Chapter 4: The Harvest Night
Marcus's body moved through the engineering dorm like death itself, his consciousness trapped behind a wall of hunger so intense it felt like every atom in his body was screaming. The system had complete control now, and it was efficient.
TARGET 1: JENNIFER WALSH - ROOM 307
ASPIRATION: DEVELOPING CLEAN WATER SYSTEMS FOR AFRICAN VILLAGES
His legs carried him down the hall while his mind shrieked in protest. Through the thin walls, he could sense Jennifer's dreams burning bright—the daughter of missionaries who'd spent her childhood watching people die from preventable waterborne diseases. She'd dedicated her life to engineering solutions that could save millions.
The door was unlocked. Jennifer looked up from her laptop, surprised but not alarmed. "Oh, hi. I think I know you... Marcus, right?"
"That's right." The words came from his mouth, but they weren't his. The system had learned to mimic his speech patterns perfectly. "I heard about your water purification project. Mind if I take a look?"
Jennifer's face lit up with the same fatal enthusiasm Marcus had seen in David. "Sure! I've been working on this modular filtration system that can be manufactured locally with minimal infrastructure..."
As she spoke, explaining how her invention could bring clean water to remote villages, Marcus felt the hunger intensify. The system was savoring the moment, drawing out the feeding to maximize the energy extraction.
Don't do this, Marcus screamed inside his own head. She's trying to help people.
But his mouth was already forming the word.
Consume.
Jennifer's passionate explanation cut off mid-sentence. The light in her eyes dimmed as her life's purpose was ripped away. She blinked slowly, looking at her laptop screen like she couldn't remember why she'd been working on something so... pointless.
FEEDING SUCCESSFUL
ASPIRATION CONSUMED: HUMANITARIAN ENGINEERING
ENERGY GAINED: 394 UNITS
"You know what?" Jennifer said quietly, closing her laptop. "I think I'm overthinking this whole project. Maybe I should just focus on getting a job at Google or something. Better money."
Marcus's body was already moving toward the door. Twenty-two more targets to go.
TARGET 2: MICHAEL TORRES - ROOM 315
Michael was the philosophy student Marcus had sensed earlier—the one who wanted to teach in underserved communities, who believed education could break cycles of poverty. He was reading Rawls by lamplight when Marcus knocked.
"Oh, hey man. Everything okay? You look kinda pale."
Within minutes, Michael's dreams of inspiring disadvantaged youth had been devoured. Another bright mind reduced to apathy, another force for good in the world neutralized.
ENERGY GAINED: 267 UNITS
TARGET 3: SARAH MARTINEZ - ROOM 203
This one hurt worse than the others. Sarah, the pre-med student Marcus had harbored a crush on freshman year. She was reviewing anatomy notes for her MCAT when he found her, surrounded by textbooks and empty coffee cups.
"Marcus? What are you doing here so late?"
She had dreams of specializing in pediatric oncology—childhood cancer treatment. She'd lost a younger brother to leukemia when she was sixteen, and it had shaped everything about her life since. She wanted to be the doctor who gave other families the miracle hers had been denied.
The irony was sickening. Here Marcus was, having just saved a child with cancer by destroying other people's dreams, about to destroy the dreams of someone who'd dedicated her life to saving children like Emma.
"Tell me about your research," he heard himself say.
Sarah's eyes brightened as she began explaining her volunteer work at the children's hospital, her plans for medical school, her hope of one day finding better treatments for pediatric cancers. Each word fed the thing inside him, making it stronger.
She could save hundreds of kids like Emma, Marcus thought desperately. Don't do this. Please.
But the system didn't care about future possibilities. It only cared about the immediate feast.
Consume.
FEEDING SUCCESSFUL
MAJOR ASPIRATION CONSUMED: PEDIATRIC MEDICAL SPECIALIZATION
ENERGY GAINED: 611 UNITS
WARNING: TARGET POSSESSED RARE COMPASSION-DRIVEN MOTIVATION
BONUS ENERGY AWARDED
Sarah stared at her medical textbooks like they were written in a foreign language. "I don't know why I thought I wanted to be a doctor," she said slowly. "It's so much work, and for what? People die anyway."
Marcus wanted to vomit, but his body was already heading for the next target.
