《One Last Dive Into The Abyss》
Prologue
Prologue
Initializing Dive¡
Connection Established.
MOTD: Welcome, Player.
A deafening buzz filled Cedric¡¯s ears, followed by the familiar sensation of weightlessness. His HUD flickered, data scrolling in the periphery of his vision.
> [System Override]: Unauthorized Entry Detected
> [WARNING]: Deep-Dive Stability at 89%
> Destination: Unknown Instance ¨C Classified Zone
Suddenly, the world snapped into focus.
Cedric stepped out of the swirling vortex of energy, boots landing on cold stone. Behind him, the arcane portal shimmered and collapsed with a hiss, leaving him in an eerie, unlit chamber. His Minimap pulsed in the top-left corner of his HUD¡ªblank. No connections. No signals. Not a single waypoint.
"Great. Another blackout zone."
He tightened his grip on his [Silver Dagger], scanning the empty room. Years of experience had taught him that places like this never stayed quiet for long. He crouched, slid his linen Sack off his back, and reached inside.
> [Inventory Opened]¡
> Selected Item: [Flash Crystal] x2
Pulling out a small, translucent stone, he covered his eyes and tossed it onto the floor.
> [Item Activated]: [Flash Crystal]
> Effect: Emits 5-second burst of intense light
A sudden explosion of brilliance filled the chamber. In that moment, Cedric caught a glimpse of stone walls, a stairway descending into darkness, and a single wooden table covered in dust. Then, the light faded, leaving only a dim glow from the dying crystal.
> [Quest Updated]: [One Last Dive]
Retrieve the ancient tome for The Watch. Reward: [UNKNOWN]
"One last dive¡¡± Cedric muttered.
That¡¯s what he always told himself. That this was the last job. That he¡¯d retire after this. But his [Reputation: Notorious] suggested otherwise.
He moved quickly, descending the stairs with practiced ease. The Flash Crystal finally burned out, plunging him into darkness.
> [WARNING]: No Light Source Detected
> Visibility Reduced: -50% Perception
With a sigh, he pulled another [Flash Crystal] from his sack and activated it. As the light flared to life, he spotted an opening in the wall¡ªa narrow crawlspace barely wide enough to squeeze through.
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"Just my luck!" He thought to himself.
Cedric sheathed his dagger, dropped to his hands and knees, and crawled forward.
> [Environment Hazard]: Confined Space
> Agility Check Passed!
A minute later, he emerged into a grand library, its towering bookshelves stretching into the darkness beyond. Unlike the previous rooms, this one was fully illuminated by floating orbs of blue light. At the far end of the room, a single book lay open on the wooden table. And beyond that, a pair of reinforced basement doors stood shut.
His Quest Log pinged.
> [Objective Updated]: Retrieve the book.
Cedric smirked. "Too easy"
Moving through the rows of shelves, he mindlessly grabbed any book that looked valuable, stuffing them into his sack.
> [Inventory Updated]:
> [Rare Codex: Elemental Theory]
> [Ancient Scroll: Forbidden Summoning]
> [Tattered Journal] (Unreadable)
He reached the table and glanced at the open book. Gold-lettered script on a black leather cover read:
> [Necromancy: The Dark Art]
As soon as his fingers touched the cover¡ª
> [WARNING]: High-Level Magical Disturbance Detected!
A piercing shriek filled his head. His vision blurred. The room around him twisted.
A Vision Sequence had begun.
> [Vision] Activated¡
> Location: The town of Litharious ¨C Post-Annihilation State
The town was gone. Fire raged through the streets. Demonic creatures clawed at the screaming townsfolk, tearing them apart with ravenous hunger. At the heart of the carnage stood a tall, robed figure, his skeletal hands raised over the kneeling survivors. The air around him cracked with unstable necrotic energy. Cedric tried to move¡ªtried to run¡ªbut his body was frozen in place.
The robed figure turned.
Two glowing red eyes burned beneath the hood.
The vision snapped out of existence.
Cedric stumbled backward, gasping for breath. He looked down¡ªhis hands trembled violently.
> [Status Effect] Applied: [Terror]
> Debuff: -25% Reaction Time, -10% Accuracy (1 Minute)
His Minimap flickered, and a New Objective appeared.
> Deliver the book.
"If this thing is what The Watch wanted¡ maybe I shouldn¡¯t be handing it over."
Before he could decide, a raspy voice shattered the silence.
"Thieving scum!"
Cedric spun around, dagger in hand.
A frail man in tattered robes emerged from behind a bookshelf. His Nameplate flickered¡ª[Unstable NPC: ???]¡ªand his Threat Level was¡ unknown.
"This isn¡¯t good." He said to himself.
The NPC''s eyes burned with desperation. "Drop the book! You have no idea what you''ve done!". Cedric¡¯s Battle HUD flickered into view.
> [Combat Initiated]
> Opponent: [Unstable NPC: ???]
> Status: Agitated
Cedric tightened his grip on his dagger. "Stand down and walk away."
The man lunged.
Cedric reacted on instinct.
> [Attack]: [Dagger Strike]
> Critical Hit!
The blade plunged deep into the NPC¡¯s throat. Blood sprayed as the man collapsed, his mouth opening and closing in a silent scream.
A system notification popped up.
> You have killed [Unstable NPC: ???].
> No XP earned (Non-Combatant).
"Shit."
Cedric retrieved his bag, but before he could move¡ªA low growl rumbled through the chamber. The basement doors shook.
Suddenly, they burst wide open.
A wave of pure darkness surged outward, carrying an unholy screech that rattled the walls. Cedric staggered backward as his HUD glitched, error messages filling his vision.
The corpse of the man he had just killed began to convulse. Cedric watched in horror as bones tore through flesh, as muscle and sinew peeled away, as a bloodstained skeleton sat upright.
Its empty sockets filled with burning red light¡ A horrible scream filled the air.
> [WARNING]: Boss Encounter Initiated!
> Opponent: [The Necromancer]
> Threat Level: LETHAL
From the depths of the basement, a towering figure emerged. The same robed being from the vision. It lifted a skeletal hand and pointed at Cedric.
"Whose blood stains my sanctuary?" The voice was deep, layered with something that wasn¡¯t human. "Who dares awaken me?"
Cedric¡¯s HP bar plummeted as a green energy blast tore through his chest.
> You have been inflicted with [UKNOWN SKILL].
> HP Critical.
Cedric collapsed. His vision darkened. His body was paralyzed. The last thing he saw was the Necromancer looming over him.
> [Fatal Error]: Data Corruption Detected
> Player Connection Terminated.
Darkness swallowed him whole. And as the world faded, his last thought echoed in his mind¡ª
"No... Not like this..."
GAME OVER
Chapter 1 - The Aftermath
Chapter 1 - The Aftermath
The air inside the raid site was thick with the acrid smell of burnt electronics. Sparks flickered from severed cables; the remnants of a once-thriving deep-dive den now reduced to a charred skeleton of its former self. The hum of high-voltage machinery dying its final breaths was overshadowed by the muffled groans of those caught in the net. Some lay motionless, disconnected mid-dive, their bodies spasming from the neural shock of being forcefully ripped from the outlawed network. Others stared in dazed horror as CyberWatch Omega operatives moved through the wreckage, weapons drawn, ensuring no one had the chance to reconnect.
Outside, beyond the smog-choked alleyways, a fleet of unmarked black vehicles stood waiting. The operatives moved with precision, each step rehearsed, each action calculated. Those who resisted were subdued with brutal efficiency, and their bodies tossed onto the pavement like discarded junk. The message was clear¡ªthere was no refuge for those who still sought the Abyss.
¡°Clear the remaining servers. Burn whatever¡¯s left,¡± a voice barked through the comms.
The operative speaking wore the dark insignia of CyberWatch Omega¡ªa black ops unit sanctioned to eliminate any remnants of the hidden internet. He moved toward the back of the room, where an array of deep-dive rigs lay half-melted from the EMP blasts. His visor flickered with a data scan, showing fractured remnants of an illegal connection still pulsing weakly in the system. He reached down, crushed the main terminal beneath his boot, and the last signal from the Abyss blinked out.
The Abyss. A forgotten name, barely spoken in public anymore. It had once been a beacon of limitless possibility¡ªa leap in technological advancement that changed the very foundation of what was known as "the internet." The internet became a place you could physically go to, as corporations pushed out a seemingly endless stream of devices that would send you into the digital world. Each version of these devices got more advanced, more affordable, smaller, and offered a deeper level of immersion. Quickly, the distinction between the internet and reality became almost impossible to tell apart when using these new technical devices called "divers."
