The fog had grown thicker since Damien last stepped beyond the edge of his claimed zone. The corrupted light from the system sky pulsed in slow waves above him, casting fractured shadows across the ground. With Myles and Nova walking at his sides, the silence between them was not awkward. It was the silence of professionals, of people used to moving in dangerous places where sound could mean death.
They were hunting.
More specifically, they were tracing something. A signal. Weak, nearly undetectable, but different from the usual background noise that echoed through corrupted zones.
Nova adjusted the display hovering in front of her. The map shifted. Layers peeled away until only flickering pulses remained. One of them stood out.
There.
She pointed to a jagged red blur deep inside an area labeled Forgotten District Nine.
Myles narrowed his eyes. That zone was unregistered. Technically not even part of the known map.
Nova spoke calmly. The signal originates from the upper levels of an incomplete tower. Everything about the code in that district is decaying but something is stabilizing the interior. Something intelligent.
Damien studied the map. The pulsing signal blinked again. Then, just for a moment, it shifted in tone. Not in color, but in rhythm. It became slower. Measured. Almost like a heartbeat.
He did not need Nova to tell him what it meant.
It was not just a power source.
It was a presence.
We go in, he said.
The path was broken, littered with debris and corrupted architecture. Buildings rose at strange angles. Signs of system decay were everywhere. Glitched staircases led into voids. Roads ended in midair. But the tower was visible in the distance, like a jagged spike of frozen code rising into the poisoned sky.
As they moved closer, Damien noticed strange markings on the broken walls. Symbols that did not match any known system script. Myles stopped beside one of them and ran a gloved hand across the stone.
These are not system made, he said. Someone carved them after the corruption took hold.
Nova scanned them. They are linked to identity coding. Whoever left them was trying to resist being wiped.
They reached the base of the tower. Its doors were open. Or rather, they had never been sealed. Inside, the structure looked half-finished. Walls faded in and out. Light sources flickered randomly. And in the center of the room stood a terminal.
It pulsed with the same rhythm as the signal.
Damien stepped toward it.
Careful, Nova said.
He touched the terminal.
Everything stopped.
For a second, he felt nothing. Then his mind was dragged into a space of pure data. White void. Black wires. And a single voice.
So you finally came.
Damien stood in the center of the void. He was not in his body. Not really. This was a projection space. A construct made to communicate across corrupted systems.
Who are you, he asked.
The voice laughed, soft but cold.
You already know. You just do not want to admit it.
A shape formed ahead of him. A figure cloaked in shifting data, its face covered by a smooth white mask. Eyes like bleeding pixels stared back at him.
The Revenant.
Damien did not flinch. What do you want?
The figure took a step forward. To show you the truth. To prepare you for what comes next.
Damien kept his expression still. You poisoned me. You took everything from me.
I accelerated what would have happened anyway. Your death was only a spark. You are better now, are you not?
The words echoed strangely in the space. Like they were being spoken through hundreds of voices at once.
The figure reached out. You are not ready yet. But you will be.
Damien felt a pull in his chest. The system was trying to eject him. His connection to the real world snapped back into place.
He stumbled backward, returning to the tower room.
Nova caught him. Are you alright?
He nodded slowly.
Myles looked at the terminal. What did you see?
Damien stared at the pulsing core.
A warning. And a promise.
He turned away. We are not safe here. Not yet.
Outside, the corrupted wind howled softly through the broken district. And deep inside the void, the Revenant watched through a hundred fragmented cameras waiting for the next move.