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THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 42
Echo’s WarningThe tunnels beneath the facility stretched on endlessly, a labyrinth of forgotten steel and decay. My boots echoed against the damp floor, each step swallowed by the oppressive silence. I adjusted the grip on my weapon, fingers tense. The air was thick, heavy, and charged with something unnatural.“Kane,” I murmured, pressing two fingers to my earpiece. “I’m deeper in. No sign of patrols.”Static crackled. Then her voice clipped and sharp. “That’s not a good thing, Tony. Stay alert.”I didn’t need the warning. Every inch of this place screamed danger. It felt… wrong, like stepping into a place that had been abandoned by time itself. The walls seemed to ripple when I wasn’t looking directly at them, shifting subtly, as if something beneath the surface was trying to push through.Then I heard it.A low, wet whisper.At first, I thought it was another hallucination, another trick of the facility. But then the whisper turned into a garbled sob.I tightened my grip on my gun
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 43
The Overseers' True WorkThe corridor was silent except for the hum of electricity running through unseen circuits. My pulse was still uneven from my encounter with Echo, but there was no time to dwell on it. I had to keep moving. I had to know the truth.At the end of the hallway, a reinforced door stood waiting, its metal surface reflecting the dim emergency lights overhead. This was it—the data vault. Whatever the Overseers were hiding, it was behind this door.I reached into my pack, pulling out a drive loaded with a decryption program Kane had built."Kane, I’m at the vault," I whispered, inserting the drive into the access panel. "Talk to me."Her voice came through, steady but tense. "I’m patching in now. Hold tight."Seconds ticked by. My skin prickled with anticipation.Then—click.The door hissed open.I stepped inside.The vault was smaller than I expected. A single console stood in the center, cables running from its base into the walls like veins feeding a living organism
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 44
The Facility AwakensThe walls groaned.Not metal under stress. Something deeper. Something alive.I stood frozen in the secured data vault, clutching the stolen drive against my chest. The dim lights flickered above me, casting erratic shadows along the walls. The facility—no, the system itself—had detected my presence. I could feel it."Kane," I whispered, my voice barely audible over the eerie hum growing around me. "I think it knows I’m here."The console in front of me glitched violently, the text warping and reshaping into unrecognizable symbols. The words I'd been reading seconds ago were gone, replaced with something watching me back.Then, the walls moved.Not a trick of the eye. Not my imagination.The space around me was shrinking.A sound filled the vault.Not from the speakers. Not from an alarm.It came from everywhere.A voice—disembodied, layered, as if multiple tones were speaking in unison. Some deep, some light, some whispering too close to my ear, sending cold need
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 45
Escape and a New ThreatPain snapped me back into reality.The cold bit into my skin as I gasped for air, sprawled across the hard ground. My body ached—bruised from the fall, but I was alive. Barely."Tony! Tony, respond!" Kane's voice crackled through the comm, frantic."I'm here," I managed, groaning as I forced myself upright. My limbs felt like lead, and my head pounded, but I didn't have time to rest.The air around me shifted.Wrong. Something was wrong.I turned.And there he was.Echo.Or what was left of him?His body glitched uncontrollably, his limbs phasing in and out of existence. Pieces of him stretched, then collapsed inward, folding in impossible directions. His face—what remained—was locked in a silent scream, eyes wide but unseeing.I swallowed hard."Echo…"He twitched violently. Then, his head jerked toward me—like he had finally noticed me."Run."The word barely made it through his fractured voice. Layers of static. Of pain. Of something broken beyond repair.Th
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 46
Kane’s InterventionI barely made it out alive.My body was a mess—bruised, aching, lungs burning with every breath. The adrenaline was fading, leaving behind the crushing weight of exhaustion. But I couldn't stop. Not yet. The stolen data drive pressed against my ribs, still tucked safely in my jacket. I had risked everything to get it. And now, I needed to know why it felt like the world itself was unraveling around me.The sky above flickered. It wasn’t natural, not anymore. The edges of the buildings stretched and bent when I wasn’t looking directly at them. The world was glitching, struggling to hold itself together. And I was the reason why.A sharp buzz in my ear made me flinch. My comm crackled to life, and Kane’s voice exploded through it, raw and furious."Are you out of your goddamn mind, Tony?"I winced. "I missed you too, Kane.""Shut up!" Her voice was sharp, but beneath the anger, I heard something else. Something close to fear. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 47
The Mind of an OverseerI stared at the screen, and the screen stared back.The stolen data was laid out in front of me, scrolling endlessly as if it had no beginning or end. Lines of text flickered, twisted, and reshaped themselves while I watched. It wasn’t normal code. This was something else. Something alive.I leaned closer. The words weren’t just changing randomly. They were responding to me.“What the hell…” I muttered.My own thoughts were rewriting the data. Every time I tried to focus on a particular piece of information, it moved, shifting itself like a living thing avoiding my gaze. The moment I thought I understood a sentence, the meaning warped, like reality itself bending under the weight of something unseen.A cold shiver ran down my spine.This wasn’t just stolen data. This was a conversation.The screen flickered, and suddenly, my name appeared.TONY.Not typed. Not rendered by the system. It just was. Like it had always been there, waiting for me to notice.A deep,
