Raymond hit the dream-floor hard. The impact felt real, too real. He tasted metal and static, the signature flavor of corrupted memory.Above him, the sky cracked open like shattered glass, revealing layers of other people’s dreams, faces, buildings, childhood fragments, sliding past each other in chaotic, impossible loops.Lira landed next to him, rolling smoothly to her feet. “Ray, status?”He spit out phantom blood. “Conscious. Or whatever counts as conscious in here.”Jin stumbled in afterward, flailing. “Okay, I’m definitely not built for dream combat. Can someone downgrade the physics settings?”Raymond steadied himself. “Stay close. The environment’s going to shift based on whatever memory the Ghost Frequency attaches to next.”Lira scanned the horizon. “And Voss?”Raymond pointed toward the monolithic structure ahead, the giant spine piercing the sky.A silhouette stood atop it, flickering in and out like a glitching god.“He’s rewriting himself,” Raymond murmured. “But he’s n

The white dreamscape dissolved into raw darkness, no floor, no horizon, just an infinite void humming like an enormous machine behind a wall.Raymond stood still, breath held.Lira scanned the shadows. “Ray… what’s happening?”Jin whispered, “Please tell me this is just the end-credit screen.”Raymond didn’t answer yet. He couldn’t. Because the pulsing signal ahead of them wasn’t just sound. It was breathing.A low, resonant thrummm shook the void like a heartbeat inside a dying planet.Lira tightened her grip on her blades. “That’s the Ghost Frequency?”Raymond nodded slowly. “Or the part of it that was sleeping.”Jin stepped back. “Not to be rude, but can someone define what exactly we’re about to fight? A monster? A system? A nightmare? All of the above?”Raymond’s voice came out flat.“All of the above. Plus one more thing.”The void trembled. A dim red glow flickered in the distance like an eye opening.Lira exhaled. “And what’s the ‘plus one’?”Raymond swallowed hard.“Intent.”

Neon rain stitched the night as Raymond walked straight into the undercity’s industrial maze, his coat trailing behind him like a moving shadow stitched with light. Lira and Jin followed close, though every instinct screamed at them to turn back.“Raymond,” Lira hissed, “this is Syndicate territory.”“I know.”“We’re walking straight into a killzone.”“I’m aware.”Jin swallowed. “Okay, but are you aware that I’m not built for dying? My bones are statistically, a terrible investment.”Raymond didn’t slow. “Then stay behind me.”« Host proceeding toward hostile sector. Efficiency: 93%. Emotional interference detected. Adjust? »Raymond clenched his jaw. No.The whisper receded, but only slightly.The alley narrowed around them, screens flickering with ghost-static. Above, the sky glowed with the soft red pulse of surveillance drones.They were being watched.Lira tapped Raymond’s arm. “Drone, roof level.”“I see it.”“Do you plan to avoid it?”“No.”The drone dropped. Fast.But Raymond

The city seemed to hold its breath as Raymond, Lira, and Jin stepped into Sector 9, the part of the undercity people only entered if they wanted to vanish.Neon signs flickered like dying stars, casting jagged shadows that slithered across abandoned medical carts and rusted cybernetic limbs.Jin whispered, “Okay, slight concern: every horror story I’ve ever heard starts exactly like this.”Lira scanned the rooftops. “Stay sharp. Raymond’s master could have eyes on us from anywhere.”Raymond didn’t respond.He was staring at a building ahead, a towering ruin of shattered glass and rusted metal. Once a prestigious trauma center. Now its windows pulsed faint red, as if syncing with a heartbeat.Lira followed his gaze. “What is this place?”Raymond’s jaw clenched. “The clinic where I was trained.”Jin froze. “Oh fantastic. We’re visiting your haunted medical kindergarten.”Lira scoffed. “Jin.”“No, seriously, nothing good ever happens in a building that looks like it wants to inhale your

The steel door sealed behind them with a hiss, like the clinic itself was swallowing them whole.Jin shuddered. “Fantastic. Love when the only exit vanishes. Really sets the mood.”The corridor ahead was long, narrow, and illuminated by a single pulsing line of red light along the floor. The glow felt alive, like a heartbeat guiding them deeper into the body of a machine.Lira whispered, “This place wasn’t here before, Ray. It’s new.”Raymond never stopped walking. “It’s always been here. Verrick hid it from everyone, including me.”« Host pulse elevated. Adrenal load increasing. Proceed. »Raymond ignored the System.Jin didn’t. “Uh, Ray? You okay? You’re doing that creepy blank-stare thing again, like you’re listening to an invisible GPS that wants to kill us.”Raymond didn’t answer.At the end of the hall, a surgical theater door slid open automatically.Then the lights came up.Lira sucked in a breath.Jin’s jaw dropped.Raymond froze.The operating theater was massive, three floo