Cold bled through the stones and into Evan Sharp's spine.
He lays on his side in the alley behind Hook Street Market, squeezed between a stack of broken crates and a wall filmed with oil. The stink of old fish and rust hung thick enough to taste. Farther out, somewhere beyond the mouth of the alley, vendors shouted over each other as dawn bled into gray. Boots clacked. A cartwheel squealed. Life went on.
His life was supposed to be over.
"Should've kept your head down, Sharp," one of the gang boys had said. "Trash don't bargain with the Hook Street Dogs."
They'd laughed. Someone swung a blade. Evan remembered light shearing across steel, a line of fire along his ribs, then darkness with teeth.
And yet—he was breathing.
He rolled to his back. Pain rang all along his body, bright and electric. His fingers found the torn fabric at his side and came away sticky. The cut wasn't deep; more intimidation than execution. They'd planned to string him up later, make a show of it.
A sour laugh scraped his throat. "Lucky," he whispered.
Luck had never once paid his rent. He stared up at a thin slice of sky between leaning roofs and tried to sit up.
Something flickered in the air above him.
[DING]System initializing…Neural link stable.User recognized: Evan Sharp.Compatibility: 100%.Welcome to the Speed System.
The glowing panel wasn't real. Couldn't be. It hung there anyway, crisp and sharp as frost, letters assembled out of pale blue light. Evan squeezed his eyes shut. The panel waited behind his lids like an afterimage.
"Hallucination," he said, and heard how thin he sounded.
Another chime, cleaner, like steel on glass.
Tutorial Quest: Stand.Objective: Rise to your feet.Reward: +10 Speed, Beginner's Chest.Failure: Death.
He stared.
"Stand… or die," Evan muttered. "Cute."
His arms trembled as he planted his palms and pushed. Pain spidered from his ribs; his vision swam. The stone felt like a magnet, his body like iron. The Dogs had done a thorough job—bruises blossomed with every movement, pulsing to the drum of his heart.
He gritted his teeth and kept going.
Knees under hips. Weight forward. One foot found purchase, then the other. Every inch came with its own storm, but the storm had an end. He locked his knees. Air scraped in and out of him like hooked wire. He was standing.
[DING] Quest complete.+10 Speed.You have received: Beginner's Chest.Status Window unlocked.
Warmth flushed down his legs, up his spine, into his shoulders. The heaviness leached out of his muscles like poison drained from a wound. The alley didn't look as tall. The sky looked closer.
Another panel unfurled, columns and numbers clicking into place.
Status — Evan SharpLevel: 1Free Stat Points: 5Strength: 5Vitality: 6Speed:25 (↑)Intelligence: 7Luck: 4Traits: —Skills: —Titles: —
His eyes snagged on the number. Twenty-five. He'd never seen a number that felt like a promise.
"Speed," he said, and the way the word fit his mouth felt right in a way nothing else ever had.
Boots clicked at the alley's mouth.
Evan turned. Three shapes shouldered into the narrow light: the hook-nosed boy everyone called Pike, a broad-shouldered brawler with a chain wrapped around one fist, and a thin kid with a knife and eager eyes. Hook Street Dogs, fresh from a breakfast of swagger and bad decisions.
Pike squinted. "No way," he said. "You should be kissing stone."
"Must've crawled up," Chain-Fist grunted. "We'll put him back."
Knife-Eyes smiled. "Slowly."
The panel's glow faded to the edges of Evan's vision, unobtrusive but there—like a second set of eyes he could turn to when he wanted. His heart skittered, then settled into a hard, steady beat. The three boys started forward. The air between each step stretched. Every heel-drop landed with a soft, separated thud.
The world wasn't slow. He was fast.
New Quest: Escape the Alley.Objective: Outrun your pursuers.Reward: +20 Speed, Skill: Quickstep (F)Failure: Death.
"Run him down," Pike snapped.
Evan didn't wait to be run.
He leaned forward, put one foot ahead of the other, and pushed.
The world jumped.
Wind slid around his shoulders like a second jacket. The ground blurred into strips of gray and shadow. The Dog boys lunged; their lunge looked like a painting. Evan flowed past them, shouldering through a gap between chain and knife that should not have existed. Reflex made Knife-Eyes slash—Evan saw the line the blade would draw and simply wasn't there by the time it arrived.
The mouth of the alley surged toward him. Crates became streaks. The market outside roared like a river he broke through in a single stride.
[DING] Quest complete.+20 Speed.Skill acquired: Quickstep (F) — Convert a stride's push into momentum. Low stamina cost.
He staggered a step as normal motion reclaimed him. The market hit him in a blast of color: awnings flapping, fish on ice, steam curling from dumpling carts. Vendors broke off mid-haggle to shout as he burst past.
"Watch it!"
"Hey!"
Behind him, the Dogs' voices crashed into the light a moment late.
"How—how did he—" Pike's voice cracked. "GO!"
Evan grinned despite the ache. The grin wasn't for Pike. It was for the way the system's warmth coiled in his calves, a clean burn that rewarded movement with more of itself.
He ran.
