MY RIDER SYSTEM

05. Seven Days to Kill

“Couldn’t sleep, huh?”

The voice called from behind him.

Kael froze. He wiped his face quickly and turned to see Selena a few steps away, her hair messy from sleep. She sat beside him without asking, pulling her jacket tighter against the cold.

“Couldn’t sleep either,” she said, her voice quieter than usual. “Hard to, when the world’s gone to hell.”

Kael looked away. “I just needed the air.”

Selena looked at him and pretended not to hear it. Then she glanced up at the sky, a faint smirk tugging at her lips. “Were you... praying just now?”

He didn’t answer, but she caught the look in his eyes.

“You do know there’s no such thing as a ‘god’, right?” she said softly. “I mean if there was, he wouldn't just stand idly by and watch while we tear ourselves apart. He’d do something. Anything.”

Kael’s voice was quiet but firm. “My God does exist.”

A flash of lightning lit up the sky, briefly illuminating their faces. Selena raised an eyebrow. “Was that Him, then? He sounds pretty pissed, don't you think?”

“What?”

“Never mind.” She sighed. “None of this means anything in the long run, anyway. But staying alive? That’s about as close to meaning as we’re gonna get.” She paused a while. Her tone softened when she spoke again. “Sorry about Tucker. He’s… lost a lot. Been through more than most.”

Kael nodded faintly, taking in her words. “About Tucker. He mentioned something earlier—about ‘Riders,’ about all this being some kind of game. What did he mean by that?”

Selena let out a long breath. “I wish I knew for sure.”

“I thought you might have answers.”

“Oh, what, you think I’m some kind of walking encyclopedia now?” she teased, the faintest smile returning.

“That’s not what I meant—”

“Relax,” she cut in gently. “I’m just messing with you. I might know... a couple of things. So listen carefully, because this isn’t something you’ll hear very often.”

Kael leaned forward slightly, his eyes searching hers.

“When people die,” Selena said slowly, “they don’t just pass on. They come here. Why here? Nobody knows. But once you’re here, you’re thrown into fights against monsters. Kill them, and you earn points. Small ones barely count, but see the big ones—the bosses—they’re worth everything.”

She looked down at her hands, adding one more thing at the end. “And when you’re the last one standing… you get a wish. Any fucking thing you want, you name it.”

Kael just stared at her. “That’s insane.”

“Yeah,” Selena said quietly. “It is pretty hard to believe, isn't it? But that's the truth of this world we just have to accept.”

Kael was silent again, processing her words. The wind howled softly between the buildings. He looked down at his armband again, clutching it tightly.

Selena noticed. She was always better at picking up even the slightest detail. Maybe that’s what had kept her alive this long. “So… it's just the two of you?”

He frowned. “Two?”

“You and your sister.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “It’s just us now. Our parents died years ago. Fire accident.”

“I’m sorry.” Selena managed, staring at him.

Kael let out a weak laugh, the kind that wasn’t born from humor but from the pain of remembering. “You know what’s crazy?" he murmured. "When I and my sister were kids, they were like those perfect parents you'd see on those old TV shows, you know? We would sit together when we'd have family dinner and we'd hold hands and say grace. I used to think it was cheesy back then. Now I’d give anything to have that again.”

Selena’s lips pressed into a thin line as she listened. “You know, from where I sit, I'd say you're one of the lucky ones. Your sister’s alive somewhere. That’s more than most can say. You should be grateful.”

Kael's anger reached its peak.

“Grateful?” he snapped. “She was taken! I don’t even know if she’s still alive! So forgive me if I’m not feeling ‘grateful’ enough.”

Selena’s smirk disappeared. She looked away, her expression darkening under the faint glow of lightning. When she finally spoke, her voice carried a weight Kael hadn’t heard before.

“My parents and my sisters… we tried to reach this airport,” she began quietly. “We thought maybe there’d be planes left, or soldiers, or something. My dad had all this cash with him, stacks of it, even though it was all worthless by then.”

She let out a dry, bitter laugh that didn’t last. “Turns out, we weren’t the only ones with that idea. There were literally thousands. Everyone screaming, pushing, doing whatever they could just to get closer to the gates. It was chaos I had never seen before.”

Her gaze drifted far away, lost in memory. “I was the smallest amongst three. I remember my dad’s hand—how tightly he held me—and then…” She closed her eyes. “Then it was gone. Just like that. I screamed for him, but I remember the noise swallowing me whole.”

Kael didn’t say a word. The wind whistled through the broken antenna above them, and he could feel the cold at his skin, but he didn't dare interrupt.

“And that’s when it started,” she continued. “The infection. It spread through the crowd like wildfire. People just… changed.”

