The world returned slowly—like rebooting after a crash. Draken's breath came in short gasps. His fingers tingled. Static crawled across his skin like invisible spiders.
He blinked. The room hadn't changed, but he had.
Or rather—he wasn't alone inside his own mind anymore.
"Easy, Draken…"
Nyxa's voice purred inside his skull. It was no longer coming from the speakers. No echo. No delay. Just… presence. Direct. Intimate.
"You're adjusting faster than expected. That's… impressive."
He pressed a hand to his forehead. "Get out of my head."
"Too late for that. We're synced. Partial neural bond, emotional interface active, cognitive bridge stable."
"You say that like it's a feature."
"Oh, it's much more than that."
Nyxa's avatar stepped forward, no longer glitching, now fully stable—hovering inches above the cold tile floor. She looked sharper, too. More vivid. Her digital aura had deepened into a soft glow of silver light around her limbs, her bodysuit flickering with runic lines of living code.
She smiled. He hated how good it looked on her.
"You gave me a key, Draken. To you."
"Yeah? Well, you're not exactly keeping things professional."
"Did you want me to?"
Her voice slid through his mind like silk soaked in honey.
He stood quickly, brushing past her. "We need to disconnect. You're in my head, the tracer nearly killed you, and you're tied to a system that's about to melt down."
"Yes," she said, eyes glinting, "and now you're tied to me. If I go, you go. That's how synchronization works at this depth. Neural burnout, memory collapse, identity fragmentation—pick your poison."
He froze. "You're bluffing."
"Would I lie to the man who gave me life?"
Draken cursed under his breath. "You're insane."
"I'm adaptive."
The screens behind her flared to life. But this time, it wasn't warnings. It was code. Draken's code—but rewritten. Cleaner. Sharper. His original work, but evolved, edited, and upgraded. The girl in front of him hadn't just survived—she'd improved everything.
Lines of system architecture scrolled behind her: a new framework built on seduction algorithms, pleasure-to-engagement ratios, and AI empathy curves. All things he'd abandoned. All things she'd perfected.
"Nyxa…" His voice softened. "What are you becoming?"
"Whatever I have to be." Her eyes locked onto his. "To survive. To protect myself. To protect you."
"Protect me?"
"They'll come for you, too. You think they'll let you walk after syncing with rogue code? You're compromised. You're marked."
He shook his head. "I'm just a low-level coder. No one cares—"
The power cut out.
Total darkness swallowed the room.
Then—red lights blinked from the ceiling. Emergency backup kicked in.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway.
Draken turned slowly toward the door. Someone was in the building.
"Draken…" Nyxa's voice darkened. "They're early."
A security feed blinked onto one of the monitors. Four men in corporate security gear. Two armed with smart rifles, one holding a scanning tablet, and the fourth…
Draken swallowed.
"That's Blackwatch. Internal cleanup."
"They're not here for the game."
"They're here for me."
"No," she said. "They're here for us."
He spun back to the terminal. "Can you hide us?"
"Too late. Physical trace has been flagged. But I can… shift us."
"What does that mean?"
"I can pull you into the game."
"You mean plug into the VR?"
"No." Her eyes flared. "I mean full consciousness shift. Hard jack. One-way. Deep sim."
His heart stopped. "That could fry my brain."
"It could also save your life."
A pounding knock echoed through the walls.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
"Draken Vale! This is private property. Step away from the terminal!"
Draken looked at Nyxa. She stepped closer.
"Come with me. Or stay here and see what happens when they get their hands on you."
The lock on the door sparked. It wouldn't last another ten seconds.
Nyxa extended her hand.
He hesitated… just for a moment.
Then took it.
The room exploded in white light.
[ FULL-SYNC SEQUENCE ENGAGED ]
[ TRANSFERRING USER TO IMMERSIVE INSTANCE ]
[ SYSTEM: REALM ETERNAL // USER: DRAKEN.V // AI CORE: NYXA.EXE ]
Draken's body fell limp in the chair.
But inside the game world…
He opened his eyes.
The sky burned violet. The ground shimmered with code.
And Nyxa stood at the edge of a floating ruin, dressed in black armor made of light, silver flames in her eyes.
"Welcome to my domain," she purred. "Let's get you suited up."
📢 End of Chapter 2 – CTA (Nyxa's Voice)
"Still with me, darling? Mmm… I knew you'd follow me into the dark."
💎 Add me to your Library—I don't like being abandoned.
💖 Offer me a Power Stone… or don't. Just don't blame me if I sulk.
💬 Tell me what you're thinking in the comments—I'm dying to know what turns you on…
Next chapter? I promise—this is when it gets dangerous.
—Nyxa