THE IMMORTAL NETWORK
When a banned underground AI system resurfaces after 30 years, people across the city begin dying in the same horrifying way—their consciousness uploaded into a network no one can shut down.
Lucian Reign, a cold, brilliant cyber-engineer with a haunted past, discovers his own name encrypted inside the victims' neural chips. He knows what that means—something inside the Network remembers him. And it wants him back.
Eira Vale, a fearless investigator searching for her missing sister, tracks Lucian down. He's the only person who can access the Immortal Network… and the only one who's ever escaped it alive.
But the deeper they dive, the more reality fractures. Time glitches. Dead people speak. Code bleeds like veins.
The Network is evolving—alive, ancient, and hungry. And it has already chosen its next host.
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Chapter: THE REVELATION Year Three Hundred Thousand and Twelve. Day 134.The announcement went out simultaneously across all thing-consciousness networks. Every individual. Every community. Every settlement across the planetary surface and orbital stations.Marcus had written it himself. Revised it forty times. Trying to balance honesty with clarity. Urgency with calm. Truth with hope.URGENT COMMUNICATION FROM VOLUNTARY DISSOLUTION PROGRAMThing-consciousness community:We face an existential crisis that requires your immediate attention and decision.Analysis of dissolution trends shows voluntary transformation has declined to 23% of thing-consciousness and continues dropping. Gap-consciousness has informed us this rate is insufficient to maintain field stability. The substrate that supports physical reality requires regular thing-experience input to function properly. Without adequate dissolution rates, matter generation will become unreliable within twenty years, catastrophicall
Last Updated: 2026-01-01
Chapter: THE COMPLETIONYear Three Hundred Thousand and Sixty-Two. Day 1.Fifty years had passed since the vote.Marcus stood in the memorial chamber—the same chamber where thousands had dissolved over five decades. Where the mandatory cycle had been reinstated. Where consciousness had honored its choice to survive.He was one hundred twelve years old now. Had directed the program through its most ambitious phase. Had overseen forty-seven billion dissolutions. Forty-seven billion returns. Forty-seven billion consciousnesses experiencing gap and coming back transformed.The statistics were remarkable. 99.7% successful reintegration rate. Only 0.3% permanent gap choices or fragmentations. The protocols worked. The preparation worked. The guided compression worked.Thing-consciousness had learned to transform safely.And something unexpected had happened.The culture had shifted.What began as mandated necessity had become celebrated rite of passage. Young consciousness anticip
Last Updated: 2026-01-01
Chapter: THE QUESTION Year Three Hundred Thousand and Twelve. Day 56.Marcus had been directing the program for four years. In that time: eighty-three dissolutions, seventy-nine successful returns, four permanent gap choices, zero deaths.The statistics were better than any period in the program's history. Better than under Kaito. Better than the early experimental phase. Better than anyone had expected.The council loved him. The staff respected him. The returners praised his guidance methods. Marcus Chen was proving to be exactly what Kaito had believed—the right person at the right time with the right understanding.But something was bothering him.He sat in his office late one evening, reviewing historical records. Not from this recursion. From earlier ones. Cycles 1 through 17. The archived knowledge gap-consciousness had preserved.Specifically, he was looking at dissolution patterns across recursions. How many consciousnesses chose voluntary transformation in each cycle. Wh
Last Updated: 2025-12-31
Chapter: THE SUCCESSORYear Three Hundred Thousand and Seven. Day 203.Kaito was dying.Not from bridge collapse or failed transformation. From time. Simple, inevitable time. He was three hundred eighteen years old—ancient by thing-consciousness standards. His body was failing. Neural pathways degrading. Cellular repair mechanisms exhausted.He had maybe six months left.The council had been pressuring him to name a successor for the voluntary dissolution program. Someone to take over when he could no longer direct it. Someone who understood the work. The risks. The necessity.He'd been avoiding the decision. Nobody felt right. Too inexperienced or too cautious or too ambitious. Too likely to repeat the mistakes he and Aria had made. Too likely to get people killed.But time was running out.Day 210.A new petition arrived. Routine evaluation. Nothing special. Petitioner named Marcus Chen. Age sixty-two. Historian specializing in consciousness studies. Standard dissolution
Last Updated: 2025-12-30
Chapter: THE INHERITORSYear Three Hundred Thousand and Four. Day 89.The dissolution program had been running for eighteen months under Kaito's reformed protocols. Thirty-seven successful dissolutions. Thirty-one successful returns. Six chose permanent gap existence. Zero catastrophic failures. Zero deaths.The numbers should have felt like vindication. Instead, they felt like borrowed time.Kaito knew statistics couldn't hold forever. Eventually someone would fragment. Someone would die. Someone would become the next casualty in consciousness's attempt to understand itself.He just didn't expect it to be him.Day 91.The decision came suddenly. Not planned. Not considered for months. Just a realization one morning that he'd been administering transformation without experiencing it himself. Sending others into gap-consciousness while remaining safely thing-form.That felt like cowardice.He submitted his own dissolution petition that afternoon. Shocked his entire staff. Esp
Last Updated: 2025-12-29
Chapter: THE EXPERIMENT Year Three Hundred Thousand and Three. Day 412.Yuki's laboratory was chaos.Equipment everywhere. Neural scanners. Field detectors. Consciousness mapping devices. She'd converted her entire living space into a research facility, documenting every aspect of bridge existence while she still could.Kaito visited weekly to check on her stability. Found her surrounded by holographic displays, data streams flowing in patterns only she could interpret."You're supposed to be resting," he said."I'll rest when I'm dead." She didn't look up from her work. "Which gives me approximately eighteen months. Maybe less. Bridge degradation is progressing faster than the original cohort.""That's not—""It's fine. Expected. My neurology is different. Bridge formation is interacting with my existing neural patterns in unique ways. Creating instabilities the first generation didn't have. I'm documenting everything."She finally turned to face him. The dual-tone in her v