He wasn't a runner. He'd never had reason to be—on Hook Street, running simply meant you were prey. But the lines his bones drew now felt older than his bad luck. He threaded between baskets and shoulders on instinct, cutting a clean path without quite touching anyone. The market's noise layered itself into a rhythm under his feet.
A stall keeper threw up his hands. "Out of my—"
Micro-Objective: Avoid collision without losing speed.Reward: +1 Speed.
Evan slipped past the man with half a foot-width to spare. The panel chimed in delight. His blood answered.
He reached the end of the market lane. A handcart blocked the narrow exit, piled high with burlap sacks. The gap to its left was too small for a person.
Tip:Quickstep compounds in tight spaces.
He didn't think. He planted his heel and let the push roll. Quickstep caught the force and pressed it forward. His shoulder brushed cloth; the burlap sighed. He was through the gap and into a side street before the cart-man finished swearing.
[DING] +3 Speed (clean execution).
Footfalls pounded behind him. The Dogs were fast in the way boys who spent all day running from responsibility were fast, but the distance between them grew with every stride. Evan's breath hurt less with each inhale. His legs didn't feel like weights; they felt like instruments tuned to a song only he could hear.
A second panel winked into existence at the edge of his vision.
Inventory — Beginner's Chest (unopened)Would you like to open?
"Yes," Evan said under his breath.
The panel slid aside and resolved into five neat icons.
Beginner's Chest opened.• Runner's Wraps (Common) — Cloth hand-wraps; +5 Speed when sprinting.• Focus Band (Common) — Stabilizes vision at speed; +5 to control.• Basic Recovery Draught x2• Passive: Trajectory Hints (Minor) — Faint predictive arcs around moving objects.• Hidden:Title — [Uncatchable I] — You are harder to track by beings below Level 10.
Cloth rasped around his knuckles as he wrapped his hands on the run. He tugged the Focus Band down around his brow. The world's edges sharpened. The tiny bounce that came with each footfall steadied into a clean glide. The alley corners ahead printed faint white arcs where carts would roll; a flock of birds traced thin ghost-lines across the sky that declared where they'd be a heartbeat from now.
He laughed, breath fogging in the cool morning. His body had always felt like a problem he had to work around. Now it was an answer.
The Dogs finally exploded out of the market lane behind him, faces red, breath hot.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Pike roared, as if the word could catch him.
Daily Quest unlocked: Breathe, Endure, Move.Objectives:• Keep moving for 15 minutes.• Endure one pursuit without slowing.• Breathe into rhythm.Rewards: +1 Level, +10 Speed, Minor Cache.
Fifteen minutes. He could do fifteen minutes. He'd had days that lasted years. He pushed harder.
Hook Street gave way to Dock Road. The river threw up a chill the sun hadn't yet tamed. He angled along the cracked pavement, cut through a skeleton of old crates stacked two high, and flowed up a half-collapsed loading ramp without breaking stride. The ramp spat him onto a low roof. Tar cracked under his soles.
He didn't plan to be on a roof. His feet simply made the choice and the system made it right.
A shout from below: "He's on the roofs!"
"Cut him off on River Turn!"
The Dogs split. Good. Splitting meant they wouldn't realize how fast he truly was until they were already late.
He let himself enjoy it.
The first ten minutes taught him the flavor of speed. The next five made it his native tongue. The world raised hurdles; he learned to read them a stride out and choose not to be where they'd fall. A laundry line sketched a bright line across a bare span between buildings; he ducked under it, the cloth whispering across his hair. A flock of pigeons erupted; he let their shockwave pass and took the air where they'd been. A man rolled a barrel out of a cellar; the barrel's path painted itself faintly and he slid his step two inches left.
[DING] Daily Quest complete.+1 Level.+10 Speed.Minor Cache received.
Another panel nudged his focus. The Status numbers adjusted; the free stat points ticked up.
Level: 2Free Stat Points: 5 → 10Speed:55 (↑)
The system waited politely, as if to ask where those points belonged. Evan didn't have to think.
"All into Speed."
Points allocated.Speed:65
Heat flushed his calves. The city contracted.
He made the mistake of looking back.
Pike had somehow gained the mouth of an intersecting lane ahead, chain-boy at his shoulder. They'd guessed his path and taken a shortcut. Pike's grin stretched ugly when he realized Evan had seen him.
He threw a knife.
Time popped.
The knife left Pike's hand with a hard snap. It should have been simply fast. To Evan, it was drunk. The blade's path drew an arrogant white arc across the world. He could see the wobble that would bring it an inch low. He could see the moment the sunlight would strobe along its edge.
Evan leaned his head. The white arc passed where bone would have been. The knife hissed by and bit tar. A dirty thrill ran up his spine. He wasn't prey.
Micro-Objective complete: Evade a projectile without losing speed.+3 Speed.
Chain-boy roared. He swung the chain in a brutal circle and stepped to meet Evan at the gap between buildings.
Evan didn't break stride.
Skill hint: Quickstep stacks.
He planted lightly. The push rolled like a wave from heel to hip to shoulder. His next step hit the roof's edge at the perfect angle. He didn't jump so much as decide to be in the air. The alley below stitched into a single dark line. He cleared it by more than he should have, landed on the far edge, and let the next stride drink his previous momentum.
