It was day twenty-two.
Kai knew because he'd marked the wall again that morning, same as always, even though he'd stopped believing it mattered. He sat beneath the groove he'd carved with Flicker, hollow-eyed and smoke-slicked, when the sound came.
Voices.
Real ones.
Muffled, sharp—arguing.
"I told you. We do it monthly."
"but.. just don't let the kid out"
"were getting him out, if you have a problem you can take it up with the legion"
"ugh fine. Just drop the ladder."
Admin seemed frustrated.
Kai didn't move.
There was a clunk, then a mechanical grind. Moments later, a ladder slammed into the stone floor. He stared at it like it had grown from the ceiling.
Two figures descended.
One was tall and thin, wrapped in a gray biohazard suit with a cracked blue visor. The other—a woman—wore the same uniform, though her mask was bulkier, fitted with a voice box on the throat which had a slice over the neck like the throat was cut. It clicked with each breath. Her eyes behind the visor were sharp, calculating. Unimpressed.
She surveyed the pit, then landed with a soft thud. Her boots disturbed the ash and rot that had settled into the cracks. She took one look at Kai and sighed, long and mechanical.
The voice box crackled. "You must've had fun down here."
Kai didn't answer.
"But it's time to go."
Her partner was already unpacking equipment. A containment box. Seals. Sanitizer. A portable scanner that blinked red when aimed at the corpses. Then she lifted her arm and tapped the wrist panel. With a hiss, something unfolded in the air beside her.
Kai flinched.
The tear widened, like a slow blink, and from it emerged something impossible.
A wraith. Tall and hunched, stitched from bones and shadow. Its spine rattled as it moved. Long fingers trailed the ground, and its head tilted as it surveyed the carnage with a predator's patience. Then it stepped forward.
And began to feed.
It didn't eat in any normal sense. It drifted, brushing over a body—what remained of one—and that body simply ceased to exist. Dissolved. Evaporated. Flesh, hair, organs, muscle—gone. Only inorganic scraps remained. The spirit left behind clean stone and silence.
Kai watched, breath shallow.
The wraith passed inches from him, pausing briefly to examine him. Smoke curled up toward his face, tendrils brushing the bone handle at his belt.
It didn't touch him.
He exhaled.
"Can you climb out?" the woman asked, her tone flat, professional.
Kai swallowed. "...I think so."
"No broken bones?"
"Maybe. Doesn't matter."
"Good." She didn't offer help. Just turned away.
Her voice box clicked again. "Be careful. The ladder's older than you are."
Kai forced himself to his feet. His legs shook. His body screamed. He took one step, then another. Bone dagger still tucked into his belt. Pack of smokes still sealed.
He looked down once, watching the wraith finish dissolving a pile of corpses. There was nothing reverent about it. Just work. Just cleanup.
"You always use that thing?" Kai asked.
"Only when there's meat on the walls," the woman replied, walking toward the far end of the pit. "You qualify."
Kai grunted. "Thanks."
The man didn't speak. He was stacking metal tags into a case, sorting by weight. He didn't look at Kai at all.
Kai climbed slowly. Halfway up, he stopped and looked down at the woman again. "You work for Admin?"
The woman's voice buzzed. "huh that bozo? No I work for the legion we cover all territory we are called the cleaners ."
"oh The legion?."
"They are a group of 7 people who are highly respected, you wouldn't want to fight them that's for sure."
Kai climbed higher. The light got stronger. He could smell rust. Oil. The real world.
His body ached the tong burn on his chest blistering into a black rough patch.
"Why clean it up now?" he asked.
"Routine sweep. Random sector checks. You got lucky."
Kai laughed once. It came out wrong.
At the top of the shaft, he pulled himself over the ledge. The sky was gray. Flat. Industrial. The air was cleaner, but cold. His lungs didn't trust it.
The woman followed him up. The man came last.
She looked at him, visor reflecting his face. "You a Resonant?"
Kai shook his head. "yeah an initiate."
"That's convenient."
They didn't say anything else. The wraith emerged behind them, stretching once, then fading back through the tear. The rip sealed shut.
"you owe us for this" she informed "if you're still alive and we call for you you come. Or I'll let my guardian eat you alive"
Kai froze. But understood
"okay..."
He didn't argue. She pulled open a steel door at the end of a tunnel. Beyond it: the Lawless City. Cracked pavement. Broken lights. Smoke and ruin. Shouting in the distance. Gunfire. Somewhere, someone screamed, but no one stopped it.
Kai stared.
"This is it?" he asked.
She nodded. "You belong to the street now."
The man pressed a button. The door lock hissed.
"Wait," Kai said. "What happens if I get caught?"
"Don't."
"And if I do?"
"Run faster."
She shoved him gently forward.
Kai stepped through the doorway, boots touching dirt that wasn't his prison floor. He turned back once.
"Thanks," he muttered.
The woman paused. Then, with a voice like gravel passed through wires, said:
"Don't thank me, pitboy. You're still alive. That's your debt now."
The door slammed behind him. Locked.
Kai was dumped into the streets.