The car hovered six feet above the altar—no wires, no stands, no visible force. It rotated slowly, caught in a magnetic grip powered by something ancient and not entirely mechanical. Its frame was unlike anything Marcel had seen on the streets.
Smooth. Aerodynamic.No exhaust. No rear-view. No doors.
A shape built not for racing… but for vanishing.
RAVYN: "Model match: 97.4% to Vega Phantom Unit. Constructed under classified directive: Project Riftline."
Ayaka froze. "That car's real?"
Marcel didn't answer. His mind raced faster than his engine ever had.
He remembered the late-night arguments.Adrian yelling at someone through a locked door.Blueprints hidden under floorboards.The phrase "Timeframe Offset Drift" scribbled in the margins.
"I thought it was a myth," Marcel muttered. "Something he dreamed up."
Ayaka glanced at him. "Adrian wanted to escape the Syndicate, right? What if this wasn't just a car? What if it was the key to something bigger?"
As they approached, the temperature dropped.
The car pulsed once—softly.
A screen activated on the altar beneath it. Flickering blue light spilled upward.
And then… Adrian's face appeared.
Not live. Not hologram.
A recorded message.
"If you're seeing this, I'm either dead… or worse."
Marcel's heart stopped.
"This is the Vega Phantom Unit. It doesn't race on roads. It races through memory."
Ayaka leaned in. "Wait—what?"
"The Syndicate doesn't just want faster drivers. They want drivers who can rewrite moments. Edit choices. Curve time like corners. The Phantom Unit was the first attempt."
The message glitched, skipped.
"But it needs a core. And not just tech. It needs blood. My blood."
Marcel took a step back.Ravyn buzzed:
"Biometric match confirmed: Marcel Vega. Authorization unlocked."
The car rotated faster.
Steam vented from the altar.
"One shot," the message continued. "One drift through the past. No brakes. No resets."
"If you crash… you don't just die. You never existed."
Marcel looked up at the car.Eyes burning.Hands shaking.
Ayaka whispered, "You don't have to do this."
He clenched his fists. "I already did. Two years ago."
And with that…He stepped onto the platform.