The white light burned. My skin was peeling away in flat pixels. I could see the bone underneath. It was made of glowing blue lines. I was holding a sun in my gut. The sun wanted to burst."Vaxien! Your chest! It’s cracking!" Nyxra screamed. She reached out. The air around me was so hot her fingers began to smoke."Stay back!" I choked out. My voice sounded like metal grinding together. "It's too much. The wipe is a weight. I can't hold it much longer!""Toby, do something!" Nyxra yelled. She turned to the kid. "He's going to dissolve! Look at his arms! They're turning to dust!"Toby was already moving. He was crouched over his tablet. "I'm trying! The code is moving too fast! Every time Vaxien absorbs a byte, the wipe creates ten more! It’s a loop! I need more time!""Fix it!" I roared. I fell to one knee. The street beneath me turned to liquid. "I can't hold the seal! My chest is going to explode!""I need a patch!" Toby shouted. He hit the screen hard. "Malakor! Wake up! I need a b

Zeryth didn't look like the man I remembered. He looked harder, like a piece of iron that had been left in the rain to rust. He kept his rifle pointed at the street, his eyes scanning every shadow."You're staring, Vaxien," Zeryth said. His voice was like gravel. "Stop it. It's annoying.""You died," I said. My voice was finally coming back. "I saw your sector vanish. I saw the light go out. How the hell are you standing here?"Zeryth spat on the ground. "The system is lazy. It thought the impact on Earth finished me. It didn't. My core code migrated. I woke up in Layer 2 as a ghost. A rogue mercenary with nothing but a rifle and a grudge.""So you're here to save us?" Toby asked. He looked at Zeryth with wide eyes."Save you?" Zeryth laughed. It was a cold, dry sound. "Don't get it twisted, kid. I didn't come here for a rescue mission. I came for answers."Nyxra stepped forward, her sword still out. "Answers about what?""About why we’re playing this stupid game!" Zeryth roared. He t

Zeryth was already twenty feet up the golden steps when I finally found my feet. He didn't look back. He just kept climbing toward that hole in the sky like a man possessed."Zeryth! Stop!" Nyxra screamed. She tried to run after him, but her legs gave out. "You bastard! You’re leaving us to die!""Let him go, Nyxra," I said. My voice was quiet. I wasn't angry. I was just tired of the cycle."Let him go?" She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. "He has the Key, Vaxien! If he gets through that hole, we’re finished!"Toby was sobbing next to a piece of rubble. "He’s almost there. He’s going to make it.""No, he isn't," I said. I didn't run. I just looked at the ground. The giant’s energy was still humming in my veins. It wasn't the Forge. It was the rhythm of the sector itself. I lifted my right foot and tapped it against the asphalt.Thump.The ground didn't crack. It vibrated. I sent a pulse through the code of the floor, reaching the foundation of those golden stairs. I simply change

"Sterling! Look at your gauges!" I yelled. I was hanging onto a thick coolant pipe. The air around us was hot and thick."Shut up, glitch! I’ll crush you before the fans kick in!" Sterling roared. His mech’s arm smashed into a piece of falling marble."Toby! How’s he looking?" I shouted."He’s red-lining, Vaxien!" Toby’s voice came through the comms. "The internal temperature is hitting four hundred! If he doesn't vent now, he’s going to pop!""He won't vent because I'm not letting him!" I climbed higher. My boots hissed on the hot metal. "Zeryth! Keep his eyes busy!""Copy that!" Zeryth yelled. A blue bolt hissed through the dark. It hit Sterling’s sensors. "Arrgh! My optics!" Sterling screamed. The mech stumbled. "You’re dead, Zeryth! I’ll delete your whole sector!""You can't even see your feet, Sterling!" Zeryth mocked. "Focus on the guy on your shoulder!"I reached the primary fan. "Time to choke, Director! Vacuum-Lung!"I slammed my palms onto the intake. I felt the skill activ

"Watch your step," I said. "Step on what? I can't see a thing," Zeryth barked."The stairs are right there. Keep moving.""There is nothing here, Vaxien! It is just black!" Nyxra shouted. "The air is thin. Just move.""I am not moving another inch until you tell me where we are," Zeryth said. He stopped. His boots made a dull thud on empty air."We are between layers," I said."I figured that out when the sky turned into white noise," Zeryth spat. "Why can you see the path and we can't?""I am holding the mouse. It is a lamp.""A lamp that shows nothing! I am walking on air!" Nyxra yelled."You are not going to fall. Grab my shoulder.""I am not a kid," she muttered. But she gripped my jacket. She was shaking."Zeryth, get over here," I called. "I am fine where I am," he said."You are five feet from the edge," I told him. "And there is no respawn in the void. You fall, you are deleted. For real."He scrambled toward us and grabbed my other shoulder."Don't say a word," Zeryth growled