where humans, demons, and Resonants are thrown in for bloodsport. People bet burdens, Sovereign contracts… even soul items. It's hell. Televised."
—
Mattethis stepped back as Tara dimmed the map.
"Wait—sorry. Sovereign contracts?" Matt asked, frowning. "What are those?"
Tara didn't look up from her tablet. "Self-inflicted deals. You speak a wish, a vow, or even a desperate thought—and if Sovereign deems it meaningful, it grants power… with conditions."
"Conditions?" Meredith asked.
"A rule. A cost. Something you carry from then on. Some are helpful. Others… aren't."
Daniel leaned forward. "So Sovereign just listens in and hands out curses?"
"It's embedded in your consciousness," Tara said calmly. "Always listening. Always watching. You don't request contracts. You declare them. The system decides if you meant it."
Matt sat back. "That's terrifying."
"Welcome to resonance. Controlled energy," Tara muttered.
Forn slowly wrote: "Why do we allow this?"
"We don't," Tara said. "But Sovereign has limits. The Lawless City is off-grid. Unmapped rift tech. Ghost-classified factions. It survives by making itself too risky to touch."
"And Kai's in that?" Daniel asked.
Neo opened his mouth—but then froze.
His spine jerked once. Then again. His eyes rolled.
"Neo?" Meredith said, standing.
He collapsed.
"Neo!"
Forn leapt up, whiteboard clattering. Daniel moved fast. Matt caught Neo's head before it hit the floor.
Neo's body convulsed—muscles locking, chest spasming. A soft whimper escaped his throat. His eyes flickered, unfocused, as if staring into a different world.
Then—stillness.
Neo gasped and sat up sharply, eyes wide.
Everyone froze.
"…I saw him," Neo whispered. "I saw Kai."
Tara knelt. "What do you mean?"
Neo blinked. "I—I don't know. It was like… a vision. Or an ability. I was older."
He trembled.
"I was with someone. A boy. Waffles. Kai was in a pit—"
He looked up. "He's alive. But broken. Tired."
Daniel frowned. "How the hell—"
"I don't know." Neo swallowed. "Maybe I get time abilities in the future. Maybe this is how it starts. Or maybe it's just…"
He stopped.
He didn't tell them the rest.
Didn't tell them he saw Waffles wiping blood from Kai's neck with reverence. That they were somewhere underground, safe for now, laughing in hushed tones. That Kai was insane. That he and Waffles—who Neo somehow felt bonded to—would visit again soon. That somehow… this moment had already happened. Or would.
He didn't explain the strange calm that followed. Or the way his heartbeat slowed, like Sovereign itself had whispered—
He's not gone.
Instead, Neo stood.
"Matt," he said quietly. "Find him."
Mattethis nodded.
And for the first time, the room felt like it might hold hope.