The Manaless King Of Sigma

Chapter 10: The Signal That Followed Him

Mateo had barely reached the shelter entrance when the pressure in his chest returned.

It was not painful this time. It felt more like a finger pressing against a bruise, gentle but persistent, reminding him that something inside him had changed.

He stopped walking.

Lucía nearly bumped into his back.

“Please tell me you haven't decided to investigate another mysterious phenomenon without warning me.”

“I haven't.”

“Then why did you stop?”

“Because it's happening again.”

She immediately took out her sensor.

The device emitted three short clicks, paused, then produced another three.

Lucía frowned at the display.

“That's the same interval we recorded beneath the station.”

“Can you identify the direction?”

“Not yet. Give me a moment.”

She moved the sensor slowly from side to side. The clicks grew faster when she faced the eastern road, then slowed when she turned toward the sports center.

Mateo followed the movement.

The signal was strongest toward the transit station.

That was where they had found the circular symbol, the strange markings, and the tunnel leading into the old drainage system. Yet something about the reading bothered him.

The signal was weaker than before, but he could feel it more clearly.

It was as if whatever had been hidden beneath the city had discovered a way to reach him without requiring him to enter its territory.

“Could your equipment be picking up interference from my condition?” he asked.

Lucía lowered the sensor.

“That's possible. But we need to distinguish between your body producing the signal and your body responding to an external source.”

“How?”

“We compare the readings when you're close to the transit station, when you're farther away, and when you're completely still. If the pattern changes with your position, we may be able to narrow down the relationship.”

“And if it doesn't?”

“Then we have another problem.”

Mateo almost smiled.

She had a way of making uncertainty sound like a personal insult.

Before they could begin the test, a young volunteer hurried toward them.

“Marcos wants both of you at the main entrance. Something's happening outside.”

Mateo immediately put the sensor case under his arm.

“What kind of something?”

“I don't know. People are gathering near the road. They say one of the creatures has been spotted close to the residential buildings.”

Lucía exchanged a glance with Mateo.

The escaped creature had not been found, and the shelter's mission was still incomplete.

“Tell Marcos we're coming,” Mateo said.

The volunteer ran ahead.

Mateo looked toward the eastern road one last time.

The pressure in his chest faded.

For now.

A crowd had gathered near the barricade when Mateo arrived.

Marcos stood beside the maintenance technician, listening to a middle-aged woman who was speaking rapidly. Behind her, several residents had come from nearby buildings carrying bags and small children.

“We heard screaming from the next street,” the woman explained. “Then something smashed through a shop window. We didn't see what it was, but there was blood on the pavement.”

“Did you see anyone being attacked?” Mateo asked.

“No. We ran before we could find out.”

“Which street?”

She pointed toward the east.

Mateo knew the area. Two streets beyond the transit station stood a row of small shops, apartment buildings, and a pharmacy. In his previous life, the district had become one of the earliest contested zones after the First Awakening.

The escaped creature might have reached it already.

“Marcos, we need to send a warning to the nearby buildings,” Mateo said. “Nobody should approach the damaged shop until we know what's there.”

Marcos looked toward the volunteers.

“I can send two people to warn the nearest residents. But if that creature is loose, we need to keep everyone else here.”

“Agreed. No one goes hunting for it.”

A man in a gray shirt pushed through the crowd.

“Why are we hiding here?” he demanded. “We have more people than those things. If we keep running, they'll take everything.”

Several people murmured in agreement.

Mateo recognized the danger immediately. Fear could make people freeze, but it could also convince them that reckless action was courage.

“What do you suggest?” he asked.

The man lifted a metal rod.

“We organize everyone who can fight and clear the streets.”

“With what information?”

The man hesitated.

Mateo continued, keeping his voice calm.

“We don't know how many creatures are out there. We don't know whether they're moving alone or together. We don't even know whether the streets are safe to enter. If we send untrained people into an unfamiliar area, we may create more victims without solving the problem.”

“So we just wait?”

“No. We secure the shelter, warn the residents, and gather information. When we have a plan, we act.”

The man looked dissatisfied, but he stepped back.

Marcos gave Mateo a brief nod.

“I'm assigning three volunteers to warn the nearest buildings. They'll stay in pairs and return immediately if they encounter anything suspicious.”

“Good. Keep their route short and make sure they know where to retreat.”

Marcos began issuing instructions.

Mateo watched the crowd settle into motion. The fear had not disappeared, but giving people clear tasks helped prevent panic from spreading.

Then a system notification appeared.

REGIONAL ALERT

UNCONFIRMED HOSTILE ACTIVITY

Location: Eastern Residential District

Threat classification: Pending

Civilian presence: Detected

Recommended action: Maintain distance and avoid isolated movement.

Additional information unavailable.

Mateo read the notification twice.

The system had detected hostile activity but could not classify the threat.

That was the second time since the First Awakening that its information had proved incomplete.