Major sporting events, massive multiplayer games, and countless other entertainment venues drew billions of people in over many years. This provided even more incentive to push the envelope, and devices became even more mainstream until it finally happened; the technology to transport your conscious self was rolled out to the masses, and integration into the internet was as seamless as ever.
This continued until the first death.
No one really remembers, and it was never well documented. On the contrary, it was contested exactly how and when the first person died within virtual reality and as a result, in base reality. What was documented clearly was that artificial intelligence was blamed, and the public was sold the idea that unsanctioned code changes developed completely within the internet by non-human entities led to a human death. It wasn''t long after this¡ªa matter of months¡ªbefore it was banned globally. Every new device was ordered to be destroyed, and the obsolete networks and servers that made up "the internet" became known as the Abyss.
People flooded the market to migrate to the "GlobalNet," which was no longer a place but accessed by more traditional means such as screens or displays and navigated with peripheral devices. Global corporations led the way to abandon what was framed as "old, dangerous tech" and return to a safer alternative, the "GlobalNet." Humanoid AI within virtual environments was largely left behind and not migrated; instead, a simpler, heavily regulated AI was introduced. Sports went back to being played in reality, multiplayer games were played behind a display, and people ventured outside of their homes to visit venues once again.
CyberWatch Omega was formed shortly after this.
Many years passed, and by this time, the Abyss was only accessed by hackers and digital nomads who built a new frontier beyond the reach of corporate governance. The everyday citizen had long since accepted that the Abyss was nothing more than a ghost story, a relic of an age where information was truly free. Now, only the desperate, the criminals, and the truth-seekers still tried to reach it.
They had been hunting these pockets of resistance for years, their methods ruthless, their operations buried beneath layers of classified reports. They had crushed the last remnants of organized digital resistance in what was known as the Cobalt Purge, an operation spanning multiple continents that saw thousands of rogue servers wiped off the map overnight. Before that, they had infiltrated and dismantled the Leviathan Network, a loosely affiliated group of ex-corporate programmers who had sought to revive deep-dive access through encrypted relays.
Their reach was vast, their influence woven into every major security framework, ensuring that even whispers of the Abyss were met with swift and brutal action. Their black-ops teams didn¡¯t just shut down illegal networks¡ªthey ensured that those who dared to revive them disappeared entirely. Tonight was just another successful mission, another step toward erasing what little remained of the digital underground.
The operatives continued sweeping the building, their boots crunching against broken glass and charred circuitry. In the back room, they found a dozen more rigs, their users still connected, their minds severed from reality. A technician wearing CyberWatch¡¯s standard neural stabilizer gear knelt beside them, checking vitals.
¡°Half of these are brain-dead,¡± he muttered. ¡°The rest will need full neural recalibration. Not that it matters. They¡¯ll never be allowed back online.¡±
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One of the agents scoffed. ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you swim too deep. They should¡¯ve stuck to the GlobalNet.¡±
The everyday internet, the one corporations controlled, the "GlobalNet," was sanitized and predictable. The Abyss, by contrast, was chaos incarnate¡ªfragments of old systems, AI strongholds, remnants of forgotten networks fused into an ungoverned nightmare. The people who risked diving into it weren¡¯t just criminals. Some were desperate. Others were seekers of something purer, something beyond the censored and controlled landscape of the modern world.
But it didn¡¯t matter. Tonight, another access point had been erased. Another gateway to the Abyss was closed forever.
Ethan watched from his apartment; his gaze locked onto the breaking news report. The feed displayed a professional yet emotionless anchor detailing the raid¡¯s ¡°success.¡±
¡°Tonight, international task force CyberWatch Omega has once again struck a decisive blow against illegal deep-dive dens,¡± the anchor¡¯s voice droned. ¡°The covert operation successfully dismantled a major hub of digital crime, preventing unauthorized access to the outlawed system known as the ¡®Abyss.¡¯ Officials state that multiple individuals were apprehended, and illegal equipment was neutralized.¡±
The footage cut to grainy aerial shots of the raid¡ªarmed enforcers storming the dilapidated hideout, tech-heads clawing at their headsets as they were yanked from the digital world. Some screamed. Some didn¡¯t wake up.
Ethan narrowed his eyes. He had seen enough raids over the years, but something about this one felt¡ off. The way they framed it. The details they left out.
His grip tightened around the coffee cup in his hands, the warmth grounding him against the chill crawling up his spine. It was the next headline that nearly made him drop it.
¡°In related news, Cedric Halloran, an independent software developer, was reported deceased today. Official records cite a fatal neural overload as the cause of death, linked to unauthorized deep-dive activity.¡±
Ethan¡¯s chest tightened. His fingers dug into the ceramic. His body went completely cold, his gut turned, he went numb.
Cedric.
His brother.
Cedric was all he had since childhood. He knew his brother had worked for the CyberWatch, which was being celebrated moments ago for their success. This news headline seemingly read like there was no connection between his brother and CyberWatch at all. Ethan knew Cedric was on Task Force Omega. They shared everything together, perhaps too much at times.
Cedric was deeply embedded; he often did the most dangerous jobs of diving into the illegal networks undercover to locate their real-world locations that led to these raids.
He barely heard the rest of the broadcast. Words like ¡°dangerous tech,¡± ¡°classified data breach,¡± and ¡°justice served¡± blurred into the background as static filled his mind. His jaw clenched as the screen transitioned back to images of the raid, lingering too long on a particular shot¡ªone of the dive rigs, fried beyond repair. No bodies shown.
That was the first red flag.
He exhaled sharply, forcing himself to think. The official story was that Cedric had suffered a neural overload¡ªa common enough fate for reckless divers. But Cedric wasn¡¯t reckless. He was calculated, meticulous. And if he had gone into the Abyss, it was because he was sent there!
Ethan pushed himself away from the table and took a deep breath, but before he reached the window, a memory surfaced¡ªhis last conversation with Cedric.
They had met at The Iron Tap, their usual spot, a small bar tucked away in a quieter part of the city, far from the ever-watchful drones and corporate billboards. Cedric had been different that night¡ªdistracted, jumpy. His fingers drummed erratically against the condensation-covered glass of his beer. Ethan had noticed right away.
"You alright, man? You look like you''ve seen a ghost."
Cedric had forced a laugh, but it hadn¡¯t reached his eyes. "Just work. The usual. Nothing to be concerned about."
That was a lie. Cedric had always told him everything¡ªuntil recently. Lately, he had become tight-lipped about CyberWatch, his usual rants about their methods growing less frequent. That night, he barely touched his drink, glancing toward the entrance every few minutes as if expecting someone to walk in.
"I swear, if you don¡¯t tell me what¡¯s going on, I¡¯ll start thinking you¡¯re in some serious shit." Ethan had leaned in, trying to get his brother to open up.
Cedric had sighed, rubbing his temples. "Ethan, listen... If anything happens¡ª" he hesitated, then shook his head. "Forget I said anything. Tell me about this new game you''re playing."
"Wait, don''t change the subject Cedric, what were you saying?"
Cedric''s eyes seemed to widen as he looked out the window into the street. He downed the rest of his beer and stood abruptly, tossing some credits onto the table. "I just spotted someone I gotta see, I gotta go, I''ll see you online later tonight."
And that was it. The last time they had spoken. The last time Ethan saw his brother alive.
The memory faded as Ethan reached the large window of his apartment. Outside, the cityscape sprawled endlessly, a fusion of steel and neon. Towering skyscrapers pulsed with holographic advertisements, their shifting imagery displaying the latest corporate slogans promising security, innovation, and prosperity. Streets below were clogged with automated transport pods, weaving between pedestrian walkways illuminated by artificial daylight.
The rain had started again, a fine mist rolling over the city, reflecting the constant glow of digital billboards. Surveillance drones hovered lazily, scanning the populace with unblinking red sensors.
Few people remembered a time before GlobalNet, before CyberWatch became the unchallenged authority in digital spaces. Society had adapted, accepting the curated, controlled network as the only safe way to access information. The idea of free, unregulated cyberspace was dismissed as lunacy, a relic of an age gone by.
Ethan had never been one to believe in conspiracy theories, but tonight, staring out into the city suffocated by CyberWatch''s reach, he couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that he was standing on the edge of something much larger than himself. A light rain pattered against the glass, the glow of holographic billboards reflecting in the droplets. His apartment was small, cluttered, filled with old tech¡ªdisassembled components, tangled cables, and dusty monitors stacked against the walls.
