The Price Of A Sacrifice

Who is B-01

My hands are shaking violently. The red marker I was gripping tightly falls to the floor, rolling under the dark desk. I try to reach for it, but my arm feels as heavy as lead. My breath is ragged, short and sharp, as if the air in this room has suddenly turned to poison.

Damn it, why now?

My vision blurs. The monitor in front of me, still displaying Julian’s face covered in red scribbles, seems to melt and merge with the darkness. A familiar pain begins to crawl from the base of my spine, cold and piercing all the way to the crown of my head. This isn't ordinary physical pain. This is a thirst demanding to be quenched.

"[ WARNING: SUBJECT BODY STABILITY BELOW 15% ]"

The system's voice echoes in my head, louder than usual. Cold. Uncompromising.

"[ ALTAR ENERGY REACHING CRITICAL POINT. MOTOR FUNCTIONS WILL BE DEACTIVATED IN 60 SECONDS. ]"

"Shut up," I hiss, gripping the edge of the desk. My knuckles turn white, digging into the wooden surface until they leave marks. "Give me... recovery."

"[ RECOVERY REQUIRES FUEL. ]"

A transparent blue screen appears before my eyes, illuminating my face, which is now deathly pale and drenched in cold sweat.

"[ OFFER AVAILABLE: SACRIFICE 'BEAUTIFUL CHILDHOOD MEMORIES'. ]"

"[ PRICE: 12 UNITS OF PRECIOUS MEMORIES. ]"

"[ RESULT: 100% BODY RESTORATION AND ENHANCED ANALYTICAL SHARPNESS. ]"

I laugh bitterly amidst my gasping breath. "Beautiful memories? I'm not even sure... I have that many."

"[ SYSTEM HAS DETECTED REMAINING FRAGMENTS. DO YOU ACCEPT? ]"

I fall silent. My heart pounds wildly, sending a throbbing pain through every inch of my veins. I know what will happen. If I refuse, I’ll die here, in this squalid apartment, as a loser who hasn't even taken his first step. But if I accept... I will lose something that can never return.

"Do it," I whisper finally. "Delete it all. I don't need that trash to kill them."

Instantly, my world is sucked into a vortex of blinding white light. The pain vanishes, replaced by a strange floating sensation. In front of me, pieces of memory begin to spin like an old film playing in slow motion.

I see myself at five years old. I’m sitting in the corner of the back warehouse of the grand Durnevra mansion. In my arms is an old teddy bear with one eye missing the only doll I ever got from an old servant who felt sorry for me.

His name was... Ben. I named him Ben.

The memory is so real. I can smell the dust in that warehouse and feel the texture of the doll's fur, coarse yet warm. Outside, the sounds of Julian and Elena’s laughter are faint. They are celebrating Julian’s birthday with a lavish garden party. I wasn't invited. But I wasn't sad, because I had Ben. I whispered all my secrets to that doll.

I want to be an architect later, Ben. I’ll build a house with many windows, so there are no dark corners.

"Fragment 01: Deleted."

The system's voice sounds like a cruel cutting machine. I see the shadow of myself and the doll begin to crack, then shatter into millions of shards of light that evaporate into the air. I try to reach for it, trying to hold onto just one second of the warmth I felt then.

"Don't..." I mutter, but no sound comes out.

The next memory appears. I have a high fever. Elena enters my room a very rare occurrence. She doesn't bring medicine, but she places her hand on my forehead for a moment. Only five seconds. But for little Adrian, those five seconds were everything. I felt so loved. I felt like I was truly her child.

"Fragment 02: Deleted."

Elena’s face in that memory fades, becoming blurred and formless. The warmth on my forehead disappears, replaced by absolute cold. One by one, the fragments are destroyed. The scent of the first cookies I ever made, the pride of getting a perfect score in school just to show Dimitri, and small dreams of a normal future.

Everything is devoured by the Altar.

Suddenly, I feel my body jerk back to reality. I stand tall in the middle of the room. The shaking in my hands is gone. My breathing is stable, slow, and efficient. The exhaustion that was just crushing me feels as if it never existed. I feel strong. Very strong.

I look down at the red marker that fell earlier. I pick it up with a very precise, almost robotic movement. There is no more hesitation in my every move.

"Status?" I ask flatly.

"[ RESTORATION COMPLETE. BODY FUNCTIONS OPTIMIZED. ]"

"[ ALL FILIAL MEMORIES AND BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES HAVE BEEN CONVERTED INTO SYSTEM ENERGY. ]"

I walk toward the mirror in the corner of the room. I stare at my own reflection. My eyes... they look different. No more traces of sadness or longing. What remains are two cold, calculating black holes.

I try to think of that teddy bear. What was its name again? Ben? Ken? I know I once had it, but I can't feel anything. No warmth, no sense of loss. It’s just data. An object called a doll that once existed in the coordinates of my past.

Then, I try to think of Elena. I remember she once touched my forehead. I know it happened. But why did I do it? Why did I feel it was important? My logic tells me that action was medically useless. It was just physical contact without functional value.

"Altar," I call out. My voice sounds foreign to my own ears. So devoid of emotion.

"Yes, Architect?"

"Why did I once feel the urge to be hugged by that woman?"

The system pauses for a moment before answering. "[ THAT WAS AN ERROR IN YOUR HUMANITY SOFTWARE. A DELUSION CALLED THE NEED FOR AFFECTION. ]"

"A delusion, huh?" I crack a thin smile, but the smile feels like a mechanical muscle pull. "Good thing it's gone. It would only hinder the efficiency of my plan."

I return to the desk, open my laptop, and see Elena Durnevra’s face on the screen. She still looks beautiful with her fake tears on television. Before, seeing that face might have made my chest tight. Now? I only see a target. A structure that must be torn down because its foundation is rotten.

I start typing at a terrifying speed. Command codes flow across the screen as a sabotage strategy begins to form in my head with incredible clarity. There are no more distractions from "what if" feelings or "maybe they actually care."

I pause for a moment, staring at my palm, which now feels foreign. I know there is something massive that just vanished from my soul. A void that is now filled by cold algorithms and pure vendetta.

I take the family photo I once kept in the desk drawer the only photo where I am in the back corner, almost invisible. I stare at Elena’s figure there.

I know she is my mother.

I know I once loved her.

But I don't remember why.

I crush the photo until it shatters into a meaningless ball of paper, then throw it into the trash without looking back.

"A hug..." I mutter softly, trying to feel the resonance of that word in my mind.

Hollow. The word is now no more meaningful than a technical term in building construction. I no longer remember what it feels like to want to be hugged, or why I ever cried just to get attention from those people.

I stand in front of the window, staring at the glittering city lights. Somewhere out there, the Durnevra family is sleeping soundly, unaware that the person they considered a "spare part" has now become something entirely different.

"Poor Adrian is truly gone," I whisper to the darkness of the night. "You killed his soul, and now... I will kill your world."

I turn from the window, my eyes fixed on the monitor displaying the medical logistics delivery schedule for Durnevra Corp. The next target is locked.

"Altar, begin the sabotage phase of the main storage warehouse," I command. "Leave nothing behind."

However, in the midst of this new coldness, a system message appears in the corner of my vision a message I have never seen before.

"[ WARNING: UNKNOWN ENERGY TRACE DETECTED FROM SUBJECT B-01. ]"

I freeze. My efficient heart suddenly beats strangely.

"B-01? What do you mean?"