Inside the decaying concrete hallway, deep within the Chernobyl Sarcophagus, Ivar was sprinting desperately. Alarms were going off, the walls were cracking and the entire building was shuddering. He was sprinting with all he had to avoid the silent condemnation that was following him.
A wall of pristine, static-white nothingness was erasing the world, swallowing the steel and concrete perfectly in utter silence. This was the "Second Shock" haunting him. He came to understand that he couldn't outrun this harrowing advance. The "Second Shock" hit him.
He didn't feel anything. He just felt as if his body was disassembled in an instant and his vision went black. He was dead, he was obliterated by the terrible and inescapable advance of the Rift.
But this was not his end yet. Ivar gasped awake, genuflected in the exact same hallway. The alarms were silent and the world was now enveloped in ashen dust and pulsating moss. Ivar was mesmerized, "How is this possible? I just died a moment ago. How can I still be alive? What is happening to me?"
He checked his body to make sure that he was not hallucinating after his death. He touched his face to make sure. It was there, solid and present.
Only then, while he was still trying to process his thoughts and figure out what had transpired; A screen was projected in front of him and blue text box appears in his vision.
[SYSTEM INTITIALIZED: THE ANOMALY SYSTEM]
[SUBJECT: IVAR VANE] [STATUS: DECEASED]
Ivar gasped, his breathing became rugged. His heart was hammering against his rib cage and his forehead was covered in sweat.
Then he saw the blue text box hanging in his vision again.
[REALITY ANCHOR ESTABLISHED. RESPAWN AT 'SINGULARITY' (1/1).]
He stood up and took a step. The world was now more defined and sharper. Suddenly, a sound broke through the silence.
Shh... drag... shh... drag...
Ivar turned and saw a "Hollowed Worker", a Category-1 mutant. It was a former Zone-worker, but now its body was distorted and its face was masked by rotten flesh.
Ivar cursed under his breath, 'Shit, why do I have to face the most unreasonable threats. This is insane. I was just dead, then somehow, I was revived and now I am going to die again.' He was a scientist not a barbarian like the combatants.
The dead and decayed "Hollowed" was faster than he expected. It lunged grabbing Ivar's neck. Ivar saw a flash of rotten teeth, then felt a sharp pain on his neck. A sharp pain started radiating from his neck as his neck started bleeding violently. Just before he was going to move, the "Hollowed" grabbed his head and smashed it against the concrete wall. The force was great and his neck snapped. There was blackness again.
Ivar gasped, his eyes were snapped open. His vision was a bit blurred and his throat was dry. He didn't move, his brain started reeling, but he gathered himself and began calculating. He was alive gain. He had died and revived again in the exact same spot.
The blue translucent screen appeared in front of him again.
[DEATH BY 'CORRUPTED GRAPPLE' RECORDED.]
[ECHO FRAGMENT (1/3) ACQUIRED]
Ivar stared at the message. "What is this 'Echo fragment'? I gained one of it for being killed?" He didn't understand the mechanic, but a thought was clear in his mind. He was not going to die so easily the third time.
The Hollowed worker appeared again. Ivar was fueled with his spite and tried to use his brain to fight and survive, because he was not a fighter but a scientist in a desperate situation.
He broke a loose piece of rebar from the broken wall. He waited for the Hollowed to attack again. Just as the Hollowed leapt towards him, he ducked and stabbed the broken rebar into the creature's chest. But unfortunately, he didn't possess sufficient strength to drive the rebar inside to cause a wound. His attack only slightly grazed the skin of the Hollowed.
The Hollowed grabbed the rebar and pulled it away to snatch it from Ivar. Ivar tightened his grip but was not able to keep his weapon in this contest of strength. The Hollowed held its new weapon and drove it inside Ivar's stomach. Ivar used his hands to create some resistance but his attempt was in vain and he was disemboweled. He fell into a pool of his own blood writhing in agony. His breath slowed down as he died again suffering in extreme pain.
Ivar respawned again at the same place. He named this placed the Singularity.
He was shivering, not with fear or cold but with fury. He checked the System again.
[DEATH BY 'IMPALEMENT' (REBAR). NO ECHO ACQUIRED]
'So, I do not get these fragments every time. It's not my death that provides me these fragments but how I die. This System is precise and strict. It requires me to be killed by the skill for me to attain the fragments.'
This time Ivar somewhat understood and knew how the working of this System. He didn't resist or tried to grab a weapon. He stood there and waited for the Hollowed to arrive. The Hollowed lunged at him again, but he stood there completely still and let it happen. His head was smashed again the wall. His skull cracked open, blood and brain matter gushed out as he passed away into oblivion.
The blue screen appeared in front of him again.
[DEATH BY 'CORRUPTED GRAPPLE' RECORDED.]
[ECHO FRAGMENT (2/3) ACQUIRED.]
Ivar respawned again. The process was now familiar. He stood up and waited again. The Hollowed appeared, lunged at him and killed him one last time. Darkness covers his world again.
Ivar awakened again with a grim sense of finality. The blue screen appeared:
[DEATH BY 'CORRUPTED GRAPPLE' RECORDED.]
[ECHO FRAGMENT (3/3) ACQUIRED.]
[SKILL 'CORRUPTED GRAPPLE' (LVL 1) IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR IMPRINT.]
Ivar gained a faint sense of victory. He had finally overcome the absurd System. He heard the familiar drag of Hollowed worker appearing for their fifth encounter. He opened the System menu, to use his newly gained skill. The blue screen appeared:
[IMPRINT 'CORRUPTED GRAPPLE' (LVL 1)] > Cost: 25 Ethereal Fragments
His eyes narrowed and his blood ran cold. He checked his inventory. His scientist brain connected the dots as he came to a horrifying realization that his Deaths only provided him with blueprint for the skill. He had to kill monsters and gain Ethereal Fragments to activate this skill.
Now, Ivar Vane, a normal, powerless human with no combat training and without any usable skills had to face a monster that had killed him four times and had easily overpowered him. He had to kill this monster and earn his fragments to proceed or he would forever be stuck in this life-death loop of dying miserably again and again.