He ran a hand through his dark, slightly unkempt hair, his lean frame tense with frustration. His sharp green eyes scanned the skyline, the flickering lights doing little to distract him from the growing suspicion gnawing at his gut.
Something was wrong. Something was missing.
Ethan turned back to his workstation, his fingers drumming against the desk as his mind raced. He knew Cedric better than anyone. He wouldn¡¯t have gone in blind, and he sure as hell wouldn¡¯t have let himself die for nothing.
He needed answers.
And there was only one place to find them.
Chapter 2 - Into the Underground
Chapter 2 - Into the Underground
Ethan sat in the dim glow of his workstation, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. His apartment was cluttered with old tech, tangled wires, and obsolete hardware¡ªa relic of his past life as a hacker and game designer. The official reports on Cedric¡¯s death didn¡¯t add up, and if there was one thing Ethan had learned from years of navigating hidden networks, it was that truth rarely aligned with official narratives.
The GlobalNet had its limitations. It was clean, regulated, and curated¡ªscrubbed of any digital grime that corporations and government agencies deemed unnecessary. Ethan wanted real answers that the media wouldn''t provide him, and so he was going to go beyond that. He needed to break into Cedric¡¯s GlobalNet personal cloud files.
Cedric had been careful. Very careful. Ethan knew his brother better than anyone¡ªhe didn¡¯t trust the privacy of the GlobalNet anymore than he did. But it was worth a shot. In a strange manner it felt like this was all he had left of Cedric, a digital footprint.
Ethan cracked his knuckles, inhaling deeply before diving in. Cedric¡¯s cloud encryption was formidable, an intrusion prevention system that might as well been a digital fortress. Quantum proof. Breaking this encryption wouldn''t be an easy task. The first few layers fell easily enough, his years of experience navigating illegal networks serving him well. But then¡ª
ACCESS DENIED.
A sharp curse slipped from his lips. He adjusted his approach, bypassing a few lower-tier security keys, only to be hit with another lockout.
WARNING: THREE FAILED LOGIN ATTEMPTS. SYSTEM MONITOR ENGAGED.
His heart pounded. Had Cedric anticipated this? Had he built an active trap for intruders? If Ethan triggered a failsafe, he could lose access forever. He flexed his fingers, forcing himself to stay calm. Think.
He traced the security sequence again, isolating a small gap in the failsafe mechanism. It was a backdoor¡ªbut why would Cedric have left this here? Did he even know it was here? Had someone been in Cedric''s personal files before him?
Ethan exploited it anyway, deploying the script''s payload to disguise himself as an authorized user.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Relief flooded through him, but it was short-lived. He wasn¡¯t just looking at logs and encrypted notes¡ªCedric had been tracking something massive. Conversations between CyberWatch agents, unauthorized dive coordinates, flagged anomalies in the Abyss. Why was Cedric hoarding all this data? It must have been important to him. If CyberWatch were to find out that even a portion of this data was here Cedric would have been in deep shit.
One folder caught his eye: ¡®Failsafe.¡¯ Ethan clicked it open, revealing a single text file. The contents were brief but chilling.
¡°Kira Volkov.¡±
Ethan¡¯s breath hitched. He checked the timestamp of the file creation; it predated his death. This file was left here by Cedric. He had no idea who Kira was, but Cedric had trusted her enough to leave her name behind. Ethan fired up the GlobalNet people-search directory and punched in her name. Kira Volkov. No profile picture. No personal details. Just a secure contact line marked *inactive*.
He hesitated for only a moment before activating his own private relay and sending a message:
*Ethan:* I need to talk with you about Cedric.
Seconds passed. Then a minute. Nothing.
He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. Maybe she was already gone. Maybe CyberWatch had gotten to her first. Maybe¡ª
His screen flickered. A message appeared.
*Kira:* If you value your life, you¡¯ll stop digging.
Ethan exhaled sharply, his fingers tightening into fists. *Too late.*
*Ethan:* I¡¯m not stopping. Meet me.
Another long pause.
*Kira:* You¡¯re playing a dangerous game, Ethan. You¡¯re not ready for this.
*Ethan:* Then make me ready.
Another flicker. Then a single word.
*Kira:* Tomorrow. The Crossroads Bar. Midnight. Come alone.
At The Crossroads Bar, the air was thick with the scent of old liquor and something acrid, like burnt circuits. The place was a relic from a time before total digital dominance¡ªflickering neon signs, analog music playing from battered speakers, and walls adorned with physical cash transactions, a defiant nod to an era that had long since passed.
A low hum filled the space, the sound of aging electrical systems struggling to keep up. The crowd was diverse¡ª off-gird hackers, smugglers, and the occasional drunk corporate burnout looking for a fresh start in the underground. A few people shot wary glances at Ethan as he sat in the dark corner booth alone.
Ethan nursed a drink, scanning the room for anyone who matched Cedric¡¯s description of Kira¡ªsharp, calculated, and always one step ahead. Then she appeared. A tall, athletic woman slid into the booth across from him. Short, dark hair, eyes that flickered between caution and assessment. She wore civilian clothes, but Ethan could tell she carried herself like someone who had spent years in the field.
¡°Kira¡± Ethan said evenly.
Kira ignored him, keeping her eyes on him as she slid into the booth. ¡°This place isn¡¯t safe for long conversations,¡± she murmured.
Ethan studied her. ¡°Then why meet here?¡±
¡°Because if something happens to me, people will know.¡± There was a flicker of something in her expression¡ªcaution, hesitation, and something deeper. Guilt, maybe. He didn¡¯t press it. Not yet.
¡°You and Cedric were close,¡± he said instead.
Kira¡¯s grip on her glass tightened. ¡°Yeah. Close enough to know you''re his brother.¡±
¡°Why didn¡¯t he tell me about you?¡±
She let out a slow breath, staring down at the amber liquid in her drink. ¡°That was the point. He kept me separate from the people he cared about. Safer that way.¡±
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¡°And now?¡±
She hesitated. ¡°Now, I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m doing the right thing by talking to you.¡±
Ethan met her gaze. ¡°You don¡¯t owe me anything, Kira. But if Cedric trusted you, then I have to believe you know something worth sharing.¡±
Kira exhaled, her fingers drumming against the table. ¡°You don¡¯t want to know.¡±
¡°If that were true, I wouldn¡¯t be here."
She studied him for a long moment before exhaling sharply. ¡°Cedric didn¡¯t die. Not the way they said.¡±
A weight settled over the conversation. Ethan felt the room fade around them, the din of voices and clinking glasses dulling under the gravity of her words.
¡°Then where is he?¡±
Kira shook her head. ¡°Not where. What.¡±
His blood ran cold.
Ethan frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
Kira leaned in, voice barely above a whisper. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much you understand about the Abyss,¡± she continued. ¡°But when people go in too deep, when they push past the limits of what¡¯s supposed to be possible¡ªsometimes, they don¡¯t come back. Not in the way they left."
Something in her tone shifted, a raw edge laced with something close to grief.
Ethan¡¯s fingers tightened around his glass. ¡°You¡¯re saying Cedric¡¯s still in there.¡±
¡°I¡¯m saying his body is dead,¡± Kira clarified, still whispering. ¡°But his mind? His consciousness? There¡¯s a chance it didn¡¯t die with him.¡±
The weight of her words settled over him like a vice. If that was true, then Cedric wasn¡¯t just dead¡ªhe was trapped.
¡°I need to go in,¡± Ethan said firmly. ¡°I need to find him.¡±
Kira scoffed. ¡°That¡¯s suicide.¡±
¡°Not if you help me.¡±
She laughed bitterly. ¡°Even if I wanted to, I don¡¯t have access anymore. CyberWatch burned every legal entry point. The only way in now is through the black market.¡±
Ethan leaned forward. ¡°Then tell me where to start.¡±
She hesitated, glancing around before finally exhaling. ¡°I know someone. Goes by Sledge. If anyone can get you in, it¡¯s him.¡±
Ethan nodded. ¡°Where do I find him?¡±
Kira¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Forget it, Sledge would probably kill you on sight.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take my chances.¡±
Kira studied him. ¡°You remind me of Cedric,¡± she murmured. ¡°That¡¯s not necessarily a good thing.¡±
"Please Kira, If Cedric is alive... If there is a chance... I need to find out what happened to him!"
Kira sighed; she hesitated before she pulled out an old, unregistered comm device. "Fine. I''ll contact Sledge. But you better be ready for what comes next."
As they waited for Sledge¡¯s response, Kira drained her glass and waved for another. Ethan noticed the tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers twitched slightly when she wasn¡¯t gripping something.
