He was falling again—tumbling down that jagged cliff, or maybe straight from the sky; he couldn't tell anymore.
Ash clogged his nostrils, clawed his throat, and stung his eyes.
Not again. Please, not again…
But no crystalline ash body waited below. Instead, a cold, wet chill wrapped around him, water dragging him into a void. He let it.
"You had one order," a voice hissed, like thousands of running waters. "The command was simple…"
"But it felt right!" he screamed back. "Why did it feel right?"
Then the light came—shredding him like glass shards, sharp yet so light he floated in the wind. It tore through him, and everything went blank, the flatline beep echoing in his ears.
"My father's gonna have a field day with you…"
[SYSTEM ACTIVATED.]
[WELCOME BACK, BELIAL]
****
Eric jolted awake, eyes snapping to the blank purple wall in Kael's dim room. Silent except for the deep, nasally snoring pulling his gaze downward.
There she was, curled like a fetus on her bed, sheets tangled around her like a mummy. Her hair clung damp to her face, lips still tinged blue, but color crept back into her cheeks. He dragged a hand down his face, exhaling hard
His leg throbbed under the bandage, a familiar itch flaring again. He groaned quietly, fighting the urge to claw at the dressing like a wild animal.
He shifted, wincing, and propped himself up on the lumpy couch. The crutch leaning against it clattered to the floor. The noise didn't wake her—good.
Her questions had hammered him earlier—where he'd been, what happened to his phone, why it went dead.
He'd spun a half-assed tale: rammed his car against a rock, caught enforcers' eyes, got a warning tow instead of a dungeon cell.
Kael bought it, a small win worth celebrating as her eyes drifted shut.
But Natalie? Those sea blues had narrowed, jaw ticking as she brushed back red hair. She wasn't fooled.
Even with the silence in the house, he knew she wasn't gone, just asleep in his bed. Now he understood why the Warden of Neal City had let him go. Drenvar wanted his daughter back, and Natalie wasn't leaving Kael alone for reasons her father didn't know about.
Eric massaged his temples, hating the memories that had chosen now, of all days, to carve a space in his skull. His jaw ticked; it had to be the fucking thing in him… that wouldn't go away no matter how much he ignored it.
Well… speaking of screens.
[Stats Update]
[Integration: 18/100]
It's increasing…
Too exhausted to panic, he raised a finger that felt too heavy for his body and tapped the icon.
The screen blared brighter, searing into his retinas. Eric squinted, the word "Integration" hovering in bold black.
He tapped it again, half expecting it to vanish, hoping it'd explain itself. Instead, it expanded, text unfurling like a scroll in some cursed game he never signed up for.
[Integration: 18/100]
[Progress toward full system symbiosis. Unlock potential. Survive the merge, Belial.]
"Belial," he muttered, voice cracking in the dark. The name—there was something about it, clawing at something buried deep. Like a splinter under his skin. "What does that even mean?"
The screen didn't answer, just floated there, blaring so brightly it hurt to look at. Don't you have a dark mode or something? Whatever you wanna do with me won't be possible if I'm blind, you know…
To his surprise, right before his eyes, the screen dimmed to a static dark blue, the words sharpening into stark white.
"I'm right, then. You have a use for me."
That was met with another silence that made him want to claw at his hair and scream into the void. Instead, he buried his face in his palm and chuckled.
The nightmare he'd just had… wasn't his, but it felt more real than the fall into the ash.
What's real and what's not?
A soft sound, like a glitch crackling, whispered into his ears. Eric opened his eyes to find a new interface.
[Sanity: 85/100]
Fuck you, man. And get the fuck off my fucking face.
Kael stirred, murmuring in her sleep as she shifted against the tangled sheets, right to the edge of the bed. Even in her sleep, she blew hair off her face. For years, ever since their paths crossed in the orphanage, she'd been the one seeing things. Now it was his turn, and there went his fucking sanity dropping.
Do you ever give anything useful? Or are you nothing more than a parasite?
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[ABILITY UNLOCKED]
[REGENERATION]
[Cost: 5 Points]
[Effect: Accelerates healing. Efficiency scales with Integration Level.]
Accelerate healing, huh… His eyes drifted to his bandaged leg, the crutch still lying on the floor, ready to be picked up when he was done fighting a ghost that refused to leave.
Eric's gaze lingered on the screen. [REGENERATION]. That word taunted him. Five points to fix his leg? Tempting. Too tempting. But what was the catch? This thing—whatever it was—didn't strike him as the generous type.
Who the hell are you, and why me?
A soft groan from Kael snapped him out of it. She rolled over, one arm flopping off the bed, fingers brushing the floor. Her breathing steadied, but her lips twitched—like she was arguing with someone in her dreams. Probably him, knowing her.
He smirked despite himself, then winced as his leg protested the weight shift.
Okay, fine. Let's see what you've got.
He tapped [REGENERATION], half-expecting it to laugh in his face. The screen flickered, and a new prompt popped up:
[Confirm Use: Spend 5 Points to Activate REGENERATION? Y/N]
[Current Points: 5]
Five points? When did he—oh, right. The hospital. "First Quest Completed," it'd said. Lying to Drenvar and that creepy doctor had paid off. He snorted. Figures this thing would reward him for bullshit.
He hesitated, thumb hovering over [Y]. What if it didn't work? What if it made things worse? But the itch in his leg was unbearable now, like ants crawling under the bandage. Screw it.
