2026-02-08 10:37:31
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The Price of Hesitation
The next morning, I woke up to seventeen missed messages and the sound of my phone vibrating itself off the nightstand.Most were from Jake, who apparently had been trying to organize a dungeon run since 6 AM. Sarah had sent a stream link. Tyler had shared a motivational video about "grinding your Class from day one."And one message from an unknown number: Found something. Meet me at Henderson Park, noon. Come alone. - RI checked the time. 10:47 AM. I'd slept through my alarm and half the morning.[Quest Timer: 27 days, 16 hours, 29 minutes remaining]I dragged myself to the shower, trying to wash away the residue of last night's dreams. Killer's Dream had been working overtime, showing me increasingly elaborate scenarios. Some were clinical and efficient. Others were disturbingly creative. All of them featured me as the protagonist, the hunter, the executioner.The System was trying to normalize it. Make it feel natural.I turned the water as cold as I could stand, gasping as it sh
Confessions and Consequences
Raven drove without asking questions for the first ten minutes, which I appreciated. My hands had finally stopped shaking, but my mind was still replaying that moment—standing behind Booker, knife in pocket, one decision away from crossing a line I could never uncross.And I'd flinched."You hungry?" Raven finally asked, breaking the silence. "There's a 24-hour diner near my place. Good pancakes, terrible coffee, and the waitress doesn't give a shit what you look like or what you're going through.""I just ate tacos with you.""That was two hours ago, and you look like you need pancakes." She glanced at me. "Trust me on this."The diner was called Mel's, and it looked exactly like every diner that had ever existed—red vinyl booths, checkered floor, a jukebox in the corner that probably hadn't worked since the '90s. We slid into a booth near the back. True to Raven's description, the waitress—a woman in her sixties with a name tag that said "Doris"—took our order without comment, even
Crossing the Threshold
I spent the rest of that afternoon wandering the city with Han's tablet weighing down my backpack like a brick of guilt.Five names. Five lives. Five people the world would arguably be better off without.Raymond Booker, the thug. Maria Voss, a drug dealer who'd gotten three teenagers killed with tainted product. Chen Wu, a loan shark who'd driven two people to suicide. Darius Cole, a domestic abuser with a restraining order he violated weekly. And finally, Vincent Kane, a con artist who specialized in scamming elderly people out of their life savings.All terrible people. All actively making the world worse.And I was supposed to pick one to murder.My phone buzzed. Mom asking when I'd be home for dinner. I texted back that I was studying with Jake and would grab something out. Another lie to add to the growing pile.The sun was setting by the time I found myself in front of a small park near the Warehouse District. Not the nice kind of park with playgrounds and families—this was the
The Hunter's Education
I woke up at 2:47 AM drenched in sweat, my heart hammering against my ribs.The dream was already fading, but fragments remained. Chasing someone through dark streets. The smell of copper. My hands slick with something warm. And underneath it all, a feeling of satisfaction so intense it made me sick.I stumbled to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face, avoiding my reflection in the mirror. When I finally looked up, I barely recognized myself. Same face, but my eyes looked different. Darker somehow. Or maybe that was just my imagination.A notification blinked in the corner of my vision. I'd been ignoring it since I woke up.[New Passive Skill Developed: Killer's Dream][Effect: Your subconscious mind processes murder scenarios during sleep, improving your instinctive understanding of human vulnerabilities. Vivid dreams may occur.][Note: This skill develops automatically and cannot be disabled.]Of course it couldn't be disabled. The System wasn't going to make this easy.I
The Weight of Secrets
Dinner was a special kind of torture.Mom had gone all out—my favorite dishes crowded the table. Honey-glazed salmon, garlic green beans, her famous potato gratin that took three hours to make. She'd even baked a cake, chocolate with vanilla frosting, with "Congratulations Marcus!" written in blue icing.It was perfect. It was loving. It made me want to throw up."So tell us everything," Dad said, passing me the salmon. "What skills did you get? What are your stats like? Do you have a skill tree yet?"I'd rehearsed this on the bus ride home, but actually saying it out loud to my parents felt different. Worse somehow."Basic Rogue package," I said, cutting into the fish. "Stealth enhancement, critical hit multiplier for sneak attacks, some kind of perception boost. My Intelligence is pretty high—14—so the counselor said I should focus on tactical skills rather than pure combat.""Fourteen Intelligence at Level 1 is excellent," Dad said. He'd never Awakened himself—he was part of the th
Living With a Monster
The burger tasted like cardboard.Not because the food was bad—Jake had dragged us to this trendy place downtown that supposedly had the best burgers in the city—but because every time I tried to swallow, I felt the weight of the System interface hovering at the edge of my vision.[Quest Timer: 29 days, 21 hours, 54 minutes remaining]"Earth to Marcus!" Sarah Kim waved a hand in front of my face. She'd awakened as an Enchanter, which apparently meant she could imbue objects with minor magical properties. Already she was planning her future. "You've been staring at that burger for like five minutes. Is the Rogue Class making you weird?""Just thinking," I said, finally taking a bite.The table had grown since lunch started. What began as just me, Jake, and Sarah had expanded to include half a dozen other newly Awakened classmates. Everyone wanted to talk about their Classes, their stats, their skills. It was like Christmas morning, except the presents were superpowers."My Strength is
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