¡°You alright?¡± he asked.
Kira scoffed. ¡°You¡¯re worried about me?¡±
He shrugged. ¡°Just making sure I¡¯m not getting involved with someone who¡¯s about to fall apart on me.¡±
She smirked, but there was no real humour in it. ¡°That¡¯s cute.¡±
The bartender set another drink in front of her. She downed half of it in one go. When she set the glass down, she caught Ethan watching her, and for the first time that night, her mask slipped.
For just a second, he saw something raw in her gaze¡ªsomething unsure, something wounded. Then it was gone.
¡°You look too much like him,¡± she muttered.
Ethan felt a strange mix of emotions twist in his chest. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was a good thing or bad. Kira, apparently, wasn¡¯t sure either.
Before either of them could say anything more, her comm device buzzed.
The line crackled before a deep, gravelly voice answered. "Who the hell is this?"
It was Sledge.
"It¡¯s Kira. I need a favour," she said, her tone clipped. "I need a dive interface."
There was a long pause before Sledge replied. "Have you finally lost it, Kira?"
"I''ll pay whatever the cost, you know I am good for it!" Kira barked.
"Ok ok fine, I have an old first gen neural interface I got my hands on. I''m warning you; it''s not going to be cheap" Sledge retorted.
"I''ll take it, with an exit point" She emphasised. "Crossroads, how soon can you get here?"
"You think I''m going to be caught dead slinging this tech around? HA! Not a chance" Sledge had an annoyed tone in his voice. "I''ll send Tox to drop it off after you transfer the credits, all ten thousand of them!"
"Sledge, that is unreasonab...." Kira started, but she stopped as she realised Sledge had disconnected the line.
"Well, there goes that idea..." Kira started. "Unless you have ten thousand credits laying around..." Kira had a sarcastic tone and a defeated look on her face.
"I do" Ethan responded, sheepishly.
"What, since when were you rolling in credits?¡± Kira asked surprised.
"The proceeds I made from my last globalNet development contract, it''s all I have but I''m committed to this - Cedric would do the same for me"
"Isn''t that sweet.. Cedric always spoke so fondly of his little brother, the game developer extraordinaire that all the globalNet publishers wanted to work with!" Kira smirked. "That is a lot of credits to pay just for a chance to risk your life Ethan, you could start fresh away from all of this.. I really do hope you know what you are getting into!"
"I just hope this lead of yours doesn''t rip us off" Ethan replied, while waving his wrist to accept the transfer of credits to Kira.
"If he even dared... I would cut off his balls" Kira responded with a menacing grin, as she forwarded on the credits to Sledge with a flick of her wrist.
The wait for Tox was long and awkward. Ethan sipped his drink, stealing glances at Kira as she absentmindedly traced patterns on the condensation of her glass.
Ethan leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice. "Kira, you worked with Cedric right, you were on the taskforce as well?"
Kira matched his whispered volume, "Yes, I was his cognitive integrity analyst..." Kira appeared to be distant, as if she was recalling on memories in front of him.
Ethan swallowed, his pulse quickening. "And what happened on the day he died?"
"I can''t say much more Ethan, this is already reckless enough!" Kira snapped back.
"I''m not reckless Kira; You can trust me!" Ethan replied.
Kira¡¯s gaze locked onto his, sharp and unyielding. "Aren¡¯t you? You just emptied your entire fortune for a one-way ticket into a digital hellscape, chasing the ghost of a man who might not even be salvageable. If that¡¯s not reckless, what is?"
Ethan felt his jaw clench. "It¡¯s not reckless. It¡¯s loyalty."
Kira shook her head, the ghost of a sad smile flickering across her lips. "Cedric said the same thing before he disappeared. It''s loyalty..." She let out a long breath, fingers tightening around her glass. "He kept pushing, even when it was obvious the risks outweighed the reward. I tried to warn him, tried to get him to step back, but he was obsessed. He knew something big was happening inside the Abyss, and he wouldn''t let it go."
Before Ethan could respond, the bar door swung open, and a towering man with a dark hood strode in. Tox. He took one look at Kira and sneered. "I''ve got a delivery for you, courtesy of Sledge. He says it will probably be your last"
"And the exit point?" Kira pressed as she pocketed the device quickly so no one could see.
Tox chuckled and waived his hand initiating the data transfer. "Here''s the coordinates of the exit location. Consider it a farewell gift."
Tox left without saying another word. Ethan felt Kira''s hand grab him under the table, and place something into his hand.
Ethan snuck a peak as he pocketed the device, his pulse racing. It was a neural interface, smaller than he thought, a small black cube with wires dancing out of all sides and a plastic foldable plastic rim that appeared to be adjustable.
"Wow. It''s smaller than I thought" Ethan stated.
"That is a first-generation interface, holds all the tech and protocols you need to dive into the Abyss, believe it or not they got smaller than that. It''s useless without a compatible dive rig though."
"Shit... I don''t have one" Ethan panicked, knowing he just spent every credit he had. "And something tells me a public rig is not going to be suitable¡"
"Relax, I have one. At my place. It''s off-grid and the dives are untraceable" Kira exhaled, her resolve firming.
"You can¡¯t do this alone, and I happen to be the best cognitive integrity analyst you''ll ever meet." Kira allowed herself to let off a faint smile.
"I don''t know how I''ll ever repay you" Ethan replied, still taking it all in.
"I''m not doing this to be owed something Ethan, if anything, it''s what I owe Cedric" Kira assured.
Ethan nodded, grateful. He picked up what was left of his beer "Then a toast, to the best cognitive integrity analyst I''ll ever meet".
They both laughed.
Kira raised her glass, and as they clinked glasses, a thought crossed Kira¡¯s mind. Looking at Ethan, she couldn¡¯t deny the pull of familiarity, his resemblance to Cedric was undeniable. A painful ache stirred in her chest. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was something deeper, but for a fleeting moment, she allowed herself to wonder if history was about to repeat itself.
Chapter 3 - The Black Dive
Chapter 3 - The Black Dive
The weight of the neural interface in Ethan¡¯s pocket felt heavier than it should. This wasn¡¯t just some piece of tech¡ªit was his key into the unknown, a threshold he was about to cross. He turned the small device over in his hands, its matte black surface smooth and unassuming, but beneath its casing lay the power to drag him into the digital abyss where his brother had vanished.
Kira and Ethan stood in the parking lot of the Crossroads, it was largely empty. It became apparent to Ethan that he had no idea how Kira had arrived here. He had taken the hovertrain downtown and walked over to the bar. Suddenly, she tossed him a helmet. ¡°Get on" Kira said, with a smirk. Her dark hair vanished as she put on a helmet. She flung one of her long legs over a red electric performance bike in a dramatic fashion, before mounting the bike completely. The bike beamed to life; the electric motor began humming with intensity.
"Well, are you coming or not?" She asked Ethan, impatiently.
"Yes, hang on" Ethan stated, while fumbling to get his helmet on.
¡°You¡¯re the one who is going to need to hang on, dear!" Kira teased.
Ethan gave a concerned look to Kira which she found amusing, before he too mounted the bike. Kira felt him grab her waist, and she accelerated into the night.
Ethan found the ride to Kira¡¯s apartment terrifying. He started to wonder if they would make it to her apartment at all, or if diving into the abyss would be as scary as this. Ethan''s grip on Kira''s waist got firmer, her posture was rigid. She was constantly bracing for what came next, weaving in and out of other vehicles and banking around corners with speed.
He wasn¡¯t sure if he was ready to dive, but the ride has certainly kept him alert. It was almost Dawn, neither of them had slept. Kira appeared to be wide awake.
"Last chance," she muttered as they pulled into the underground parking garage of an unassuming residential block. "You plug in, and there''s no guarantee you''ll make it back out. The first dive is always the hardest. You¡¯ll be disoriented. Vulnerable."
Ethan exhaled, forcing himself to steady his nerves. "I have to do this."
Kira nodded but didn¡¯t look convinced. "Suit yourself."
She led him upstairs through a dimly lit corridor, stopping at a reinforced steel door. A biometric scanner blinked beside the handle. Kira pressed her palm against it, and after a brief scan, the lock clicked open. Inside, her apartment was spartan¡ªminimalist furniture, her bed built into the back corner wall, a few scattered datapads, and a single window covered with blackout curtains. The air smelled faintly of burnt circuits and old coffee coming from the small kitchenette.
In the far corner of the room sat the dive rig.
