00:08:43
I didn't find the Whisper Market.
It found me.
The moment I crossed the 5% Echo Affinity threshold, my HUD glitched. Colors inverted. Text flickered backwards.
Then the System whispered:
[LOCATION SYNC: WHISPER MARKET ACCESS GRANTED]Access Condition: Echo-bound soul. Memory-touched. Regret-recognized.Warning: Nothing traded here is truly gone.
Elya didn't follow me this time.
She stood at the subway stairwell, arms crossed. "You'll be walking into a place that isn't part of Earth. Or the System. It lives in-between."
"I don't have a choice," I said. "Someone in there knows how I die."
The Whisper Market appeared like a dream painted in oil and smoke.
It stretched into a sunless cavern lit by soulfire lanterns and floating glyph-lights that flickered with memory. Each stall sold something impossible.
A man in a plague mask bartered with a wailing skull that knew ten languages.
A merchant offered "Forgotten Names" sealed in crystal bottles.
A shadowed figure hissed, "Buy a moment from your past—before someone else does."
And every vendor, every customer... had no face. Just static masks with emotional glyphs carved into them: REGRET, HOPE, RAGE, LOVE, GUILT.
As I moved deeper, the air shifted.
I heard whispers in my ears that weren't mine.
Jonah's voice. My mother's voice. A teacher I'd forgotten.My own screams from a memory I didn't remember living.
I almost turned back.
Then I saw it.
A glowing market stall made of fractured mirrors and broken AR screens. The sign above it read:
"Future Fragments for Sale."
A vendor sat behind it. A woman draped in threadbare code, her eyes blindfolded with glowing numbers.
She looked up—though she couldn't see.
And she said, "Ren Ishikawa. Soul-binder. Timeline hazard. Welcome."
My throat dried. "How do you know me?"
She smiled. "Because you sold me your future… yesterday."
I blinked. "What?"
"You came here, tomorrow. Desperate. Hurt. You asked to know how it all ends. I gave you what you wanted."
She pointed to a crystal vial sitting on the counter. Inside: a tiny version of me, kneeling, eyes glowing with black fire.
[FUTURE FRAGMENT – POSSIBLE DEATH #3: "Soulbound Overload"]Prediction Confidence: 71%Risk Factor: Echo Saturation, Identity Drift, Emotional Collapse.
Price: 1 Memory + 1 Hour of Lifespan.
The System chimed in softly.
[New Mechanic Unlocked: Future Fragment Acquisition]Trade elements of self to preview potential futures.Warning: Collecting too many fragments may destabilize timeline.Threshold: 3 max fragments per soul phase.
Elya had warned me: "Don't peek at how you die. You'll either run from it… or run toward it."
But I couldn't walk away now.
"Price is one memory?" I asked.
The vendor nodded. "Choose the one you're most afraid to lose."
I hesitated.
Then said, "My first kiss."
She reached across and touched my temple. For a moment, I saw her face—not code, but mine. She wore it like a borrowed coat.
The memory vanished.
I didn't even remember who it was anymore.
She placed the vial in my palm.
FUTURE FRAGMENT ACQUIRED.This vision may trigger at any time.
As I turned to leave, a shadow detached from the wall and blocked my path.
A figure—taller than me, draped in static robes, no face.
Only a glowing mark on its hand: the ∆ symbol. My symbol.
It raised its head and whispered:
"You are not the first Chaos Mage.You are simply the one who lasted the longest… so far."
"And I'm here to buy your soul—before it dies for free."