Haa…!!!
Ryker jolted upright.
Huff!!!
Huff…!!
His chest heaved as he gasped for air. Sweat drenched his entire body, soaking through the infirmary gown and pooling beneath his back like he had just emerged from a storm.
His vision was hazy. The sterile white ceiling above him blurred, bending and twisting as if reality hadn't quite settled yet. His ears rang with a phantom roar of distant flames, screams and an ancient voice echoing in a forgotten tongue.
Aghh!!!!
Ryker groaned as he clutched his temples. Every breath scorched his lungs and the dull ache behind his eyes pulsed like a heartbeat.
'What… was that?'
The dream no, the vision. It hadn't felt fabricated or like some coded simulation. It was too visceral, too real to be artificial. The woman's death, the shadowy figure's agony and the child's silent cry.
All of it still lingered in his bones.
"What the hell happened in there…" Ryker muttered.
Then,
Click…!!
The sound of the door opening was almost imperceptible but Ryker's senses snapped into focus like taut wires.
Footsteps followed
Slow and measured.
Each one landed like a deliberate beat in a carefully composed melody.
Not rushed.
Not hesitant.
Just… precise.
And then Ryker saw him.
Kevin Voss
Vice Chancellor of Nexus Academy.
Tall, lean and draped in a black, high-collared coat embroidered with silver insignias of authority. He looked less like an academic and more like a general.
His angular cheekbones and pale skin looked sculpted, severe and cold. But it was the eyes that commanded obedience.
Icy blue. Unblinking. Calculating.
They dissected Ryker the moment they locked on.
"Ryker Case," Kevin said smoothly. His voice was like gliding steel. It was soft, sharp and lethal.
"You have caused quite the stir."
Ryker straightened himself, pushing past the fatigue looked at Kevin,
"Vice Chancellor…?"
Kevin approached, his hands folded behind his back. "Your simulation record was terminated. Error code unknown. Internal system crash."
"Your vitals? Spiked to dangerous levels. We had to manually override and extract you. You have been unconscious for thirteen hours."
"T-Thirteen?!" Ryker blinked. "But… the simulation"
"Failed," Kevin cut in, tone even. "Not because of you. Because of something else."
Ryker's throat tightened. He remembered the flame. The Burning City, the Cathedral, the warden, the corrupted monster waves, the simulants and the terrifying being that Ryker and his tried to fight in the end…
"…That wasn't part of the simulation, was it?"
Kevin's expression didn't change but his silence was louder than any words.
Ryker pressed on, his voice low. "What the hell did I see in there?"
"I was hoping you could tell me," Kevin replied, raising a single brow. "You were inside it. Can you tell me what you saw?"
Ryker hesitated. Could he even describe it? Would Kevin believe him?
"Everything was wrong from the beginning but we couldn't catch up to it. We were deployed into the destroyed city on Sector 7. The objective was basic, exploration and saving as many civilians as we can within six hours. But something shifted."
Ryker pauses, his eyes narrowing as flashes of the distorted world flash before his eyes.
"The environment changed. The terrain twisted. Creatures we weren't meant to face started appearing, nightmarish things. Not just beasts, but… corrupted entities. The kind you don't see in controlled simulations. First, we fought a pack of void hounds. Then came the Chimera… a massive construct fused with many different human limbs"
Ryker's voice lowers slightly.
"Lia and I held the back while Dean and Arthur held the front and Sasha handled support somewhat. Lucas... he acted strange for a bit, but pulled through it…that fight made us realize something was wrong with the simulation"
Ryker stops there. His tone shifts to being controlled and cautious.
"I am not sure what caused it, but the difficulty spike wasn't random. It felt… targeted. Like something wanted us to break."
Ryker doesn't mention the vision.
Not the voices.
Not the figure in the dark calling his name.
Not the way his own power surged beyond his control.
Not the fight in the Cathedral.
Not the fight with the simulants
"Eventually, we defeated the Chimera and pushed through the last bit of enemies."
He meets Kevin's gaze, calm but cold.
"I don't know how it happened, sir. But that wasn't a simulation. Not anymore."
Kevin didn't move. But his eyes narrowed by a fraction. He was listening.
"No simulation we have programmed includes anything of that scale or narrative, especially the Sector 7 incident" Kevin finally said.
"What you have experienced… wasn't us."
Ryker swallowed. "Then what was it?"
"An anomaly," Kevin answered flatly. "But not a coincidence."
He began pacing slowly beside the bed.
"There are forces in this world that remain buried. Secrets no one is meant to remember. Your reaction, your awakening, your struggles suggests your presence triggered something slumbering inside the simulation framework. Something old."
"Old?" Ryker repeated.
"You mean like… forbidden knowledge?"
"Perhaps," Kevin said. "Or perhaps… something looking back."
Ryker felt a chill run down his spine.
"Why me?"
"That's what I intend to find out," Kevin said, turning to face him again.
"Tell me, Ryker… do you know who you really are?"
Ryker tensed.
Kevin's gaze bore into him like spears of ice.
"No," Ryker admitted quietly. "But I'm starting to think I was never just an ordinary Sanctorum."
Kevin didn't smile. But there was a flicker of something interesting?
Amusement?
Maybe even wariness.
"You are more than that. Of that I am absolutely certain," Kevin said.
"And if you aren't careful… others will begin to notice it too."
Ryker leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?"
"The system's crash wasn't random. It was watching you. Reacting to you. You have stepped off the designated path, Ryker Case That makes you dangerous."
"To whom?"
"To everyone playing by the rules."
The room fell silent.
A heavy moment passed between them.
Then Kevin turned to leave, boots clicking softly against the tiled floor.
Ryker looked down at his trembling hands. The remnants of power, something raw, something ancient, was still lingered beneath his skin.
'I can't waste any more time' Ryker thought.
'Whatever this is… whatever I saw… it's a part of me now. I need to up my game. Sitting behind won't do anything anymore'
The world wasn't safe.
The academy wasn't safe.
And he… he was done playing his role.
Ryker needs to stop playing how the novel script was. He knew this was coming but he didn't think it would be this soon..
Kevin paused at the door.
Without turning back, he murmured under his breath soft, almost inaudible,
"Looks like they found him. It's a matter of time before that happens…"
The door clicked shut behind him.
And Ryker… was left alone with the weight of destiny thrumming in his veins.