Ethan took a step forward, his breath catching in his throat. He¡¯d worked on projects tangentially related to deep-dive interfaces before, but he¡¯d never seen an off-grid rig in person. It looked ancient¡ªa bulky, modified unit stripped of corporate branding, its panels held together by a mess of exposed wiring and improvised repairs. It was built for one purpose: untraceable access.
"You¡¯re sure this works?" Ethan asked, running a hand over the frame.
"It¡¯s got a ninety-percent success rate," Kira said, shrugging.
"And the other ten percent?"
"You really don¡¯t want to know."
Ethan swallowed hard.
She grabbed the neural interface from his hand and started attaching it to the dive rig, syncing the hardware. "This thing¡¯s old school. No corporate firewalls. No safeties. Once you¡¯re in, you¡¯re on your own. No emergency eject unless I pull you out." Kira stated. "And you don''t want that, the load will fry your brain".
Ethan nodded. "Got it."
The small apartment felt even more claustrophobic now. Ethan stood next to the dive rig, staring at it as Kira worked, syncing the neural interface to the ancient machine. He had a hundred questions rattling inside his head, but Kira¡ªever pragmatic¡ªwas already laying down a plan.
"Alright, listen up," she said, crouching by the interface terminal. "We don¡¯t have time for trial and error. This is how it¡¯s going to work."
Ethan crossed his arms. "I¡¯m listening."
"First off, our entire mission will be to retrieve a data cache and then head straight to the exit" Kira stated. "We don¡¯t know the exact location of the data cache, but I¡¯ll point you to information brokers who can find out. When you wake, we''ll review the data together¡±
¡°And that data will provide the answers to where Cedric is?" Ethan questioned.
"More or less, I hope so.¡± Kira replied. "But listen Ethan, when you land you will arrive in the Bridge¡ªor at least, what''s left of it. It¡¯s the last known stable zone before the deeper fragments of the Abyss. Picture a huge city designed decades ago, based on what they thought the future would look like."
"Ok that doesn''t sound too bad..." Ethan stated.
Kira paused. "But it is a wasteland now... A deadly wasteland with AI-controlled districts, and rogue NPC factions fighting over what¡¯s left."
Ethan nodded, committing it to memory. "Great... Ok... So, locate the information brokers in the Bridge, and the Bridge is the hub between all other domains?"
"Exactly. This interface is limited and we have to land you there to go cross-domain, to go deeper. We don''t have the luxury of CyberWatch tech or landing at other domains" She tightened a few cables, then looked up at him. "But you need to understand that you''re new to this world, which means you¡¯ll be weak. You won¡¯t be able to waltz around unchecked. Play it smart. Keep your head down. Avoid drawing attention, especially from the overlords."
Ethan frowned. "Overlords?"
Kira sighed, rubbing her temples. "High-level rogue AI entities that patrol the Abyss. They rule different parts of it. Think of them as corrupted administrators who used to be part of the system before it all went to hell. They don¡¯t take kindly to outsiders¡ªespecially real people like you. The moment they realize you''re not a program like the others, you¡¯ll have a target on your back."
That sent a chill through Ethan. "Good to know."
"Which brings me to communication." She held up a small data drive. "Turns out the interface we got from Sledge was a game variant, it was designed for multiplayer gaming in some of the off-shoot domains. This will install a hidden function in your quest log. The interface doesn¡¯t support external messaging, so if we need to talk, all I can do is send standard system notifications, but it¡¯ll be me."
"Will you be able to watch me inside?" Ethan questioned.
"No, the interface is very limited and the rig is old, I will be able to loosely track your world position, see system notifications and send directions through your display" Kira replied.
Ethan took the drive and tucked it into his pocket. "And the exit?"
Kira¡¯s face hardened. "This is important. You¡¯ll have coordinates burned into your interface¡ªyour only way out. Think of it like a hidden backdoor programmed into the system. Once you¡¯re in, you¡¯ll have to navigate through the bridge and reach it manually. If you don¡¯t make it¡ I can¡¯t pull you out without almost certainly killing you. You¡¯ll be stuck. And you don¡¯t want to be stuck."
Ethan exhaled slowly. "No pressure, huh?"
"Yeah, no pressure. Welcome to the Abyss" Kira smirked. "You need to set up your avatar," Kira continued, tapping at the interface. "First time diving into the Abyss with this interface means you¡¯re starting from scratch. No injected data. You¡¯ll be vulnerable Ethan."
Ethan hesitated for only a moment before stepping toward the chair. "Let¡¯s do this."
He lowered himself into the rig. Kira moved around him, attaching the interface to the base of his skull, securing the electrodes along his temples. The system hummed to life.
"Deep breaths, don¡¯t fight it." She whispered, before kissing him on the cheek. "You better come back to me!"
Ethan felt a rush of adrenaline; his eyes were already closing as the connection initialized.
The world vanished.
> Welcome, Player.
> System Initializing¡
> Loading Virtual Construct¡
> WARNING: Unverified Entry Detected.
> Proceeding with Manual Configuration.
Ethan¡¯s eyes snapped open.
He was standing in an infinite black void. Shapes flickered in the distance¡ªhalf-formed structures dissolving before they could fully take shape. Code scrolled across the air, shifting like living, breathing text.
He glanced down.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
His hands were pixelated, his form shifting between solid and fragmented. He flexed his fingers, and the distortion settled, stabilizing.
> [Character Setup Initializing]
> Please Select Class.
A grid of glowing symbols appeared before him, each representing a different archetype. Fighter. Vagabond. Gunslinger. Custom.
He barely hesitated before selecting Custom.
> [WARNING]: Advanced Class Selection Requires Manual Configuration.
> Proceed?
A grin tugged at Ethan¡¯s lips. Perfect. He had built entire systems for games like this¡ªhe knew how to manipulate the character creation process. He dove into the manual settings, tweaking parameters with a hacker¡¯s intuition. If he played this right, he could break the system just enough to give himself an edge. After a few moments, he scrolled through the custom subclass options.
Then he found it.
> [ERROR]: Invalid Selection. Unlisted Class Detected.
> Override System Verification?
Ethan exhaled sharply. He had found something off-grid, something not meant to be accessed. He selected Override. The screen glitched violently.
> [CLASS SELECTED: GLITCHBORN]
> [HP: 50/50 | STAMINA: 50/50 | CORRUPTION: 0%]
> [ATTRIBUTES: STR 4, AGI 6, END 5, INT 7, WIL 5, PER 5]
> Trait Unlocked:
> [Anomaly]
> Skills Unlocked:
> [Unknown] [Level Null]
> [Unknown] [Level Null]
> [Unknown] [Level Null]
> [Unknown] [Level Null]
> [Unknown] [Level Null]
> [Unknown] [Level Null]
His stomach dropped.
The air around him rippled. He felt seen, like a thousand invisible eyes had turned toward him.
> [WARNING]: Detection Radius Increased.
> Proceed with Caution.
His form solidified, and for the first time, he felt weight in this world. A cold wind rushed past him as the void around him shattered. The Digital Abyss swallowed him whole.
Ethan fell.
The sensation was gut-wrenching, as if he had been yanked through a collapsing vortex. His HUD flickered violently, error messages screaming in the corners of his vision.
Then¡ªimpact.
He hit the ground hard, pain flaring through his limbs.
> [WARNING]: Pain Simulation at 100%.
Ethan gritted his teeth, pushing himself up. He was lying in the middle of what looked like a ruined cityscape.
"Where am I...?" he thought to himself.
Ethan took a slow step forward, absorbing the overwhelming sprawl of The Bridge. The city was a grotesque fusion of the past and future, where shattered skyscrapers reached toward the sky like broken fingers, their glass facades shattered, and their steel skeletons exposed. Neon billboards flickered erratically, some frozen mid-advertisement, others cycling through cryptic error messages.
The air carried a dense, metallic tang, and every few feet, gaping cracks in the pavement bled raw, shifting code that pulsed like an open wound. In the distance, he could see distorted figures moving¡ªNPCs stuck in corrupted loops, endlessly repeating broken scripts. Others gathered in makeshift markets, trading stolen data packets, black-market augmentations, and forbidden scripts, their glowing eyes scanning for threats. The deeper he looked, the more Ethan realized¡ªthis city wasn¡¯t just a hub. It was a graveyard of forgotten systems, a testament to the lawless chaos of the Abyss.
This wasn¡¯t a game. This was something else.
He stood, his hands tightening into fists as he scanned his surroundings. His interface pinged. A hunched figure shuffled toward him from the shadows of a nearby alley. It was a gaunt man wearing tattered digital robes, his face obscured by a flickering mask of static. "Traveler... traveler, you seek the path?" The voice was hollow, layered with a distorted echo.