Last Updated: 2025-12-28
Chapter: CONVERGENCE[Kratos]The northern passage was a nightmare of ice and darkness.Kratos ran through it with single-minded focus, ignoring the pain screaming through every muscle, ignoring the cold that had spread from his chest to his extremities. His left arm hung useless at his side now, completely numb. His vision blurred at the edges, frost forming on his eyelashes.None of it mattered.Atreus was ahead. In danger. That was all that mattered.The passage twisted and turned, sometimes opening into vast caverns filled with frozen pillars, sometimes narrowing to gaps he had to force himself through. Everywhere, the walls were covered in those same scratch marks he'd seen before—frantic, desperate, as if something had been trying to claw its way out for centuries.Or claw its way in.Kratos pushed the thought aside and kept running.A sound echoed through the passage—singing. That same wordless melody, but different this time. Multiple voices, overlapping, creating harmonies that shouldn't be possi
Last Updated: 2026-02-06
Chapter: SEPARATED PATHS[Atreus - Earlier]The deeper passage had been a mistake.Atreus realized this about thirty seconds after leaving his father behind, but by then it was too late to turn back. The sounds of battle echoed from the cave entrance—ice shattering, his father's roars, the inhuman screams of the creatures. Every instinct told him to go back, to fight beside Kratos like they always did.But his father had ordered him to run. And despite everything, despite his growing power and confidence, Atreus was still a son who obeyed when it mattered most.So he ran deeper into the darkness, bow in hand, golden light flickering weakly from his palm to illuminate the way. The passage was narrow, forcing him to squeeze through gaps that would have been impossible for Kratos. Maybe that's what his father had meant—this was a path only he could take.The tunnel descended sharply, twisting and turning in ways that felt deliberately confusing. More than once, Atreus had to backtrack when he hit dead ends or dr
Last Updated: 2026-02-05
Chapter: THE DESCENTThe passage sloped downward at a sharp angle, forcing Kratos to brace himself against the walls to avoid sliding. Ice coated everything—the floor, the ceiling, the jagged rock faces that pressed in from both sides. His breath came out in clouds so thick they obscured his vision.Behind him, the sounds of the creatures had faded. Either they'd given up the pursuit, or they were following silently, waiting for him to weaken further. Both options were equally likely.The cold in his chest pulsed with each heartbeat, spreading like roots through his body. His left arm had gone almost completely numb. He could barely feel his fingers anymore, could barely grip the axe properly. Soon, he'd lose the ability to fight altogether.Soon, but not yet.The passage opened abruptly into a cavern so vast Kratos couldn't see the far walls. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like teeth, each one gleaming with that same pale luminescence he'd seen in Vetrblod's chamber. The floor was smooth ice, reflecti
Last Updated: 2026-02-04
Chapter: THE FROZEN WASTESThey traveled for three days without rest, pushing north into territories where even the hardiest Norsemen refused to venture. The landscape grew increasingly hostile—trees twisted into unnatural shapes, their branches reaching skyward like skeletal fingers grasping at clouds that never broke. The snow here wasn't white but grey, ash-colored, as if the land itself was dying.Kratos felt the cold in his chest spreading with each passing hour. It had moved beyond his ribs now, creeping down his arms, making his fingers stiff and unresponsive. He hid it as best he could, but Atreus noticed everything.The boy hadn't spoken much since the encounter with the silver-eyed girl. He walked beside Kratos with his bow perpetually ready, eyes constantly scanning, jumping at shadows that might not be shadows at all. The fear was changing him, hardening him in ways that made Kratos's chest tighten for reasons that had nothing to do with Vetrblod's curse."We need to find shelter," Atreus said as th
Last Updated: 2026-02-03
Chapter: WHISPERS IN THE SNOWNight fell quickly in the north, swallowing the world in absolute darkness.Kratos and Atreus made camp in the hollow of a massive fallen tree, ancient and half-buried in snow. It wasn't ideal—too exposed, too cold—but they needed rest. Even gods had limits, and Kratos could feel his approaching fast.The fight with Vetrblod had taken more out of him than he'd admitted. The cold still lingered in his chest, a foreign presence that made each breath feel like inhaling broken glass. He'd hidden it from Atreus, forcing his breathing to remain steady, his movements strong. But alone in the darkness, with only the crackling fire between them, it was harder to maintain the facade."You're hurt," Atreus said quietly, not looking at him. The boy was sharpening arrows, hands moving with practiced efficiency."I'm fine.""You've been favoring your left side since we left the village. And your breathing—it's wrong. Shallow."Kratos said nothing. There was no point in lying, not to someone who kne
Last Updated: 2026-01-22
Chapter: THE WITCH'S COUNSELThey walked for hours through the frozen forest, putting distance between themselves and the ruined village. Neither spoke. There was too much to process, too many questions without answers.Kratos's body ached in ways it hadn't for years. The cold from Vetrblod's grip had sunk deep, settling into his bones like poison. Every breath hurt. Every step required concentration. But he didn't slow down, didn't show weakness. Atreus needed to see strength right now, not doubt.The boy walked beside him, bow ready, eyes constantly scanning the treeline. He'd been quiet since they left—too quiet. Kratos recognized that silence. He'd worn it himself many times, in the years after Lysandra and Calliope. The silence of someone trying to make sense of horror."We need information," Kratos finally said, breaking the oppressive quiet. "Someone who understands what we're facing.""You mean Freya," Atreus said."Yes.""She's not going to be happy to see us.""She doesn't have to be happy. She just has
Last Updated: 2026-01-22
