Chapter 2: The Clock is Ticking
The city felt... wrong.
Giovanni stumbled out of the alley, his legs still shaky. Velmont's industrial heartbeat drummed on—distant machinery groaned, neon lights flickered erratically, and the smog hung as thick as ever. Yet, something had changed. The air was charged, as if the universe itself had taken a breath and held it.
People gathered in tight clusters on the cracked sidewalks, whispering in hushed tones. A few stared at their Rings, which flickered with irregular pulses of light. Others barked into malfunctioning comms or swore at drones that hovered unsteadily in the air.
Giovanni's head throbbed. The System's glowing timer hovered persistently in his vision:
[MISSION TIMER: 23 HOURS, 43 MINUTES REMAINING.]
He swiped at it, as if dismissing a notification. The timer didn't budge.
"What the hell do I do now?" Giovanni muttered. His breath was visible in the cold night air, though he felt a strange heat radiating from the Ring around his neck.
The crowd near him grew louder. Someone shoved past, nearly knocking him over.
"It's the Rings!" a woman shouted. "They're still glitching! The flare must've done something!"
"Yeah?" snapped a man in grease-stained overalls. "Tell that to the drones crashing downtown. My whole shop's offline!"
Giovanni winced at the noise. His instincts screamed at him to disappear, to find somewhere quiet and think. Yet the faint hum of his Ring tugged him in a different direction, an almost magnetic pull he couldn't ignore.
Duck into an empty corner. Breathe. Focus. Giovanni found himself leaning against the cold brick wall of an abandoned storefront, the flickering "CLOSED" sign casting faint red light over his face.
$1,000.
The number wasn't just a target; it was a noose tightening around his neck. His fingers brushed the Ring as the Architect's mocking words echoed in his head:
"Now, run along. Let's see if you survive."
He swallowed hard. A thousand dollars in 24 hours? He barely made that in a month logging shipments, and that was before Horace took his cut.
"What happens if I fail?" he whispered.
The System's text shifted before his eyes, as if it had been waiting for the question:
[FAILURE: MEMORY FRAGMENTATION. INITIAL IMPACT: 10%. PERMANENT LOSS PROBABLE.]
Giovanni's stomach twisted. The words didn't just feel clinical—they felt like a threat.
"You're kidding me," he muttered.
The Ring warmed in response, as if it disagreed.
Panic churned in his chest, but desperation tempered it. Giovanni tapped at the glowing symbols in his vision, hoping to uncover... something. Anything. The interface shifted under his gaze, responding to his thoughts rather than his touch:
[ACTIVE ABILITIES: DUPLICATION.][ENERGY AVAILABLE: 100%.][MISSION LOG: UNREAD.]
"Duplication?" Giovanni's brows furrowed. "What the hell does that mean?"
The answer came instantly: a faint pulse from the Ring and a new line of text:
[ACTIVATING DUPLICATION ABILITY...]
Before he could prepare, the world seemed to split.
A shimmering figure stepped out from Giovanni's shadow—an exact replica of himself, down to the grease stains on his boots and the faint furrow in his brow.
"What the—" Giovanni stumbled backward, his clone staring at him with an unsettling calm.
"State objective," the duplicate said, its voice identical but hollow, like an automated response.
Giovanni blinked. "I... uh, need money?"
The duplicate tilted its head, processing. "Clarify method of acquisition."
Giovanni's mind raced. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Yet the clone stood there, waiting, unblinking. He took a shaky breath. "I don't know—work, theft, whatever gets it done!"
The duplicate nodded. "Understood." Without another word, it turned and sprinted into the night, disappearing into the chaos of Velmont's streets.
Giovanni stared after it, dumbfounded.
Velmont's Underground
Minutes felt like hours as Giovanni wandered aimlessly, trying to make sense of what had just happened. His thoughts swirled between fear, anger, and disbelief.
The timer in his vision ticked down relentlessly. [23 HOURS, 12 MINUTES REMAINING.]
His path led him to a part of Velmont he rarely visited—a maze of narrow alleyways and shadowy storefronts. Neon signs buzzed overhead, advertising everything from illegal implants to counterfeit Rings. The air smelled of grease and burnt plastic.
Velmont's underground economy was alive and thriving, even in the chaos.
Giovanni hesitated. He'd always avoided this part of the city. Too many stories about people disappearing, deals gone wrong, or worse. But now? He didn't have a choice.
A gruff voice called out as he approached a rusted booth manned by a scarred merchant. "Lost, kid? Or are you here to trade?"
Giovanni glanced at the merchant's wares—everything from scrap metal to hacked drone cores. His eyes lingered on a locked case of credit chips.
"How much for one of those?" Giovanni asked, nodding toward the case.
The merchant snorted. "Depends. You got Rings to barter, or are you just wasting my time?"
Giovanni clenched his fists. Rings. Of course. Everything in Velmont came back to Rings.
His mind raced. He needed leverage—something to trade, something valuable. The System's duplication ability flashed in his mind.
"What if…" Giovanni muttered, his heart pounding as a risky idea formed. He couldn't create money, but maybe, just maybe, he could create something worth trading.
He ducked into a nearby alley and activated the System again.
[DUPLICATION READY. ENERGY LEVEL: 90%.]
This time, he focused. Not on a copy of himself, but on an item—a gleaming scrap of the hacked drone cores he'd seen earlier. The Ring pulsed, and a shimmering replica materialized in his hands.
Giovanni stared at the duplicate, his breath catching. It was perfect.
He returned to the merchant, his pulse racing. "I've got something for you."
The merchant's eyes narrowed as Giovanni presented the replica. "That's… decent quality. Where'd you get this?"
"Does it matter?" Giovanni asked, keeping his voice steady. "How much is it worth?"
The merchant leaned back, stroking his beard. "Hmm. I'll give you 200 credits for it."
Giovanni gritted his teeth. Not enough. Not nearly enough. But it was a start.
As the transaction completed and the credits transferred, the timer ticked down again:
[22 HOURS, 34 MINUTES REMAINING.]
Giovanni glanced at the glowing numbers, his resolve hardening.
"One down. Nine hundred to go."
As Giovanni stepped back into the chaotic streets, a strange noise made him pause. His Ring buzzed faintly, and a new message appeared in his vision:
[WARNING: DUPLICATION LIMITATIONS DETECTED. ENERGY DROP: 10%. SYSTEM ADJUSTING PARAMETERS.]
Before he could process it, a faint flicker caught his eye—a shadow moving where there shouldn't have been one.
Giovanni froze, his heartbeat quickening.
"Don't stop now," a voice whispered—familiar, mocking, and far too close.
He spun around, but the alley was empty.
The Architect's laughter echoed faintly in his ears as the timer continued to count down.