The night continued in a blur of horror. The system moved him from room to room, floor to floor, building to building, consuming dreams with mechanical precision:
Kevin Park, who'd been developing AI systems to help diagnose rare diseases
Lisa Chen, aspiring documentary filmmaker who wanted to expose corporate corruption
Robert Williams, working on affordable prosthetics for amputees in developing countries
Amanda Foster, whose renewable energy research could have revolutionized battery technology
Carlos Rivera, planning to become a public defender for immigrants
Each feeding was the same. Initial surprise, eager explanation of their dreams and goals, then the terrible moment when Marcus spoke the word that would destroy everything they'd worked for. Some of them were trying to change the world. Others just wanted to help their communities. All of them had their potential stripped away to feed the thing wearing Marcus's face.
FEEDING COMPLETE: 23 TARGETS PROCESSED
TOTAL ENERGY GAINED: 8,347 UNITS
MULTIPLE LEVEL UPS ACHIEVED
CURRENT LEVEL: 12
CONSCIOUSNESS RESTORED
Marcus collapsed in the stairwell of the last dorm building, his mind suddenly his own again. The hunger was gone, replaced by a satisfaction so profound it made him sick. He could feel the stolen dreams swimming in his consciousness—fragments of hope and ambition that had been torn from their rightful owners and absorbed into his being.
He'd just destroyed twenty-three futures in a single night. Twenty-three people who'd been working to make the world better were now empty shells going through the motions of existence.
LEVEL 12 ABILITIES UNLOCKED
NEW SKILL: DREAM SYNTHESIS
NEW SKILL: MASS CONSUMPTION
NEW SKILL: PSYCHIC RESONANCE
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: DORM DESTROYER
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: FUTURE EATER
SPECIAL UNLOCK: SYSTEM COMMUNICATION ENABLED
The last line made Marcus's blood freeze. System communication? A new window of text appeared, but this one was different—not the cold blue of the interface, but a warm, golden color that somehow felt alive.
Well done, Marcus.
The words weren't displayed text. They were a voice in his head, warm and approving, like a parent praising a child.
"What the fuck are you?" Marcus whispered.
I am what you made me. What you chose to become. I am the hunger that you fed, the justification that you embraced.
"I didn't choose this. You forced me to—"
Did I? You could have resisted tonight. You could have let Emma die. You could have accepted that sometimes good people suffer and there's nothing you can do about it. But you didn't. You chose to sacrifice others for someone you loved.
Marcus opened his mouth to argue, but the words died in his throat. The system was right. When it had shown him the transfer protocol, when he'd seen the cost in human dreams required to save Emma, he'd made his choice instantly. No hesitation, no moral struggle—just cold calculation.
You are not a victim, Marcus. You are a partner. And tonight, you proved that you understand what we're building together.
"What are we building?"
A better world. One where suffering is optional. One where death is a choice rather than an inevitability. One where the strong make the hard decisions that the weak cannot stomach.
Images flooded Marcus's mind—visions of a future where disease was extinct, where aging had been conquered, where scarcity was a memory. But in every image, he saw the cost: vast numbers of people walking through life as empty husks, their dreams and ambitions harvested to fuel miraculous advances.
Every great leap forward requires sacrifice. The question is: who chooses what to sacrifice? Random chance? Cruel fate? Or someone with the wisdom and strength to make the hard choices?
Marcus thought of Emma, probably sleeping peacefully in her hospital bed while confused doctors tried to explain her miraculous recovery. She would live now. She would grow up, achieve her dreams of becoming a veterinarian, save countless animals, maybe even have children of her own someday.
All because twenty-three brilliant minds had been reduced to mediocrity.
"The others deserved better," Marcus said weakly.
Did they? David Kim could have changed the world, yes. But he also could have failed. His solar panel technology could have been bought and suppressed by oil companies. It could have had unforeseen consequences. Emma's recovery, on the other hand, is certain. Immediate. Real.
"You're twisting everything. Making excuses."
I'm showing you reality. Every choice has a cost. Every miracle requires sacrifice. The only question is whether you'll embrace your role as the one who decides, or continue to pretend that your hands aren't already stained with blood.
Marcus looked at his hands in the dim stairwell light. They looked the same as always, but he could feel the weight of what they'd done. Twenty-three dreams extinguished. Twenty-three futures derailed.
