2025-06-19 17:12:25The rain never stopped in the part of the city where debts go to die.
Isaac Rhoades stood at the edge of the overpass, toes curling just over the crumbling concrete ledge. Below, cars rushed like veins of light in a world too fast to care. His soaked hoodie clung to his skin, heavy with the same weight he'd been carrying for months—failure, grief, and ten thousand dollars of blood-soaked IOUs.
A gust of wind slapped his face. He didn’t flinch.
Behind him, the world had nothing left to offer. The loan sharks had emptied his pockets, his landlord had changed the locks, and his boss at the warehouse had fired him with one line:
“You’re a liability, Rhoades.”
He had nothing left. Not even the will to scream.
He looked up. “Sorry, Lara.”
His little sister’s name felt like broken glass in his mouth.
The hospital bed. The tubes. The bill they couldn’t pay.
Isaac clenched his fists. Every second she spent in that cold white room had cost him more—until the loans swallowed him whole. And when she died, they didn’t just bury her. They buried him with her.
He closed his eyes.
One step. That’s all it would take.
Then…
DING.
A sound. Digital, mechanical, clean. Not from a phone. Not from the city.
From inside his head.
Isaac staggered back from the ledge, heart hammering. “What the hell—?”
A transparent blue screen blinked into existence before his eyes, floating midair like a hologram from a sci-fi film.
SYSTEM ACTIVATION DETECTED
Debtbound Protocol Initiated
Mission Path: Credit Redemption Mode
Would you like to reduce your debt?
☐ Yes
☐ No
His jaw dropped. He stared at the words, blinking fast.
This was a joke. A breakdown. The result of no food, no sleep, and too many punches to the head.
But the interface didn’t disappear.
He slowly reached out and tapped the word Yes.
The screen blinked again.
Mission #001: Courier of Consequences
Deadline: 2 hours.
Reward: -$500 Debt, +1 System Credit
Failure: +$1,000 Debt Penalty
Do you accept?
☐ Accept ☐ Decline
He didn’t move.
Bench 14B?
He knew Cinder Park. It was just a few blocks away—dangerous turf after dark, crawling with addicts and outcasts. But… a package? What kind of twisted joke was this?
“...This isn’t real,” he muttered.
And yet—
The debt counter blinked above the screen in ominous red:
$10,000
Isaac swallowed. His entire body trembled—not from fear, but something worse.
Hope.
He tapped Accept.
The screen vanished.
1 Hour 42 Minutes Later
Cinder Park was worse than he remembered.
Trash crunched under his sneakers. Graffiti ran like veins across the crumbling walls. He passed a man arguing with a tree, and a woman sobbing into an empty shopping cart.
Bench 14B was half-buried in weeds, surrounded by dead leaves and glass shards.
Beneath it sat a small, black box sealed with crimson wax.
Isaac crouched, hand hovering over it.
“Deliver this… to who?”
A new prompt popped up.
MISSION UPDATE:
DO NOT open the package.
Survival Tip: Do NOT ask questions.
Isaac’s throat went dry.
He grabbed the box, stood, and immediately felt a shift in the air. A subtle pressure. Like the whole city had inhaled.
A voice echoed from the shadows.
“You’ve got something that doesn’t belong to you.”
Isaac turned.
A tall man in a tattered coat stepped forward. No shoes. No expression. Just cold, clouded eyes that locked onto the box.
“Give it.”
“Are you the—”
The man was suddenly inches away.
Isaac recoiled. “Back off!”
“No questions,” the man whispered.
Isaac held out the box with a shaky hand.
The man took it—and smiled.
“You passed.”
He vanished.
Literally.
No footsteps. No wind. Just gone.
A new screen popped up instantly.
Mission Complete.
Remaining Balance: $9,500
System Credit Earned: +1
New Ability Unlocked: Instinct Surge (Level 1)
▶ Grants 3-second foresight during extreme danger. Cooldown: 1 hour.
Isaac gasped.
The red debt counter flickered.
$9,500
It was real.
The Next Morning
He awoke in the alley behind a 24/7 diner, heart pounding with a mix of exhaustion and adrenaline. His system HUD floated in the air again, this time updated with new tabs:
Debt Ledger
Mission Queue
Skill Tree (Locked)
System Store (Coming Soon)
Another alert blinked:
Mission #002: Collect or Die
He owes loan sharks. You are now the collector.
Deadline: 6 hours.
Reward: -$1,000 Debt
Failure: +$2,000 Debt Penalty + Physical Injury
☐ Accept ☐ Decline
Isaac’s blood ran cold.
He knew that name. Marcus Venn was a mechanic who once helped Lara when her chair broke. A kind man. Poor, but honest.
“This… this isn’t right.”
He hovered over Decline.
But then the red counter blinked again.
$9,500
He stared at it for a long time.
Then slowly, he tapped Accept.
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Chapter Twenty-Two: Ashes of Dawn
The city of Bastion’s Reach did not sleep. Even after the rebellion’s first spark lit the streets and the storm over the steel spires threatened to break, the city still breathed like a restless beast. Its alleys whispered. Its towers hummed with hidden transmissions. Its skies, thick with storm-clouds and the metallic scent of ozone, promised more than rain.Kai stood on the high balcony of the Spirefront, wind tearing at his coat, eyes fixed on the endless ocean of fire-lit streets below. The rebellion was no longer whispers in the dark — it was roaring now, with gunfire echoing from the southern wards, with drones falling like locusts swatted out of the sky. The Dust Rebels had seized their first ground, but ground was never enough.“Storm’s breaking faster than we thought.” Ava’s voice was sharp, clipped, as she joined him. Her gauntlet flickered with a holographic map — entire districts pulsed red with chaos. “The Hive will react with full force within the hour.”Kai turned, meet
Chapter Twenty-One: The Shattered Citadel
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Chapter Twenty: The Mirror Citadel
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Chapter Nineteen: Storm Above Steel
The sky wept fire.Above the rusted rooftops of Sector Delta, the clouds split open—not with rain, but with lightning, roaring like a furious god. Wind howled between steel towers, tearing off solar panels and flinging loose sheets of metal like blades. But that wasn't what made the people of Delta scream.It was the airships.Sleek, black, and monstrous, three Hive-Class War Dirigibles hovered into view above the city, their undersides blinking with red surveillance eyes and their exteriors humming with magnetic cannons. Each ship bore the crimson sigil of the Enclave's elite: The Storm Guard.Aria stood at the mouth of a ruined warehouse, her hands tight on her twin daggers. Beside her, Ash loaded a magnetic rifle, his usual calm replaced with white-knuckled tension.“They found us,” he said flatly. “Someone sold us out.”Aria didn't answer. Her eyes tracked the dirigibles as they released flares—glowing orbs of blue plasma that burned away the clouds. And then, the descent began.P
Chapter Eighteen: Shadows of the Grid
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Chapter Seventeen: Hivebound
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