He pressed [Y].
[REGENERATION SUCCESSFUL]
[Points Remaining: 0]
Now he waited for the throbbing in his leg to cease, waited for the sudden urge to get on his feet and move…
But…
Of course, you lying son of a…
He shut his eyes and let out a long, frustrated exhale, dropping back onto the couch as the screen flickered off.
Tomorrow was another day, and as much as he hated it, another day to face that screen and hurl every guttered word in his very limited vocabulary at that thing.
Then find what to do with his life without his car. Maybe a legal job—didn't mean he was rejecting any that came his way. But snagging a behind-the-counter gig was obviously easier to come by.
He'd deal with pressing problems later.
He drifted off into much-needed sleep.
For hopefully, he was ready for what was coming.
****
More nightmares that refused to leave. So when he opened his eyes to the warm glow of the morning sun, he was just as relieved as he was grateful.
Kael's bed was empty, and tucked behind his shoulders was her blanket, wrapped warmly around him like a cocoon. His crutch, placed on the arm of the couch, screamed her name.
It didn't make feeling like a raccoon better, and it didn't make it worse either. He could hear her chatter from up the hall; the lengthy giggling infiltrating even his nightmares was enough proof she was alright.
And the firm feminine voice following through made his stomach sink. Of course, she wasn't going to leave without her questions answered. And unless he was ready to get zapped, he'd better stand his ground.
Eric's gaze narrowed to the end of the wall where a worn-out study table stood.
Something didn't feel right. Like there was something he was for—
The screen flickered on, and Eric's face fell as his sense of relief diminished.
[Regeneration Completed]
[Time: 12 hrs]
"Huh." Lazy lids squinted. "Did it really work?"
With a heavy sigh, Eric shoved the blanket off his body, staring down at his leg, already resting flat against the floor in a way he wouldn't have dared last night.
"It…"
Eric flexed his toes again, still holding his breath. The bandage hung loose now, slack around his calf and dried up—no longer throbbing and itching like hell.
He looked up at the screen. It glitched. He looked back at his leg, pressed his foot flat to the floor, testing it. His weight held. When there was no sharp tinge, he added pressure and…
Holy shit. It worked. [REGENERATION] actually worked.
He laughed hard, dragging both hands through his hair. "What the… Okay, glitch." He raised a brow at the screen. "Still a dick, but I'll give you this one." He flexed his left arm; by the lack of strain, he could deduce that it was healed, too. "Crazy stuff, you know. Who knows what else you have for me."
[Allow Belial take over, A DEMO: YES/NO/REMIND ME LATER]
Eric's smirk faded as he glared at the screen.
Typical.
"You gotta make do with nineteen percent…" he murmured as he hit [NO]. "'Cause that's never gonna ever happen…"
"What will never happen?"
His entire body jerked like he'd been electrocuted. Instinct taking over, he swiped at the flickering interface, nearly slapping himself in the face as it vanished.
His heart was still hammering against his chest as he turned slowly to see her shadowing the entrance, leaning against the doorframe.
Five-foot-eight at most, but when she stared at him like that—with her arms crossed, head tilted, and squinted ice-blue eyes like her father's that had ceased warming up to him the moment he called it off—she seemed seven feet tall.
"Who were you talking to?"
He stalled, thoughts reeling with answers he knew wouldn't get him out of this shit.
Her eyes narrowed just enough to say, I'm not buying whatever you're selling, but go on.
And he—stupidly—bit, straightening his shoulders. He cleared his throat. "And good morning to you too, princess. How…" His gaze dropped to the flour-dusted joggers on her slender hips and the white singlet clinging to her torso. "…was your night?"
A slightly raised brow. This the game you want to play?
Suddenly, lying didn't seem like a good idea.
"Mhm." She pushed off the frame and took a step inside, shrugging as she swayed in, walking around the couch. "Thin walls. Couldn't take a nap with all the swearing in here."
She heard… She heard him fight with the glitch.
"And you?" She dropped her folded hands, and a kitchen knife materialized, her slender fingers curling loosely around the handle. He leaned back—not fast enough—before the edge of the knife caressed his Adam's apple. "How was your night, Eric? Hmm?"
His throat bobbed against the steel. "Fine… Dreamt about you."
She glowered at him, then her gaze lowered to his bandaged leg.
Don't panic, do not panic.
"Now that I think about it," she leaned in closer, the tips of their noses inches apart, "don't you look too good for someone who strode in half-dead yesterday?"
Now he really wondered what it looked like for her to draw that conclusion—the dark circles around his eyes, the gash on his head, the bruises on his face… He'd hate to believe they were no longer there.
The knife glinted at him. He'd begun to sweat bullets. "Look, Nat, I'm no doctor. Had a crash. Woke up four days later on a hospital bed. My legs hurt really bad, and honestly, I don't—fuck! What the fuck!"
For the knife had dug in, just an inch away from drawing blood…
"Natalie… put. that. thing. away."
"Four days ago, you suddenly went missing on the night of an Ashspawn Roam." Cold eyes searched his. "Kael was a couple of melted ice away from burning God knows what… and suddenly…" She leaned in; he flopped against the couch. "You show up hclaiming a car crash? Really?"
It sounded good in his head—not so good when she repeated his nonsense back to him.
"You're full of shit, Eric." she continued. "So, one last time…" Her voice dropped. "What happened that night four days ago?"