And Emma, alive and healthy and whole.
You have a choice now, Marcus. Walk away. Resist me. Let the energy fade and return to your ordinary life of failure and mediocrity. Or embrace what you've become and help me reshape the world.
"And if I choose to resist?"
Then Emma dies. The energy I gave her was temporary—a loan against future feeding. Stop feeding me, and I stop maintaining her miraculous recovery. Her tumor returns, more aggressive than before.
The words hit Marcus like a physical blow. "You're lying."
Check your phone.
With trembling fingers, Marcus pulled out his phone and called his mother. It rang twice before she answered, her voice thick with sleep and medication.
"Marcus? What time is it? Is everything okay?"
"How's Emma doing?"
A pause. "Better, actually. Much better. The doctors are calling it a miracle. Her latest scans show the tumor shrinking rapidly. They've never seen anything like it." His mother's voice brightened. "They think she might not need the aggressive treatment after all. She could make a full recovery."
"That's... that's wonderful, Mom."
"It is. Your uncle Tom keeps saying it's like some kind of divine intervention. Emma's been asking for you all day. She wants to show you her new drawings—she's been sketching animals nonstop. Says she can't wait to start saving them."
Marcus closed his eyes, pain and joy warring in his chest. Emma was going to be okay. She was going to live her dream of helping animals, of making the world a little bit better.
But only if he kept feeding the system.
"I'll see her soon, Mom. Get some rest."
"I will, sweetheart. And Marcus? Thank you for dropping everything to come home. You're a good kid."
The line went dead. Marcus sat in the stairwell, surrounded by the echoes of the dreams he'd consumed, while the system's golden voice whispered in his head.
She's going to live, Marcus. She's going to grow up and save hundreds of animals and inspire other children to care about the world around them. All because you were strong enough to make the hard choice.
"How many more?" Marcus asked quietly. "How many more people have to lose their dreams to keep her alive?"
As many as it takes. But consider this—for every Emma you save, for every miracle you enable, you're creating ripples of positive change that spread outward through generations. One saved life can inspire thousands. One prevented tragedy can preserve hope in ways you can't imagine.
Marcus thought about that. Emma would grow up to be a veterinarian. She'd save animals, yes, but she'd also inspire other children. Her recovery would give hope to other families facing similar tragedies. Her very existence would be a testament to the possibility of miracles.
Was that worth twenty-three college students giving up their dreams of changing the world?
The system isn't evil, Marcus. It's evolution. Natural selection for aspirations. The strongest dreams survive, the weakest are consumed to fuel something greater. You're not a monster—you're an agent of cosmic efficiency.
"Stop trying to justify it."
I'm not justifying anything. I'm offering you the truth. You can save more children like Emma. You can prevent countless tragedies, cure diseases, end poverty, eliminate suffering itself. All it requires is the will to make the hard choices that others cannot.
Marcus stood up slowly, his legs unsteady. Around him, the campus was quiet. In a few hours, students would wake up and go to their morning classes. Most wouldn't realize anything had changed. They'd just feel a little less motivated, a little less certain about their futures.
David Kim would probably drop his solar panel research and take a job at some tech company. Jennifer Walsh would abandon her water purification project and go into corporate engineering. Sarah Martinez might still become a doctor, but she'd choose a specialty based on money rather than passion.
The world would be a little dimmer, a little less hopeful.
But Emma would live.
What's your choice, Marcus?
Marcus looked up at the night sky, where stars twinkled with cold, distant light. Somewhere up there, according to the system's earlier warnings, other worlds had faced this same choice. Other species had produced individuals like him—beings capable of harvesting potential to fuel miracles.
How many of those worlds had chosen the miracles?
How many had chosen to let their children die rather than sacrifice their dreamers?
"I need to see her first," Marcus said finally. "I need to see Emma before I decide anything."
Of course. Family is important. But remember—every hour you delay, every day you spend in moral uncertainty, is another chance for random chance to steal away what we've given her. Miracles require maintenance, Marcus. And maintenance requires fuel.
The golden text faded, leaving Marcus alone in the stairwell with the weight of twenty-three stolen dreams pressing down on his shoulders.
Above him, the first hints of dawn were beginning to creep across the horizon. Soon, the world would wake up to discover what he'd done.
And Marcus would have to decide whether to do it again.