He wondered how many other people were receiving similar warnings and assuming the system had everything under control.

“Lucía,” he said quietly, “record the alert.”

“Already done.”

“Compare it with the earlier mission notice. I want to know whether the system uses the same classification process for both.”

She nodded and opened her laptop.

Mateo turned toward the eastern road.

The signal beneath the city had changed. Now the system was detecting something above ground as well.

Whether the two events were connected remained unknown.

But he had learned enough about survival to distrust convenient coincidences.

Twenty minutes later, the volunteers returned.

One of them was breathing hard. The other had a scrape along his forearm, though he insisted he was fine.

“There's a damaged shop near the corner,” the first volunteer reported. “The front window is broken, and we saw something moving inside.”

“What did it look like?” Marcos asked.

“We couldn't see it clearly. It was low to the ground, but it moved too fast for us to follow.”

“Did it notice you?”

“I think so. Something hit the inside of the door after we started backing away.”

Mateo frowned.

The escaped creature near the delivery truck had been large enough to damage a barricade. A smaller creature could have slipped into the neighborhood unnoticed, but he could not assume that was what they had seen.

“Did you hear any clicking sounds?” he asked.

Both volunteers looked at him.

“Yes,” one answered. “Three clicks, then a pause. We heard it again from somewhere behind the shop.”

Mateo felt the pressure return to his chest.

Lucía looked up from her laptop.

“That matches the pattern we recorded.”

The shelter seemed suddenly quieter.

Marcos turned toward them. “What does that mean?”

“We don't know yet,” Lucía said. “But the sounds may be connected to the energy patterns we recorded near the transit station.”

“Can those sounds attract the creatures?”

“We don't have evidence of that.”

“Can they communicate with one another?”

“That's more plausible, but still unconfirmed.”

Marcos rubbed his forehead.

“Everything is a possibility, and nothing is an answer.”

“That's why we investigate carefully,” Mateo said.

He looked at the two volunteers.

“Did you see any other people near the shop?”

“No. The street was mostly empty.”

“Then we keep it that way. Warn the nearby residents not to approach the building, and mark the street as unsafe.”

Marcos nodded.

“We'll use vehicles to block both ends of the road. That should stop people from wandering in by accident.”

Mateo approved the plan. It was not a permanent solution, but it would reduce the immediate risk.

As the volunteers moved away, he opened his status window.

The mission timer was still counting down.

Time remaining: 1 hour, 19 minutes.

He had less than an hour and a half to secure the eastern access road, and now another possible threat had appeared inside the residential district.

The mission's original objective no longer seemed sufficient.

The system wanted a safe route established between the sports center and the residential area. Yet a road could be cleared of visible monsters and remain dangerous because of a hidden threat.

Mateo had seen that mistake cost lives before.

He refused to repeat it.

“Lucía, I want to compare the signal readings with the location of the damaged shop.”

She studied him.

“You think the shop is connected to the underground structure?”

“I think we should find out whether the pattern changes when we move toward it.”

“And if it does?”

“Then we document the change and retreat. We don't enter the building without knowing what we're facing.”

Lucía considered the proposal.

“Two people, with a clear retreat route. I'll bring the sensor, but if your condition starts affecting your coordination again, we stop.”

“Agreed.”

Marcos overheard them.

“You're going out there?”

“Only to the blocked street,” Mateo replied. “We won't approach the shop unless the area is clear enough to inspect safely.”

Marcos looked at the crowd, then at the barricade.

“I can't spare many people.”

“You don't need to. Keep the shelter organized. If we find something useful, we'll return with the information.”

After a moment, Marcos nodded.

“Take the technician. He knows the service roads and can help you find another way back if the main street is blocked.”

Mateo accepted.

The technician gathered a flashlight, a short crowbar, and a small radio. Lucía packed her sensor and a notebook. Mateo took a metal pipe, checked that his shoes were secure, and followed them through the eastern entrance.

The sky above the city remained an unnatural blue.

Far away, a siren sounded once before cutting off abruptly.

No one knew whether the emergency services were still operating. No one knew how many other shelters had formed or how many people had been caught outside when the First Awakening began.

The city had become a collection of isolated groups, each trying to understand a world that had changed overnight.

Mateo had one advantage over the others: he remembered what this world would become.

But the more he learned, the less certain he became that his memories were enough.

They reached the blocked street without encountering anything.

Two abandoned cars had been positioned across the road, leaving a narrow gap for pedestrians. The damaged shop stood beyond them, its front window shattered and its door hanging crookedly from one hinge.

A trail of dark fluid marked the pavement.

Lucía crouched at the edge of the road, keeping her distance.

“The energy readings are rising,” she whispered.

Mateo looked at the sensor.

The numbers fluctuated, then settled into the same repeating sequence they had recorded beneath the transit station.

Three short pulses.

A pause.

Three more.

The technician gripped his crowbar.

“Whatever is inside, I don't want to meet it.”