Ethan hesitated. "Who are you?"
The NPC twitched. "The path... yes, the path. Follow the light, but beware the broken ones. The broken ones. The broken... ones..."
Ethan frowned. Something was off. The man''s body trembled as if caught in a corrupted loop. His hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly, his head twitching in the same jerky motion. The realization hit Ethan like a shock to the system¡ªthe NPC was broken, stuck in a repeating error.
"What happened here?" Ethan asked cautiously.
"The path... the path... find the path..." The NPC''s voice stuttered, his body flickering in and out of existence. He suddenly convulsed, freezing mid-motion, eyes staring into nothingness before snapping back into the loop.
"Traveler... traveler, you seek the path?" he repeated, his voice identical, as if Ethan had never spoken.
> [Quest] Activated: [Find the First Trail]
A waypoint flickered in his vision, leading down a ruined alley the NPC had come from.
"That has to be Kira" He thought. "This must be the way to the data cache."
Ethan cautiously moved deeper into the alley, the neon lights above flickering erratically, casting jagged shadows against the walls. The further he went, the more NPCs he encountered¡ªsome slumped against the buildings, whispering fragmented code to themselves, while others wandered aimlessly, their faces vacant, their eyes flickering between expressions as if trying to process their own existence.
At a corner where the alley widened, a makeshift stall had been set up, cluttered with an assortment of crude, glitching weapons. The vendor behind it was an NPC with a metallic jaw and a single glowing eye that scanned Ethan as he approached.
"You look like you need protection, outsider," the vendor rasped, his voice modulating between different pitches. "I have the finest tools for survival: destabilizers, voltage blades, even a pulse cannon¡ªcheap, cheap!"
Ethan eyed the weapons warily. Some of them looked serviceable, others flickered between shapes, as if unable to decide what they were meant to be. "What¡¯s the catch?" he asked, crossing his arms.
The vendor chuckled, a sound like corrupted audio. "No catch. Just data¡ªyour data. A small, insignificant fragment for something that could save your life. A fair trade, yes?"
Ethan¡¯s interface pinged with a prompt:
> [Transaction Request] - Unknown Source. Warning: Potential Data Integrity Risk.
He took a step back. "No thanks."
The vendor¡¯s smile twitched; his glowing eye narrowing. "Shame. The Abyss is not kind to the unarmed."
Ethan turned away before the vendor could push further, his unease growing. Whatever passed for a marketplace in the Abyss, it was clear that every transaction came with hidden consequences.
Ethan continued following the waypoint until he reached a long desolate highway with empty and abandoned vehicles, their rusted frames stripped of anything useful. The air was unnervingly still, the neon reflections from the skyline casting eerie shadows through shattered windshields. Each step he took echoed against the cracked asphalt, the silence pressing in around him. A cold sensation crept down his spine¡ªhe was being watched. His HUD flickered.
> [Stealth] Skill: Level 1
> [Perception] Skill: Level 1
Barely enough to be useful. Still, he focused, attempting to listen beyond the hum of the digital wind. A faint distortion crackled in his audio feed, a pattern that didn¡¯t match the environment. Someone¡ªor something¡ªwas tailing him.
A distant roar split the silence.
Ethan turned sharply.
At the far end of the highway, something massive moved. A shadow against the neon haze. A shifting, grotesque form¡ªhalf-machine, half-nightmare, its limbs twitching in ways that defied logic. Its red eyes locked onto him.
> [WARNING]: AI Detected.
> Threat Level: LETHAL.
Ethan barely had time to react before it lunged, violently flipping vehicles in its wake.
Instinct took over. Ethan ran.
His feet pounded against the cracked pavement, his breath coming in sharp gasps. The AI monstrosity pursued, its body distorting as it phased between reality and digital corruption.
His HUD flashed.
> [NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED]: [System Exploit]
Ethan¡¯s lungs burned as he sprinted across the desolate highway, weaving between abandoned vehicles as the rogue AI closed the distance. His HUD flashed red¡ªa warning just before a devastating blow clipped his side. Pain exploded through his ribs as he was sent tumbling across the cracked asphalt, skidding to a stop against the husk of a rusted-out transport.
> [HP =<10%] Critical - System Integrity Failing
He groaned, pushing himself up just as the AI loomed over him. Its monstrous frame glitched, limbs elongating and contracting in unnatural ways, its red eyes burning like twin infernos. It was preparing for the final strike.
Desperation took over.
Ethan¡¯s raised both of his hands to shield himself, his mind locking onto the only thought he had left.
> [System Exploit] Activated.
The world fractured.
A massive section of the highway disintegrated into raw code, entire chunks of asphalt and vehicles dissolving into cascading lines of shimmering data. The ground beneath the AI vanished. With a distorted howl, it plunged into the abyss below, crashing onto the exposed lower infrastructure of the highway. The impact sent a shockwave through the environment, stunning the creature momentarily.
Ethan wasted no time. Clutching his ribs, he scrambled to his feet and bolted toward the waypoint. He didn''t look back. The AI wouldn¡¯t stay down for long, and he had no intention of waiting to find out what happened when it recovered.
Ethan staggered off the highway, lungs burning, each step sending fresh waves of pain through his battered body. He ducked into a crumbling overpass, its skeletal remains offering some cover from the chaos he had just escaped. The city beyond flickered with corrupted neon, but here, in the dim shadows, he could finally catch his breath.
His HUD pinged.
> [New Skill Unlocked]: Regenerate (Level 1) - HP will recover slowly over time.
Relief flooded him as he felt a faint warmth spread through his body, the pain in his ribs dulling ever so slightly. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was something.
Another notification flickered onto his display.
> [System Exploit]: [Cooldown] Active. Time Remaining: 23:12:47
Ethan¡¯s jaw tightened. So that¡¯s what it was¡ªan ultimate move, not something he could spam whenever he wanted. It made sense. The way the world had broken apart, how the AI had fallen straight through the highway¡ªthis wasn¡¯t just another hack. It was a game-breaking ability, and now, he was locked out of using it when he might need it most. "No wonder this class didn''t make it to the production build of the game" he sniggered to himself.
He focused on the time, it had been night since he arrived, however dawn was approaching, and the cooldown seemed to be ticking away seconds. Ethan deduced that time here passed the same as it did in base reality. He did a review of his class, attributes and skills that had been revealed to him so far, partly regretting that he didn''t stick to a preset character class and messed with the creation process. He really had no idea how the base system worked, or this "Glitchborn" class even matched the same standards.
> HP: 14% (Regenerating)
> CLASS: Glitchborn
> [HP: 14/50 | STAMINA: 20/50 | CORRUPTION: 10%]
> [ATTRIBUTES: STR 4, AGI 6, END 5, INT 7, WIL 5, CHA 5]
> TRAITS: Anomaly
> SKILLS:
> Regenerate [Level 1]
> Stealth [Level 1]
> Perception [Level 1]
> Unknown [Null]
> Unknown [Null]
> System Exploit [Ultimate] (Cooldown: 23:12:25)
> INVENTORY:
> [NULL]
He was still unaware what the traits or missing skills of his class were and had not managed to work out his inventory at all. He felt like he was way in over his head and would give anything to be able to speak to Kira, to ask her a question, to feel her lips again. He removed the thought from his mind, in a futile attempt to stay focused.
His HUD remained still, nothing, no new notifications.
And then suddenly, his HUD flickered.
> [Deception] Skill: [Level 1]
It wasn''t a message from Kira, but another unknown skill of this class finally revealed. He wondered if the reveal was anything other than coincidental timing, there seemed to be no way of telling how this Glitchborn class was playing out.
"Deception might just come in handy..." he thought to himself. There was only one prelisted skill set to unknown, but he had no idea how to trigger the reveal, or if it was even going to be useful.
He sank against the cold concrete, breathing heavily. He needed to move soon, but for now, he let his regeneration take hold, every tick of healing a small victory in a world that wanted him dead.
Chapter 4 - The Shadow of Cedric
Chapter 4 - The Shadow of Cedric
As Ethan followed his waypoints he moved cautiously through the desolate remains of the Bridge, the huge hub city that served as the last known stable domain before deeper, more fractured parts of the Abyss. The distant neon glow cast jagged shadows over the crumbling streets, flickering erratically as if the city itself was on the verge of collapse.
His body still ached from his near-fatal encounter with the rogue AI on the highway, but his regeneration skill had worked steadily, pushing his HP up to a safer margin. He kept a mental note of his cooldowns, his new "Glitchborn" class abilities still a mystery to him.