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 48
Zero’s First MoveSomething was wrong.The streetlight above me flickered as I passed, casting shadows that didn’t feel like my own. My reflection in a storefront window lagged for half a second before catching up. I stopped, turning back to face it, my pulse hammering in my ears.Nothing. Just me.I exhaled, shaking it off, but the feeling didn’t go away. It had been like this for hours—like something unseen was pressing against reality, distorting it at the edges. Like the world itself was holding its breath.I ducked into a side alley, keeping to the shadows. Kane had warned me to lay low, but that wasn’t the problem. Something was already watching.I ran a hand over my face, exhaustion digging into my bones. Every move I made since escaping the facility felt predetermined—as if I was following a script I hadn’t written. The stolen data had done something to me. Or maybe I had done something to it.The air shifted.My muscles tensed. The alley was empty, but suddenly, it didn’t fee
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 49
The First Fragment of TruthThe data fought me.Lines of code blurred, rearranged, and rewrote themselves as I read. Every time I thought I had something solid, it twisted into something else, like it was actively resisting me.But I kept going.Because something in my gut told me this wasn’t just about uncovering secrets. This was about survival.My fingers hovered over the keyboard, tension tightening my jaw. I had been digging into Zero, cross-referencing stolen files, piecing together scraps of information that shouldn’t exist.And then I found it.The screen flickered. A name.Not a codename. Not a designation.A real name.I froze. A cold, electric shock ran through me as I read it again.Zero had a past.A past that had been erased.And worse—I knew him.A rush of fragmented memories slammed into me, hitting like a train at full speed.A voice—familiar, laughing in the dark.A hand gripping my shoulder pulled me up when I had nothing left.A promise. "We don’t go down easy."T
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CHAPTER 220
Old Meets NewA cold feeling went down my back. It wasn't just cold; it was because everything around us felt wrong. Outside Kane's strong room, the city looked twisted, like a snake moving in a weird way. Buildings leaned at crazy angles, the sky was a purple bruise, and the air buzzed with a power that felt old and very wrong. My head hurt, a slow beat against the loud strangeness of this new world.The world went crazy, and we had to try and fix it.Kane looked hard at the glowing pictures above the table. Lines of code, a language I used to know well but now felt like a lost one, moved on the clear screen. She bit her lip, something she did when thinking hard. Her usual strong energy was still there, like a small fire that wouldn't go out in the dark. But I could see worry lines around her eyes.“Anything, Darren?” Her voice was rough and tired.I ran my hand over my thin hair. I could almost feel the old wires that used to connect to my brain. “Bits and pieces, Kane. L
CHAPTER 219
Seeing Things DifferentlyShaky light on worried faces around the bright map. Red lights flashed, showing trouble spreading. Kane looked hard, telling people what to do, a bit worried.My clear memories showed a scary pattern Kane didn't get. She saw now; I remembered long ago.Kane stopped talking. "Another dark spot, Tony. No why, no answer... gone." Her upset voice made me feel bad. I knew that lost feeling."Kane," I said, my quiet voice was clear. Everyone looked. I usually just helped, but the memories needed saying.She turned, tired but a bit sharp. "What, Tony? No time.""Not just happening, Kane," I said carefully. "It's happened before."People didn't believe me. Petrov laughed. "Before? Nothing like this in the books.""Books not complete," I said back, looking at Kane. She looked unsure. "Some truths hidden. Some things are forgotten.""Forgotten things?" Sarah looked surprised. "What are you talking about?"I went to the map, pointing at a dark spot. "Look ho
CHAPTER 218
Echoes in the GlitchThe cold voice in the small well-house felt like icy fingers touching my skin. Next to me, Kane held my arm so tight her knuckles were white. The strange key in her other hand glowed, making her scared face look even more so."Elias... Darren... they need to see this," she whispered, her voice shaky.My mind was racing. Elias, so quiet but always noticing things, and Darren, who first saw that things weren't right – they had to know about this. We weren't the only ones in this messed-up world, even if it felt like it."We go together," I said, trying to sound brave even though my heart was pounding. Whatever was behind that disappearing wall, we'd face it together.Kane nodded, her eyes looking strong. She was still scared, but she was also determined. We walked towards the shimmering opening. The buzzing sound got louder, and the air felt strange, making the hairs on my arms stand up.When we stepped through the wall, it was like being swallowed by darkne
CHAPTER 217
