The air in the maintenance subgrid was thick, almost stifling. The dim, flickering glow of long-abandoned machinery was the only light. Kai's eyes strained in the near-total darkness, but his senses were sharp, alert. He had to keep moving, keep thinking. His survival depended on it.
His chest ached, and every step sent spikes of pain through his legs. The wound on his side throbbed incessantly, and his heartbeat felt erratic in his ears. The Temporal Warp had taken more out of him than he realized. His stamina was shot. His health was low. He couldn't afford to make any mistakes.
He slowed his pace, moving cautiously through the eerie corridor. The faint hum of machinery echoed in the distance, but there was no sign of life. For now, he was safe.
Kai stopped for a moment to check his status again, though he already knew what it would say.
[Health: 34/120][Stamina: Critical][Skills Available: Temporal Warp – Cooldown in 2 hours][Warning: System Diagnostics Offline]
Nothing new. The system was glitchy at best, but he could still rely on the basics—his body, his mind, and the little tools he'd scavenged. His surroundings were old, a labyrinth of forgotten tunnels and derelict machinery. They weren't built for comfort, but they were useful. If he was lucky, he could find something that would help him survive.
The walls of the subgrid were covered in rust, cables long detached and hanging loosely like the entrails of some long-dead beast. It was a maze—an abandoned stretch of city that no one in their right mind would venture into. That was the key to surviving here. The Scavengers wouldn't bother looking for him deeper in the grid. They didn't know how far it extended, how many dead ends and trapdoors there were.
Kai pushed forward, avoiding the metallic shards and rubble that littered the ground. The sound of his footsteps was muffled by the thick dust that coated everything. His mind raced. He had to keep his distance from the girl—the one who was still hunting him—and the rest of the Scavengers. They were dangerous. The type that saw every person as either a tool or a target. They wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
But it wasn't just them he had to worry about. The subgrid was alive in its own way, full of automated defenses, abandoned traps, and scavenger creatures that prowled the darkness. It was a forgotten place, but it wasn't empty.
The walls narrowed the deeper he went, the air growing colder. Kai's breath fogged in front of him, and he pulled his jacket tighter around himself. His body was telling him to rest, to recover, but he couldn't afford that luxury. Not when every second could mean the difference between life and death.
He stumbled upon a narrow door half-hidden behind a pile of discarded tech and machinery. It had the look of something ancient—rusted hinges and a panel covered in dust. It looked like it hadn't been opened in years, but it was a way forward. Maybe it would lead him to something useful. Or maybe it would just trap him.
He didn't have time to hesitate.
Kai reached out and gripped the handle, his hand trembling slightly. He pulled, but it was stuck. The door wouldn't budge. He gritted his teeth and slammed his shoulder into it. The door groaned, scraping against the metal, and then it gave way with a violent screech.
Behind it, the room was pitch black.
No, not completely black. There was a faint light—flickering like a dying star, casting erratic shadows on the walls. The place was cold, but not entirely empty. It looked like an old power station, or some kind of facility that had been abandoned in haste.
Kai's eyes scanned the room, seeking any sign of danger. It was strange—too quiet, even for a place like this. His instincts screamed at him to leave, but the room was too intriguing. There had to be something here, something he could use.
He moved inside, his footsteps light and careful. His eyes locked onto a console in the far corner, half-covered by debris. If there was anything here that could give him an edge, it was likely hidden there. His pulse quickened as he approached.
He knelt beside it, brushing aside the dirt and grime that had accumulated over the years. The console's screen flickered to life when he pressed a button.
A low hum filled the air, the lights above flickering as the old system activated. The console displayed a series of outdated commands, none of which made much sense. It was all in code—encrypted data that he couldn't begin to understand. But at the top of the screen, there was one line of text that caught his attention.
[System Override: Access Granted]
What?
He didn't have time to think. He pressed the line of code, and the system's interface shifted. A stream of data flooded the screen—messages about security protocols, failed communications, and some kind of facility lockdown. None of it made sense to him, but it didn't matter. There was something here. Something that could be useful.
[Warning: Unauthorized User Access Detected][Initiating Protocol: Recalibration Required]
The screen blinked, and the console began to emit a low-frequency hum that vibrated in his bones.
"Shit," he muttered under his breath. The room seemed to grow colder, the shadows in the corners lengthening.
Suddenly, the door he'd entered through slammed shut with a heavy clang. Kai's heart raced. He spun around, his mind racing. The system was reacting to his intrusion. He'd triggered something.
He reached for his wristband, but the system was already locked down.
[System Lockdown: Recalibration in Progress]
The walls seemed to groan, the machinery in the room shuddering to life. It was as if the entire room was waking up after decades of slumber. The ground trembled beneath him, and for a brief moment, he feared the entire facility was about to collapse.
The overhead lights flickered wildly, and then—nothing. Complete darkness.
Kai's breath caught in his throat. He strained his ears, listening intently.
Something was moving in the dark.
He wasn't alone.
The sound of shuffling footsteps echoed in the silence, too heavy to be human. The air turned colder still, and Kai felt a chill crawl up his spine.
He reached for the nearest piece of debris—a jagged piece of metal—and gripped it tightly, bracing himself.
Then, out of the blackness, a pair of glowing eyes appeared.
He wasn't alone.
And whatever it was, it was far more dangerous than anything he had faced before.
[End of Chapter 5]