Lina didn't mean to wander into another world.
It started with a missed class, a shortcut through a building under renovation, and a door left slightly open.
She heard typing.
Fast. Mechanical. Frenzied.
Her feet slowed. The room glowed pale blue from outdated monitors, wires snaking across the floor like vines. Screens flickered with code, faces, news tickers.
One of the screens flashed her name.
Lina Vale.
She froze.
"Don't panic," a voice said cheerfully. "You're not being tracked. I'm just curious."
The chair spun.
The person facing her looked like they hadn't seen daylight in a decade. Messy hair, one side buzzed. Hoodie too big, sleeves chewed. Thin wire-framed glasses sliding down a sharp nose. Eyes like caffeine.
"Hi. You must be Lina. I'm Zeke."
"…Do I know you?"
"Nope." He smiled. "But the System does."
Her heart stopped.
She took a step back.
[System Alert: DO NOT PANIC.]
[Note: Subject "Zeke Voss" is classified as "Free-Awakened." No System. No Code. Still touched.]
"What… what do you mean the System does?" she whispered.
Zeke leaned forward, elbows on his knees, almost childlike in posture.
"Because you're glowing, darling. Not literally. But in code? You shimmer."
Lina's throat tightened.
"What are you?"
Zeke's grin widened.
"Officially? Nobody. Technically? I'm the ghost that unplugs cameras before they blink. I break things for governments. Fix things for rebels. And sometimes I run an illegal forum for System-Aware anomalies."
"There's more?"
"Oh, lots. Most of them don't live long enough to matter."
She clenched her fists.
Zeke noticed.
"You're different, though. Your signature is elegant. Polite. Almost… grieving."
[System Whisper: He's dangerous. But useful. Very useful.]
"Why are you showing me this?"
Zeke stood up and crossed the room. Picked up a drive from the desk. Held it out to her.
"This is a cipher. It connects to nothing. But it holds maps—digital ghost trails. It'll show you who's been following your name."
"Why help me?"
"Because I like puzzles. And you, Vale, are one big unsolved mystery that even the System can't fully mask."
Lina hesitated… then took the drive.
---
They sat for hours after that.
Zeke told her about anomalies—people who brushed the edge of this world but didn't cross fully into it. The near-chosen. The forgotten.
"I wasn't chosen," he said, typing as he spoke. "But I saw it. The code, the energy. Once. I reached too far."
"What happened?"
"I burned my connection to normal life. Couldn't go back. Now I'm just… here."
She didn't ask more.
He didn't offer.
---
When she left, the sun was going down.
Zeke called after her.
"Hey, Vale?"
She turned.
"If the System ever glitches—like, really glitches—find me again. I'll help patch the soul behind the circuit."
She didn't know what that meant.
But somehow, she felt less alone.
---
That night, she uploaded the cipher into a dead laptop the System had wiped weeks ago.
Files unfolded like petals.
Her name appeared. Dotted across countries, forums, blurred photographs.
One name kept coming up.
Kael Montrevé.
In files from years ago.
Before she'd even met him.
Before she was anyone at all.
"…What is this?" she whispered.
[System: Classified.]
[System: Redacted.]
[System: Do not dig deeper.]
[Punishment Tier: Emotional Collapse.]
Lina's hands trembled.
She shut the laptop.
And for the first time, she felt the System… afraid.
---
System Log: Lina Vale
New Ally: Zeke Voss (Hacker | Anomaly)
Item Acquired: Cipher Drive
Confidence Level: 47% ↑
Emotional Load: Increased
Curiosity Index: 90%
Forbidden Thread: Kael — Connected
---
End of Chapter 14
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