Pieces of a Lost WorldThe blue mark on Gareth’s arm disappeared, but we were all still scared, Kane. It felt like a cold weight in our stomachs. The strange things happening weren't just whispers anymore; they were shouting at us.I watched Darren. He’d been quiet since the motel, always looking worried, like he was fighting something inside his head. His broken memories seemed to bother him a lot. Now, when Gareth told us what happened, Darren looked far away, like he could see something we couldn’t.“Did it… feel like anything you’ve felt before, Darren?” I asked. Maybe his weird remembering could help us understand this.He blinked and looked back at us slowly. He shook his head, looking confused. “No… not really. But… there’s something… a feeling…” He stopped, rubbing his head.“Like what?” you asked softly, but your eyes were looking right at him.Darren waited, looking around. “Like… a lost rule. Something… broken.”A lost rule? Something broken? That sounded strange an
CHAPTER 216
Echoes of the Past, Seeds of OblivionMy head hurt bad, like something was trying to get inside. Pictures flashed in my mind – faces I didn't know well, cold white rooms, and a scary feeling of losing something important. This remembering… it felt wrong, like they were forcing it. I sat on the bed, my hands shaking. Each memory that came back was like a punch, not a friendly hello. A cold voice giving orders… a big empty feeling inside… the taste of fear. Who was I supposed to be? The me that wanted to keep you safe, Kane, felt weak, like a dream that could disappear.My stomach turned as a strong memory hit me: a bright room, straps holding me down, and a light shining in my eyes. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out in the memory. Had they done this to me before? I felt sure – this wasn't helping me remember; it was taking me back."Darren," Sarah said, her voice not kind like before. She looked worried. "This is hard. Try to stay calm."Calm? How could I be calm when
CHAPTER 215
Putting the Pieces TogetherSeeing Ben’s empty, blue eyes were stuck in my head. Martha, Elias’s kind Martha, moved like a puppet with those strange figures… it was a real nightmare. The ground still shook, and the twisted trees looked like monster hands reaching for the sky. We had to get away, but seeing our lost friends made us freeze, a scary warning of what could happen to us.“We can’t fight them here!” I shouted over the weird noises of the changing world. “We need to go back, get ourselves together!”Tony, looking pale but determined, nodded. “He’s right. They’re too strong for us here.” He pulled Elias, who was just standing there, looking at Martha. “Elias, come on!”We ran back to the part of the woods that still looked normal. The blue light went away behind us, like a bad eye closing. The air here was still, the trees looked like they always did, but we all felt really scared.Back in the mess hall, it was very quiet and sad. Elias sat with his head down, crying.
CHAPTER 214
Seeing What's Not RealThe memory of the starry ceiling stayed with me, making me feel cold and scared. Our world, the ground, the sky – was it all a lie? It made my head spin.Elias looked at me looking at the metal thing. “You didn’t sleep, Kane.” He knew.I shook my head. How could I explain seeing something that wasn’t possible?Darren looked serious. “Did anything… happen with that thing last night?” He looked at the metal thing carefully.I waited a moment, then nodded slowly. “The ceiling… it changed. For a second. I saw… stars. Not our stars.”The room got quiet. Everyone looked worried. The strange things before were bad, but this was unbelievable.Tony looked confused. “Stars? Kane, are you sure you’re okay? Maybe it was a dream.”“It felt real, Tony,” I said, my voice shaking a little. “Too real. The metal thing… it did something when I was near it.”It was scary to think about. If what we thought was real could change so easily, what else wasn’t true? Our memories
CHAPTER 213
The Enemy's MarkSleep was just seeing glowing eyes and hearing a voice in my head: You are the key. Morning showed tired faces.I walked around, giving tea and saying quiet things. My mind was trying to put the strange things together. The doll, tools, tree… there was a line connecting them. The Old Man looked at the cold fireplace. “The birds, girl,” he said quietly. “They don’t sing right. Like the song is wrong. And some songs… I never heard them before.”It was a small thing, but Hemlock knew the woods well, so it felt important. Another piece.The woman was giving out food and told me something else. “The water, Kane. When I went to get water, it looked shiny. Like oil, but with rainbow colors. Then it was gone.”Rainbow shine. Glowing tree. Light from the ground. Colors that weren’t normal.A pattern was starting: small changes to what was real, weird things mixed in with what we knew. Not just things disappearing; things were changing.Michael, still quiet, pointed at
CHAPTER 212
Strange WhispersThe old woman's face was wet with tears in the flickering light. Her hands shook as she held a mug. "The doll, Kane," she whispered, her voice weak. "Porcelain eyes... they looked right at you. Then... gone. Michael said it blinked."I leaned closer, the table hard under my arms. Outside, the wind howled. The woman, usually strong, was scared. Her fear made me feel cold."And then?" I asked.She swallowed hard. "It just disappeared. Like it was never there. Michael..." I looked at the big mechanic, his eyes empty. He saw a tree with blue leaves that turned to dust fast."Anyone else?" The Old Man nodded slowly, his face full of lines. "My wrench. Right here. I looked away to fix the fire... poof. Gone. Found it in the waters later, dry."A shiver went down my back. Quick pictures, seeing things together, stuff vanishing... it felt like what was real was breaking. We thought it was just stress, but it happened too much, and it was too weird.Yesterday, I saw