The class felt more like a gamble than an advantage, and without a proper understanding of the system mechanics, every move he made could be a potential disaster.
But he had bigger problems now. He was drawing too much attention.
At first, he seemingly blended into the background of the city''s corrupted dataflow¡ª but now he stood out, overhearing eerie distorted NPC chatter, fragmented code loops repeating endlessly.
"An outsider¡ looking for the dead¡"
"One who died twice¡ yet still lingers¡"
"Echoes remain. The lost one walks the void¡"
As he wandered deeper into the back alleyways and bars of the Bridge, the whispers became more distinct. Ethan spotted something in the distance, a discarded makeshift weapon that had been scavenged¡ªa broken voltage blade barely functional, its energy core flickering weakly. Most importantly, it''s previous owner nowhere in sight. Ethan picked up the makeshift weapon and his HUD glimmered.
> [Voltage Blade] Added To Inventory
> [Voltage Blade] Equipped
He inspected the [Voltage Blade] closer.
> [Voltage Blade] Weakened state. <=13% Energy Remaining. <=28% Durability.
It would have to do for now. Someone¡ªsomething¡ªknew he was looking for the data cache, for answers about his brother. And that meant he was being watched, that meant danger.
The Bridge was a city of remnants. A mix of old game architecture, forgotten AI-controlled districts, and rogue data markets operating under the nose of the corrupted overlords. Ethan learned quickly that information here didn¡¯t come for free¡ªit had to be bought.
And the price wasn¡¯t always credits.
His next waypoint hovered over a dwelling in front of him. Ethan entered a bar that he came to find out was called The Data Well, a neon-drenched dive filled with NPCs and what Ethan suspected were other divers¡ª but he had no way of knowing for sure. He couldn''t risk long conversations and wasn''t about to approach potentially dangerous situations by asking these types of questions directly.
He approached the bartender, an NPC with flickering code running down his arms like tattoos. Ethan hesitated, then placed his hands on the bar. "I am looking for the information broker," he said.
The bartender did not reply, instead he gave the slightest gesture of a nod towards the direction of a man sitting alone at a table in the dimly lit corner of the bar. Without a further word spoken, Ethan returned the nod to the bartender and made his way over the man sitting alone.
Ethan sat down in the dimly lit corner of the bar, facing the man who sat alone before studying him. His figure shrouded in the flickering neon haze. He was older, his face lined with deep creases, suggesting a life spent navigating the digital underworld.
A pair of augmented lenses glowed faintly beneath the shadow of his hood, their lenses scanning Ethan as he sat down. His long coat, patched with synthetic leather and reinforced plating, bore the marks of someone who had survived far too many encounters with both CyberWatch and rogue AIs.
"I am looking for something" Ethan said, breaking the silence.
The information broker''s mechanical gaze fixed on him. "Everyone here is looking for something, outsider. What makes you different?"
Ethan exhaled. He had no money, no established credibility in this world. But he did have a newly unlocked skill.
> [Deception] Activated: [Level 1]
For a moment, he felt something shift in the system. A subtle push, like nudging a piece of unstable code in his favour. He leaned in. "I''m here on behalf of CyberWatch."
The information broker flinched. The nearby patrons stilled, their broken conversations pausing for just a second before resuming in glitchy murmurs.
"You speak of the watch," the information broker muttered. "You are either very foolish¡ or very unfortunate."
Ethan held his ground. "Tell me what you know about the data cache I seek."
The information broker tapped his fingers against the counter. The neon beneath his fingertips pulsed with corrupted energy.
"The only cache I know that holds anything of value to someone like you is currently in the wards... Word is, something big has been happening down in the Lower Ward Domain.. But¡ beware. The warlord who rules there is ruthless, not even those of the watch return when they enter."
"What else can you tell me?" Ethan questioned.
"Nothing else of value... I do not know anything more"
Ethan nodded, stepping away and leaving the information brokers'' table. That was more than he expected. The Lower Wards¡ª He wondered if this is where Cedric''s last movements in the Abyss were. Before he could finish the thought, his HUD glimmered.
> [Quest Completed - Find the first trail]
> [Quest Added - Investigate the Lower Ward Domain]
Ethan wondered if this was Kira from above who updated his log or if this was triggered by speaking with the information broker. He was still surprised his deception skill worked, suddenly his HUD beamed again.
> [Deception] Skill level increase [Level 2]
The moment he left The Data Well; he felt it again¡ªeyes on him. Watching. Waiting. His minimap updated with a waypoint.
Ethan followed the designated path, his HUD guiding him through the decaying city. The waypoint flickered steadily ahead, leading him past derelict structures where neon signs flickered erratically, their messages long since corrupted into gibberish. The deeper he ventured, the more the architecture became unstable¡ªbuildings bending at impossible angles, entire streets phasing in and out of existence like forgotten memories.
The neon glow of the Bridge cast eerie reflections on the crumbling structures as he maneuvered through derelict alleyways and abandoned intersections. The waypoint pulsed stronger, leading him to an archway flickering between existence and oblivion¡ªa swirling vortex of raw data and fractured code. It stood as a gateway between the Bridge and the Lower Wards.
As Ethan moved closer to the portal, a raspy voice called out to him from a stall cluttered with various supplies¡ªdented rations, cracked energy cells, and bottles of something that glowed an unnatural shade of blue.
"You look like you could use a few essentials, traveler," the NPC vendor said, his voice thick with artificial cheer. "A meal, some medical patches? Maybe a bit of insurance in case things get messy down there?"
Ethan shook his head. "I¡¯ll manage."
The vendor chuckled, leaning forward on his elbows.
His weathered face overlaid with fragmented digital markings, flickering erratically. "Everyone thinks that, at first. But the Lower Wards ain¡¯t like the Bridge. Down there, it¡¯s chaos. The factions are always at each other¡¯s throats¡ªsome fight for control, some for survival. Others? Just for the hell of it."
Ethan paused, curiosity getting the better of him. "Factions? Who¡¯s in charge?"
The vendor scoffed. "No one. That¡¯s the problem. Used to be a council kept things in check, but that fell apart ages ago. Now you got Agoral and his warband carving up the east, the Cult of the code holed up in the ruins, and then there¡¯s the scavengers¡ªopportunists, mercs, and deserters who take what they can, when they can. There¡¯s no morality, no stability. Just the strongest ruling until someone stronger comes along."
Ethan absorbed the information, glancing at the waypoint flickering in his HUD. "Sounds like a place where people disappear."
The vendor let out a low chuckle. "That¡¯s putting it lightly, friend. You go in prepared, or you don¡¯t come out at all."
Ethan exhaled slowly before turning away. "I¡¯ll take my chances."
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Taking a deep breath, Ethan stepped into the vortex, feeling an immediate sensation of weightlessness as the world around him twisted and fragmented. His HUD flickered, momentarily losing signal before reconnecting as he emerged on the other side.
The Lower Wards sprawled before him¡ªan ancient city reborn in digital decay. Towering, half-ruined marble structures reminiscent of a corrupted ancient empire loomed over the streets, their once-pristine columns now wrapped in neon ivy and jagged code.
Statues of forgotten deities and emperors stood frozen in glitched postures, some missing limbs, others shifting between different historical forms as the system struggled to render them. The air was thick with the distant hum of malfunctioning systems, and ghostly NPCs wandered in loops, their dialogues fragmented and distorted. This place was both ancient history and dystopia, merged into one forgotten corner of the Abyss.
Navigating the Lower Wards was like stepping into a fractured simulation. Half-rendered architecture loomed over stone pathways of digital static, where the roads glitched between different styles¡ªone moment, highly detailed and defined, the next, pixelated ruins of an old city.
Ethan moved cautiously, keeping to the shadows where he could. His Perception skill flickered with low-level warnings, small anomalies appearing in the edges of his HUD. The ancient city was alive, but not in a way that made sense.
Then, he saw her. She stood beneath a crumbling marble archway, her hooded cloak reminiscent of an ancient patrician, though interwoven with shimmering neon threads that pulsed like a living circuit. Her features were strikingly sharp, sculpted like the statues that lined the streets, but her eyes were unlike anything Ethan had seen¡ªhollow voids filled with shifting code, glitched patterns of purple and silver.
The woman stood near a broken alleyway, draped in tattered robes that flickered between different textures¡ªmedieval, cybernetic, spectral. She turned, revealing piercing violet eyes that weren¡¯t quite human.
"You do not belong here" she said, her voice layered, echoing in ways Ethan didn¡¯t understand.
Ethan exhaled. "Neither do you."