He was past them. Pike's curse cracked behind him, late and brittle.
[DING] +2 Speed (clean execution).Title Progress — [Uncatchable I]: 40% → 60%.
He could leave it there. Run until they gave up. Run until his legs ran the city dry. Running had always been what Hook Street taught—there were things you cannot beat, only avoid.
But the warmth in his bones felt like more than survival. It felt like a promise he wanted to cash.
"Show me," he said to the air between strides. "What do I look like when I stop running away?"
The system didn't answer with words. It answered with a new panel that hummed under his skin.
Branching Quest: StatementObjective A: Disappear into the city.Reward: +10 Speed, Title progress +20%.Objective B: End the pursuit decisively.Reward:Skill: Burst Step (F), +1 Level, Title progress +40%.Failure (either): Injury.
End it.
He banked left into Narrow Court, a kinked lane where the buildings kissed close and the ground pitched down toward the river. The air there smelled like damp brick and old smoke. Halfway down, a cart lay on its side, a spill of cabbages glowing wet green in the dim.
Evan stopped.
Stopping was almost as shocking as starting had been. His body wanted to flow; the burn in his muscles begged for motion. He let the want coil tighter instead of releasing it. He turned back up the lane.
Pike charged into the top of Narrow Court, chain-boy at his right, knife-eager at his left, all three running full-tilt with the confidence of boys who had never once paid the true price for a mistake.
"Cornered yourself, rat!" Pike crowed.
Evan walked forward. He let them see him. He watched their grins sharpen.
He breathed once, deep and even, and let all the motion he hadn't taken stack inside his bones.
[DING] Skill unlocked — Burst Step (F)Description: Compress momentum into a single stride. Short-range explosive acceleration. High control recommended.
The three Dogs were twenty paces away when Evan moved.
He didn't sprint. He didn't lunge. He stepped.
The world tore.
Color smeared. Stone squealed under the bite of his foot. Air punched out of his lungs and back into them with a cry that wasn't quite a shout. One moment he stood in front of three boys; the next, he was between them.
His hand brushed Pike's shoulder as he passed. Pike spun like someone had cut his strings. Chain-boy swung on empty air; the chain wailed against brick and came back into his own cheek with an ugly sound. Knife-Eyes slashed at where Evan had been and got a face full of cabbage as momentum carried him into the spill.
Evan slid to a stop on dry cobble at the lane's mouth. He blinked. His heart pounded a clean war-drum.
Behind him, all three Dogs stumbled, confused bodies trying to agree with a world that had moved without them.
[DING] Branching Quest: Objective B complete.+1 Level.Skill acquired: Burst Step (F)Title Progress — [Uncatchable I]: 100%Title acquired: [Uncatchable I] — Tracking suppression vs. targets below Level 10 greatly increased.Bonus: +5 Speed.
Evan looked down at his hands. They shook, not with fear, but with the aftershock of acceleration.
"You see that?" Chain-boy whispered, blood on his cheek and awe cracking his voice. "He—he wasn't there—"
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Pike screamed again. The word sounded smaller now.
Evan considered them. He could run. He could fight. Neither felt as necessary as they had five minutes ago.
He settled for a sentence he'd wanted to say his whole life.
"Try to catch me again," he said, voice low and certain, "and you won't like what happens."
He turned away.
Minor Cache opened.Rewards:• Shoelace Charm (Common) — Reduces slippage at speed; minor endurance boost.• +5 Speed• +1 Free Stat Point
Status — Evan SharpLevel: 3Free Stat Points: 11Speed:78 (↑)
"All into Speed," he said without breaking stride.
Speed:89
The number looked ridiculous. The number felt right.
He followed the lane down to the river walk. Water shoved past the piers in brown-tongued slabs. Barge men shouted and threw ropes. He let the noise pass through him. The city felt like a board with lines already sketched out for him to run.
A new panel folded open with quiet ceremony.
Path Unlocked — VelocityTier 0 Perk:Overflow (1%) — Excess motion converts to permanent speed growth. Moving is training.Tier 0 Goal: Maintain a daily movement streak.Tier 1 Requirement: Execute ten Burst Steps without injury.
Overflow. Moving is training. He could feel the truth of it under his skin, that faint hum that had woken the first time he'd stood. He didn't need a gym. He didn't need a teacher. He needed ground and room.
And time.
He had those now.
A faint prickling lifted the hair along his arms. He glanced right.
Down the river walk, framed by a gap between warehouses, a figure watched him from a stack of iron mooring rings. Tall. Coat too long for a dockworker. Not a Dog. Not a guard.
The man tilted his head, as if he liked what he saw.
[DING] Hazard Advisory: A registered ability-user has observed you.Recommendation: Flee, hide, or dominate.
Evan's mouth went dry.
Registered ability-user. The city's real predators didn't wear alley filth. They wore paperwork.
He breathed, and the breath came easy. The panel waited. The river shoved past. The ground under his feet lay open like a promise.
"Try to catch me," Evan said, softer this time, to no one and everyone.
He stepped.
The world stretched.