The streets were silent, the ruins bathed in the faint glow of twilight. My legs felt like dead as I moved forward and every of my last step slower went than the last. My mind was a blur weighed down by exhaustion and fear. I clutched my club loosely, its rough edges digging into my palm as I wandered through the streets.
Then I saw a little girl, no older than ten, standing alone in the middle of the road. Her tattered dress hung limply on her small frame, and her face was half-hidden behind a mop of messy hair.
She didn't move, her wide eyes locked on me as I approached.
I froze, unsure of what to do. My throat tightened, I couldn't even find the words to speak. How could I protect her when I could barely protect myself?
But then she took a step closer. Her small trembling hand reached out and clutched the hem of my suit.
I stared at her for a moment and my heart still pounded fast.
I tightened my grip on my club forcing myself to take a steadying breath and said the only thing that came to mind.
"Let's go."
She followed me everywhere since then. My legs heavy and trembling with exhaustion as we're strolling around for hours. Night was creeping in and the air had grown colder.
Everyone still rushing toward the center desperate to finish the mission.
Then a tall broad-shouldered man stood up in front of me, emerged from the dark corner with a hard expression. He stopped in the middle of the road and his gaze locking onto the girl at my side.
"Hand her over," he said.
I gripped the girl's hand tighter. My heart pounded in my chest as I realized I couldn't win against him. His presence alone enough to drain any hope I might have had of standing my ground.
But I couldn't give her up.
"I can't do that," I said, my voice shaking.
He took a step closer with his fists clenched. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."
I shifted in front of the girl as my body acting on instinct.
"Just… leave us alone," my words sounded weak even to my own ears.
Without warning, he lunged.
His hand shot out, grabbing me by the neck with terrifying strength. My feet left the ground as he lifted me like I weighed nothing, his grip tightening until I couldn't breathe.
He threw me.
The world spun as my body slammed into a pile of rubble. I gasped and clawed at the ground as I tried to push myself up.
But then the ruins beneath me seemed to shift and an unnatural chill radiating from the ground.
I froze, my breath hitching as an oppressive presence washed over me. The darkness around the rubble moved like smoke. My chest tightened, panic clawing at my mind as the tendrils touched my skin. They were freezing, biting cold, but they also pulsed almost as if they were alive.
The shadows wrapped around me slithering like snakes and binding me in their icy grip as the darkness closed in consuming me completely.
In the suffocating void, my senses twisted. Pain bloomed as my bones felt like they were shattering and my muscles tearing apart and reforming all at once. I screamed but the darkness swallowed even that.
The last thing I heard was the man's voice.
He was screaming too.
His cry was agonized cutting through the blackness like a knife before fading into nothingness.
Everything went black.
***
"Shadow."
The word echoed softly, pulling me from the depths of unconsciousness.
I opened my eyes feeling my head pounding like it had been split open. Every inch of my body ached.
The little girl sat beside me with her small frame hunched over. The light filtered through the ruins.
"What happened?" I croaked, my throat dry and raw.
She didn't answer, not fully. Her lips moved, repeating the same word, over and over. "Shadow… shadow..."
It was the first time I'd heard her speak.
I forced myself to sit up. My gaze fell on the man's body a few feet away. His skin was a shade of blue like frostbite had crept over him in the night.
The memory came rushing back, his hand crushing my neck, the ruin swallowing me in darkness, and the chilling agony that coursed through me. I shuddered as the pain from last night still fresh in my mind.
The girl's muttering continued andher blank eyes fixed on nothing.
What's with this girl?
I paused as my vision suddenly blurred. Lines of light stretched across the air in front of me. A screen materialized in front of me, it hovered mid-air semi-transparent and shifting slightly like a mirage. The voice in my earphones spoke softly along with the words appears on the screen:
[Hyperstitial Transmission: Recursive Reality Prototypes Active]
"What… is this?" I clutching my head.
The little girl stared at me blankly unflinching as if she couldn't see the words floating in the air.
The voice continued:
[Self-Fulfilling Entities: Archetype Confirmed]
My head throbbed when I saw the next text on the screen.
[MISSION: ESCORT A CITIZEN TO CENTRAL ZONE
TIME REMAINING: 00:03:17]
I stared at the remaining time, my breath catching in disbelief. 3 hours left? Had I been unconscious for two days? How did I survive all that time while completely unaware?
There were other options displayed along the edges of the screen:
[PROFILE] [MAP]
My gaze zeroed in on the word [MAP]. Was there actually a map? My fingers moved on instinct to reaching for the text. The screen rippled under my touch like water disturbed by a pebble, nothing happened.
I hesitated then decided to try something absurd. "Open map," I said aloud.
To my surprise, the screen shifted expanding instantly to reveal a bird's-eye view of the entire city. My breath caught in my throat.
A small blinking dot marked my current position and another larger marker pulsed in the distance labeled Central Zone.
"It's real," my heart pounding.
The central zone was nearly five blocks away. That was manageable.
"I can do it.."
Somehow seeing the path laid out in front of me made the mission feel possible.
The map faded back into the main menu and I staring at the remaining option: [PROFILE].
"Open profile," I said.
The screen shifted again and what appeared made my chest tighten.
It was me.
My face stared back at me and captured in real time like a live video feed. The holographic image moved with me mirroring my every tilt, turn, and blink. The detail was unnerving like every strand of my hair, smudge of dirt on my cheek was captured perfectly.
Whoever was running this, they see everything.
Beneath my image, lines of information appeared:
NAME: KIRA
AGE: 24
ARCHETYPE: XXX
SKILLS: No skills acquired yet
Archetype? What did that mean? Was that supposed to be my… role? The time is almost over but there is no archetype and skills assigned yet.
I took a step back as my breathing shallow. The little girl tugged at my jumpsuit.
I forced myself to focus. "It's fine. I can figure this out."
The screen blinked out of existence, leaving me with the weight of my mission and the unsettling knowledge of just how closely I was being watched.