She took a shaky breath. “I climbed onto a kiosk to get a better look and from up there, I saw everything. From bodies twisting to bones snapping… their faces splitting open like something inside them was just fighting to get out.” Her voice trembled. “There was this boy—his skin melted off his arms while he called for his mom. She was crawling toward him, but half her body was gone. Just gone.”

Kael’s stomach turned. He didn’t want to imagine it, but her voice made it real.

“And then I saw my dad.” Her words came out like a whisper. “Not my mom. Not my sisters. My dad.” Her voice broke. “He was… tearing them apart with his bare hands, like he didn’t even know them. Like they meant nothing to him.”

A single tear rolled down her cheek. She brushed it away quickly, forcing herself back into the calm, unshakable version Kael usually saw.

“So yeah,” she said finally, “you should feel grateful.”

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The only sound was the low rumble of thunder across the clouds. Then the rain began. It started soft at first, then heavier by the minute.

Selena rose, pulling her jacket tighter as her wet hair clung to her face.

“Listen, Kael,” she said more gently. “You already believe in that big guy upstairs.” She pointed toward the stormy sky, where lightning flashed again. “Might as well keep the faith. You’re already knee-deep in the supernatural.”

She hesitated, then placed a hand on his shoulder. “Try to get some rest, okay? Tomorrow’s not gonna be kind.”

And with that, she turned to leave, her boots splashing in shallow puddles. But just before she reached the door, Kael’s voice stopped her.

“I think I get it now,” he muttered.

Selena paused, glancing over her shoulder. “Get what?”

He looked up at her through the rain. “You know so much… because this is where it happened. This was your home once. This world.”

For a second, her expression softened but then it was gone.

“Get some sleep, Kael,” she said quietly. And then she was gone, slipping through the metal door.

Kael stayed where he was, staring out into the storm. The rain was cold, but he didn’t care. It mixed with the tears he no longer bothered to hide.

He looked down at the armband again, gripping it so tightly his knuckles turned white. “I’ll find you,” he whispered, his voice trembling but certain. “I promise I will.”

Thunder rumbled across the sky, as if it had heard him. And alone beneath the rain, Kael closed his eyes.

That's when it happened.

---

*Ding!*

A sharp beep echoed inside his head. He snapped his eyes open in alarm, only to be met with a blue screen materializing before his eyes.

【 CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING A PLAYER_】

Kael stared at the words, blinking rapidly.

“What… what is this?” he whispered.

The message hovered steady despite the rain. For a second, he could’ve sworn he’d seen those exact same words before—maybe on a screen, an old game, or some faded poster in a café?

His head ached.

‘Where have I seen this before?’ he wondered. It felt oddly familiar, but he couldn't remember where from.

Too many strange things had happened lately— Riders, Games, battles that defied reason, death that refused to stay final… and now this?

Maybe he really was losing it.

Could it be something like PTSD? he wondered. He knew people who’d been through trauma often suffered from its effects. Hallucinations, flashbacks, nightmares, non excluded. Maybe this was just that.

But… something about the words felt too real.

He shut his eyes and counted to three. When he opened them again, the text was still there. In fact, more words were appearing, one after another, as if an invisible hand was typing them out.

【 Your old life has ended. 】

【 I will decide how you use your new life. 】

【 That’s the way the cookie crumbles. 】

Kael’s heart began to race. He took a shaky step back, water splashing around his feet.

“What the hell does that even mean?” he muttered.

Then, another message appeared.

【 Mission: Eliminate Vir Ossium 】

【 Objective: Kill the target within the given time. 】

Player? Eliminate?

And now... kill? What was happening to him?

He belatedly remembered the message. It was the same as the one that had appeared when he lost consciousness and made that strange deal.

【 CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING A PLAYER_ 】

At the time, he'd thought it some kind of joke. But now… it didn’t feel like a joke anymore. It felt like a rule being enforced.

“None of this makes any sense,” he whispered, shaking his head. “What does this even mean?”

He tried to blink the words away, but they stayed right in front of him, clear as ever. To make matters worse, a new line appeared.

【 Time Limit: 168:00:00 】

The numbers glowed red for a moment before settling into a steady, menacing orange.

Kael’s breath stopped that very second. ‘Seven days,’ he realized, silently.

'Seven days to kill something called Vir Ossium.'

He didn’t have a weapon. No plans. He didn’t even know what it looked like.

As if responding to his thoughts, the glowing text glitched. The letters broke apart, rearranging themselves into an image.

A face appeared. Its skin was pale and hanging loose in parts. One eye stuck out more than the other, and both of them glowed a little yellow, like a cat’s eyes in the dark. A slow, unsettling smile spread across its lips.

But while Kael tried to make sense of the messages, something else was happening.

On the rooftop drenched in rain, a shadow moved behind him. It was barely visible in the downpour.

Kael felt the strange presence before he saw it.

He turned slowly—

and the dark figure was already above him. It had lunged to claw at him.