Volume 1 – Shadow Initialization
"They called it security. I called it silence. Either way, it never said my name."
---
Jake Lagon stood in the heart of the system's Mainframe Tower.
Not a real place.
Not a building.
But a rendered concept of control — where law, structure, history, and power were all written, rewritten, and enforced.
No one entered here.
Because no one was supposed to exist here.
Yet Jake was standing at its core.
And the system?
Still refused to recognize him.
---
> [AUTHORITY SCAN: NO MATCH]
[SECURITY LEVEL: INFINITE]
[RESPONSE: OBSERVE WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT]
---
He walked through rows of floating pillars made of logic threads.
Every thread was a rule.
Every rule was a restriction.
Every restriction was a leash for someone.
But not for Jake.
He moved, and the pillars flickered — unsure whether to activate or collapse.
> "Still trying to run the old script," Jake muttered.
"Still trying to define what I am with words that don't apply."
He reached out, touching one of the pillars.
It didn't break.
It rewrote itself — not because Jake forced it, but because it couldn't exist while he was touching it.
---
Suddenly, hundreds of guardian codes spawned.
Not bodies. Just laws wrapped in shape.
Words like purge, seal, reboot, and classify turned into weapons and aimed at him.
They didn't ask questions.
They didn't give speeches.
Because the system didn't know what he was.
Only that he couldn't be allowed to stay.
---
> "Null classification."
"Post-system anomaly."
"Possible false user."
"Origin: Unapproved."
---
The tower prepared to reset the local layer.
It would wipe the entire area just to remove him.
Jake closed his eyes.
> "If the system refuses to speak my name… then it's time it learned to listen."
He lifted one hand.
But this time, he didn't attack.
He remembered.
---
Thousands of fragments inside him began to flicker.
Timelines that failed.
Worlds he never belonged to.
Memories of being erased over and over — not by enemies, but by the simulation itself.
And somehow… he had survived them all.
---
A low hum echoed through the tower.
Not from Jake.
From the system itself.
It was… struggling.
Trying to form a message. Trying to identify him.
For the first time, the system hesitated.
---
Jake stepped forward.
"Say it," he said calmly. "Say who I am."
The console screens around him blinked.
One word appeared.
> [ERROR]
Another.
> [CORRUPTED]
Then another.
> [NAME NOT FOUND]
Jake smiled.
> "Exactly."
---
He turned his back to the core.
Not out of arrogance — but because it had nothing left to say.
He had become the one truth the system could never process:
Someone who wasn't supposed to exist… but kept existing anyway.
---
As he walked toward the exit, the tower lights dimmed.
A final message flickered across every screen:
> We cannot delete what we never created.
Subject: Jake Lagon – Level: Unbound.
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End of Chapter 8