A space tucked away appeared. One spot stood clear among the rest.
A space that offered shelter, though nothing like secrecy - no corner here stayed hidden for long - just empty room squeezed tight between a vendor's rack of vials and a thick column holding up the roof, just big enough if both stood close and out of the crowd's rush. Stone at his spine, Soren held still. The skewer nearly gone now, Beracah braced on the post, elbows locked, chewing slow.
"Start from the beginning," Beracah said.
For a second Soren just stared, as if measuring the ache of starting to speak. Then silence held on, heavy with what came next.
Then he said: "The merge happened about three months after the beta closed. Nobody knew it was happening. It wasn't an event - there was no countdown, no warning screen, no announcement. The world just - " He stopped. Searched for the word. "Thinned. One by one, folks began staying inside Ensylium longer. It wasn't that they were stuck. The real world simply faded from view. Their screens stayed on, glowing through nights. Doors remained closed, untouched. Outside lost its pull slowly. Life moved inward without a sound
Beracah said nothing.
"It took about six weeks for everyone to understand what had happened. Some people lost it completely. Some people adapted inside a month. Most of us were somewhere in the middle - just surviving, figuring out the rules, learning what was safe and what wasn't." Soren's jaw tightened. "The guilds organised fastest. That's how they got to where they are now."
"How many guilds?"
"Five major ones. Ironveil controls the north - full military structure, brutal expansion policy. The Gilded Path runs information and trade. Fractureborn is the underworld, basically owns anything the guilds don't want to touch officially. Dawnwatch - they're the closest thing to a functioning civic authority in most cities, former first-responders and soldiers who decided someone had to hold the line." He paused.
"And the fifth?"
"Hollow Saints." Soren said it the way people said names they'd rather not say. "Religious guild. They worship the System. Actual worship - rituals, hierarchy, the whole structure. They believe it's divine and anyone the System flags as a threat is a heretic by definition."
Beracah glanced at the screen for a moment. Nothing showed up - just blank labels. Off it went again.
"Useful," he said.
"It's really not - "
"How are the Citizens doing?"
Soren blinked at the subject change. "Most of them are okay. The System integrated them as permanent residents - full NPC status but with retained memories, personalities, relationships. They can level, earn skills, run businesses. They just can't respawn." He let that sit for a second. "Some of them don't remember who they were before. Close to where things merged, those folks got hit first. Edges vanished under the System's reach. The individual stayed. The surroundings? Gone without a trace
Beracah said nothing, just stood there, eyes down.
"The person I tried to call," he said. "Before I figured it out. In the cave."
His gaze held Soren's without breaking. Enough said.
"Citizen?" Beracah asked.
"Yeah."
"Edges dropped?"
A beat. "Yeah."
Beracah gave one quick nod. Slid it into place without fuss. Smooth, that move - not stiff, more like quiet control. Something tucked away where it belongs, since the ground won't hold it right.
Just keep moving forward, he told me.
✦ ✦ ✦
Soren kept going.
It started with the bounty setup - how the System put out public jobs on marked targets, guild crews and solo trackers chasing those down, rewards growing steeper with danger level. Next came the Enforcers - not quite NPCs, yet more rigid than real people, movements sharp, no hints of hesitation, gear wired to shut others' powers off mid-use. Then he moved to dying - what happened after, when you came back, why Citizens vanishing for good stirred slow unease across settlements.
Midway through describing the edges of Hollow Saints land, everything in Beracah's sight turned crimson.
It wasn't symbolic. Blood-red lines spread across his display like a wound opening, then - suddenly - a solid window appeared in front of his eyes, blocking everything else without warning.
_____________________________________________
World System Priority Alert
Unknown Entity Detected
Location Caldenmere Market District
Grid Reference 7 C Sector 4
Entity Type Unknown Classification Status Unclassified
Threat Level Critical
──────────────────────────────
Out of nowhere, some hidden talent details sit here without a trace. A quiet corner keeps skills nobody signed up yet.
Most tried methods fail completely.
Classification attempts failed fourteen times
─────────────────────────────────
Status Malware Purge Authorized .
Beracah read it.
A hush came next, a second screen glowing with soft edges, rimmed in green. Not loud, but wide - reaching everyone logged into the area at once. Broadcast public. Sent to all who were online there.
System Bounty Public Notice
────────────────────────────────
Beracah Petra
Class NULL MALWARE ENTITY
Last Known Location Caldenmere Market District
─────────────────────────────────
BOUNTY 500000 Gold IMMEDIATE ISSUE
Ending without holding on - that situation applies when there's no grab allowed. The moment stops cleanly, nothing sticks around after it ends
WORLD SYSTEM DIRECT
─────────────────────────────────
All players and factions have permission
Spot it, take action immediately. Equipment designed to limit output
Best to go with everyone together. Enter as a group, never split up.
Hold on. Normal procedures are paused right now.
Protections once trusted? Gone without a trace. What stood as safeguard now fails completely. A space meant to hold firm has opened wide. Security assumed here cannot be found anymore. Barriers thought solid turned out hollow instead.
Nothing kept them safe now. A fresh twist. The marketplace - vendors huddled close, ordinary people passing through, children showing full green above their heads - suddenly wide open, nowhere left to hide.
Beracah lifted his eyes away from the glowing displays.
Out there among the stalls, movement froze for a few seconds. Three figures stood still, eyes locked on their screens - studying the reward alert - after which, almost like clocks ticking together, they lifted their heads, calculations done, searching faces in the group around them.
A shape spotted him fast. Eyes locked on target. Hand moved toward the gun strapped low on one side.
Suddenly quiet, Soren froze at his side. "That's -
"Half a million," Beracah said. "First day out."
Almost, he seemed glad to hear it come out that way.
Off the pillar he shoved, gave his neck a single roll, then fixed Soren with a look - the kind that says the day just found a spark.
"How fast can you run?"