“Then we won't,” Mateo said. “We're here to observe, not fight.”

He focused on the shop entrance.

A faint scraping sound came from inside.

Then a click.

Another.

A third.

Mateo felt his chest tighten.

The pattern was unmistakable.

He had heard it in the maintenance tunnel, where the circular symbol had responded to his presence. He had heard it near the delivery truck, where the armored creatures had exchanged sounds. Now it was coming from a damaged shop in the residential district.

The signal was not confined to the underground structure.

It was spreading—or had always been present, hidden beneath the ordinary sounds of the city.

Lucía raised the sensor slightly.

“Mateo, look at the readings.”

A new pattern had appeared on the display. The energy pulses were no longer coming only from the shop.

They were coming from multiple directions.

The transit station.

The drainage tunnel.

The eastern residential district.

And, according to the sensor, somewhere directly beneath their feet.

Mateo stepped backward.

“Everyone move away from the building.”

The technician did not argue. He retreated toward the barricade, keeping his eyes on the shop.

Lucía followed, but her gaze remained fixed on the readings.

“It's not one signal,” she said. “It's several. They're synchronized.”

Mateo stared at the road.

The three silver rings flashed through his mind.

He remembered how the markings had brightened when he approached the wall. He remembered the strange pattern that had appeared in his vision and the system's warning about neurological instability.

He had thought the structure was responding to him.

Perhaps he had misunderstood.

Perhaps the structure was only one part of something much larger.

A pale blue notification appeared before his eyes.

ANOMALOUS TRAIT

Passive synchronization detected.

Pattern similarity: Confirmed.

Signal sources: Multiple.

Network relationship: Unresolved.

Warning: External pattern activity is increasing.

The words faded.

Mateo's heart pounded.

“Lucía, can your equipment tell whether the signals are getting stronger?”

She checked the display.

“Yes. And they're changing faster than before.”

“Can you tell where the next one will appear?”

“No. The readings are too incomplete.”

A sudden impact sounded inside the shop.

The broken door shuddered.

The technician backed away another step.

“That's enough for me. We should return to the shelter.”

Mateo agreed.

They began retreating toward the barricade.

Then the streetlights flickered.

Every light along the road turned blue, including those that had been disconnected from the power grid since the First Awakening. A low vibration rose from beneath the pavement, and dust drifted from the walls of the surrounding buildings.

Lucía's sensor emitted a continuous tone.

Mateo's chest answered with a sharp pulse.

He staggered, catching himself against the side of a parked car.

For one terrifying instant, his vision filled with silver rings.

Not three.

Dozens.

They overlapped and rotated through a dark space, connected by thin lines that stretched beyond anything he could comprehend.

Then the image vanished.

Mateo dropped to one knee.

“Mateo!” Lucía rushed toward him.

“Don't touch me yet.”

He pressed a hand against the pavement.

The vibration was stronger here than it had been near the underground structure.

Something was moving beneath the city.

Not a creature crawling through a drainage tunnel.

Something much larger.

The pavement trembled again.

From inside the damaged shop came a sharp, piercing cry. It was followed by the rapid clicking sound they had heard earlier.

Then another voice answered from somewhere beneath the road.

Mateo slowly raised his head.

The system notification appeared again, this time accompanied by a warning sound.

REGIONAL SYSTEM ALERT

MULTIPLE ANOMALOUS SIGNALS DETECTED

Regional disturbance: Escalating

Threat classification: Unavailable

Network activity: Increasing

Warning: Current mission parameters may be insufficient for the detected event.

Lucía stared at the notification only after Mateo described what he could see.

“Mission parameters insufficient?” she repeated. “The system is admitting it doesn't understand what's happening.”

“Or admitting that the mission was never meant to cover all of it.”

The pavement cracked several meters ahead.

A thin line split the road, glowing blue from within.

The technician stumbled backward.

“We need to go. Now!”

Mateo forced himself upright. His legs were unsteady, but the pain was already fading.

He looked toward the shelter.

They needed to warn everyone. They needed to keep the residents away from the road. And they needed to understand why the system had begun detecting signals in several places at once.

But as they retreated, Mateo saw something through the crack in the pavement.

A circular shape buried beneath the road.

Three silver rings.

A dark center.

The same symbol that had appeared on his chest, on the wall beneath the transit station, and in the vision that haunted him from his previous life.

For a moment, he could not breathe.

The symbol brightened.

Then a message appeared in his vision—one that was not formatted like any system notification he had seen before.

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.

Mateo stopped.

Lucía grabbed his arm.

“Don't look at it! We have to move!”

He tore his gaze away.

The message vanished, but the pressure in his chest remained.

Whatever had been hidden beneath the city was no longer simply responding to him.

It had established a connection.

And as the three of them hurried back toward the shelter, the blue light beneath the pavement spread into the surrounding streets.

The First Awakening had only begun.

The real disturbance was just waking up.