The woman¡¯s lips twitched into a knowing smile. "Perhaps. But I have made peace with this existence. Have you?"
Ethan clenched his fists. "I don¡¯t plan on staying."
A pause. The woman stepped closer. "Not many outsiders pass through the ward. You seek something. What is it you seek?"
Ethan froze. He was conflicted about trusting the woman. Instead, he probed her for information. "Doesn''t everybody here seek something?"
Suddenly something caught her attention, and she darted for a nearby column.
"Hide yourself! They are coming!" She exclaimed before disappearing behind the ruined column.
Ethan snapped a glance before diving into cover in the same direction the woman went. He heard them before he saw them, the marching of boots, many boots, along the along the stone path. There were numerous militant soldiers marching along the path with a uniformed pace. They wore the same bronze armored chest plates and steel helmets, each with swords or spears in hand.
Ethan glanced over at the woman, who was now hiding next to him. "Who are they?" He queried.
"Agorals men, raiders from the eastern wards, a murderous bunch... Now shhh! Before they hear us!" The woman warned.
Ethans HUD flickered.
> [Skill] [Stealth] [Level 2]
The cohort of militants marched by, unaware of their hidden presence. Once the sound of marching steps had dimmed with distance, they both came out of hiding.
"My name is Tia" the woman said. "I stay in the Horrick ruins not far from here."
Ethan feeling more at ease replied "I am Ethan, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you Tia. Thank you for the warning."
"You are most certainly welcome Ethan, Agoral and his men are nothing short of common bandits. I couldn''t bring myself to not give you fair warning." Tia assured.
"I don''t meet a lot of courteous people here" Ethan stated. He grew suspicious of Tia, she didn''t appear to be an NPC, she wasn''t like anyone he had met in the Abyss so far. Was she another diver?
"Well, you met me" she smiled. "So, Ethan, what brings you to the wards after all?"
"I am searching for a cache, one that belonged to a friend" He responded.
"I don''t know anything about a cache, but perhaps someone else at the Horrick ruins might know. You are welcome to join me on the way back" Tia said.
"That sounds about as good of a lead as I will get Tia, lead the way"
"It''s not too far from here" Tia said, before setting off down the stone path.
The walk to the Horrick ruins was treacherous, the cracked marble streets flickering between states of decay and reconstruction, as if the system couldn''t decide whether to preserve or erase this place.
Ethan and Tia moved cautiously, their steps echoing through the vast and abandoned sections of ancient ruins and green overgrowth fluttering in a ghostly wind. Each shadow seemed to stretch unnaturally, twisting as though something unseen lurked just beyond the veil of corrupted code. Ethan¡¯s Perception skill pulsed softly in his HUD, flickering between weak and strong warnings¡ªsomeone, or something, was following them.
> [Skill] [Perception] [Level 2]
The first attack came in the form of a pulse¡ªa silent rupture of the world around him. The air distorted. Ethan perceived the attack with barely enough time to react before something lurched out of the static.
Humanoid figures draped in black, three of them, their faces voids of shifting data. Their limbs cracked as they moved, too fast, their forms unstable, like corrupted code forced into humanoid shapes.
> [WARNING]: Hostile Entities Detected
> Threat Level: Unknown
After barely dodging the first attack, a streak of shadow went slicing through the air where his head had been moments before. He rolled, landing hard against a digital wall that flickered between stone and white marble panelling.
Ethan''s grip tightened around the Voltage Blade as the two void shadow assassins lunged at him, their twisted forms phasing in and out of existence like corrupted data streams. Tia had engaged the third assassin, her movements swift and precise as she countered its strikes with a precision honed by experience. She wielded a long staff; with exceptional technique her strikes were swift and fluid. Ethan barely had time to glance at his HUD:
> [System override] [Cooldown 14:35:55]
His ultimate was still locked in cooldown, a long way off from being usable. He grit his teeth and raised his weakened blade, using quick parries and footwork to keep the assassins at bay.
The shadows moved with relentless aggression; their attacks faster than his eyes could fully track. Sparks flew as his Voltage Blade clashed against their ethereal weapons, but each block drained his dwindling energy reserves.
They were pressing him hard, backing him into a narrowing corner, his breathing ragged as he realized he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out much longer. One of the assassins feinted, the other capitalizing on the opening¡ªEthan had no choice but to act.
With a desperate cry, he lunged forward, fully expecting to take a fatal hit¡ªwhen suddenly, his vision blurred. The world fractured into glitched pixels, his body breaking apart and reforming behind one of the assassins.
> New Skill Unlocked: Phase Step [Level 1]
His blade struck true, piercing the assassin¡¯s back with lethal precision. The creature let out a distorted shriek before collapsing into cascading lines of broken code.
Ethan staggered back, his heart hammering as realization set in¡ªhe had just teleported. A new skill, born from sheer desperation. The two remaining assassins paused for a moment while analysing the events that lead to the fall of their ally before fleeing out of sight.
Across the battlefield, Tia glanced at him briefly before calling out, "Ethan, let''s move!"
Ethan didn¡¯t hesitate, not even stopping to plunder the fallen foe, he rejoined with Tia, and they continued with haste further off the trail and deeper into the overgrowth. While in a moment of respite, he stopped to check his voltage blade.
> [Voltage Blade] Weakened state. <=5% Energy Remaining. <=19% Durability.
"This thing isn''t going to last much longer..." He thought to himself.
"We should avoid the trail from here on out" Tia stated, still panting and catching her breath.
"I agree" Ethan remarked. "Do you know who they were?"
"Agoral''s assassins" Tia said, with a concern look falling over her face. "You stuck one them down, that was impressive, but the others will be back in greater numbers."
"Then we must move fast"
"Yes, but we must be careful not to leave a trail they can follow behind us" Tia advised. "We aren''t far now, they won''t dare follow us into Horrick".
"Why not?" Ethan questioned.
"You''ll see!" Tia replied, with a smile.
Ethan wasn''t thrilled with Tia''s response, or her lack of detail in her answer, but for now he trusted her.
They pushed through the dense overgrowth, their steps careful as the wild vegetation tangled around ancient stone pathways. The deeper they went, the more the jungle-like terrain gave way to crumbling structures, remnants of a civilization long abandoned to digital decay.
As they made their way through the dense undergrowth, Ethan found himself stealing glances at Tia. The faint neon glow filtering through the corrupted sky cast a surreal shimmer on her features. She had sharp, angular cheekbones softened by a natural warmth in her expression, and her violet eyes¡ªflickering with shifting code¡ªseemed to hold stories untold. Her robe, woven with threads of ancient design and modern digital overlays, hugged her lithe frame as she moved with practiced ease through the uneven terrain.
"You walk like someone who¡¯s lived in this place a long time" Ethan mused, stepping over a gnarled root jutting from the cracked stone path.
Tia smirked but didn¡¯t look at him. "You could say that. This world... it has a way of keeping people who don¡¯t belong anywhere else."
Ethan caught the weight in her words, something unspoken lingering beneath them. "And you? You don¡¯t belong anywhere else?"
For the first time, she hesitated. "I did, once." Her fingers briefly traced the edge of a rusted column as they passed. "But that was a long time ago. Now, this is all I have. The Lower Wards, the ruins, the people who live in the cracks of the system. It¡¯s home."
Ethan frowned but chose his next words carefully. He wanted to ask if she was also diving, but he changed his words at the last moment. "It sounds like you lost something important."
Tia let out a quiet laugh, though it lacked amusement. "Not something. Someone. Myself, maybe."
Ethan wanted to press further, but something in her expression told him not to. Instead, he offered a small nod. "For what it¡¯s worth, you seem more alive than most I¡¯ve met here."
Tia¡¯s eyes met his, lingering just a little longer than before. "That¡¯s kind of you to say, Ethan. But let¡¯s see if you still think that once you meet the others."
As they emerged from the thick underbrush, a ruined town sprawled before them, its broken buildings forming a jagged skyline beneath the ever-flickering neon mist of the Lower Wards. At the town¡¯s center stood a colossal structure¡ªan ancient coliseum, its once-magnificent archways now fractured and overridden with creeping vines of corrupted code. Tia gestured toward the ruins; her expression unreadable.
¡°This is Horrick,¡± she said. ¡°My people control these ruins. We¡¯ve turned it into a trading hub¡ªone of the last trading districts in the Lower Ward zone.¡±As Ethan took in the sight, he noticed figures moving in the shadows¡ªcloaked individuals observing from the periphery.
¡°Your people?¡± he asked.
Tia¡¯s lips curled slightly. ¡°Don''t worry, just let me do the talking.¡±