CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Blackout Theory
Division K Quarantine Level – 27 Hours Until the Faction War
There was no announcement. No alarm. Just darkness.
At 2:43 a.m., the entire lower compound lost power.
Noah sat up instantly—half-asleep on his cot, sweat cooling on his neck. Across the dim hall, emergency strips flickered to life in red pulses, like a slow heartbeat.
Blackout Protocol.
He remembered Sarai's words from day one:
> "If the lights die, assume control has changed hands."
---
Emergency Hallways – Quarantine Level
He found Reina already awake, lacing her boots in near-silence.
"You feel that?" she asked, not looking up.
"What?"
She tightened the strap. "The shift. Like the simulation's still running, but no one's watching."
That was when they heard the scream.
---
Isolation Room 6
By the time Noah and Reina arrived, Marik was already there, standing over a shattered glass panel. Inside, the walls were smeared with static from a glitched projection screen.
Tayo sat on the floor, hands bloodied, breathing shallow. Something in his eyes was fractured—like he wasn't fully back.
"What happened?" Noah asked.
Tayo looked up slowly.
"She spoke to me."
Noah knelt. "Who?"
Tayo didn't answer directly. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a shard of mirrored glass.
> It looked exactly like the fragments found during Tower trials.
Too exact.
Reina stepped back. "That's not from this simulation."
Marik swore under his breath.
Noah felt it in his spine. The same cold logic that ran beneath every test here.
"This isn't a drill," he said. "Someone dropped something from the real war into this."
---
System Reboot – 03:11 a.m.
The compound lights returned, but not all systems came back.
Doors opened that shouldn't have. Cameras stayed off. Sarai didn't appear.
Instead, a new message blinked across every terminal:
> UPDATE TO WAR FORMAT:
"Black Zones" will be active from Phase I.
Black Zones are unmapped sectors.
Entry is irreversible.
Survivors are off-system.
Proceed by command, instinct, or not at all.
---
Back in the Bunker – 04:07 a.m.
Sarai finally returned.
She wore a white coat now—unmarked. No insignia.
"We don't reset after tonight," she said simply.
"You're in the war now. No more pretense."
She handed each of them a sealed case. Inside: injectable tags, personalized comm devices, and memory-sealed folders.
Noah opened his last.
Inside was a photo.
> A woman with pale eyes standing at the edge of a machine.
The same machine from Tower Echo.
The caption read only: GRAYSON PROTOCOL INITIATED – STAGE ONE.
His chest tightened.
He had never seen her before.
But the name—Grayson—triggered something.
A sound. A bell, maybe. A memory not his.
---
Final Scene – Observation Deck Overlooking the Arena
Marik leaned beside him, watching the Arena grids light up below.
"You ever wonder what happens if you win too cleanly?" he asked.
Noah didn't answer.
Marik nodded toward the far edge of the Arena.
"There," he said. "See that dead zone? That wasn't on any previous maps."
A sector flickering in and out like corrupted data.
Marik's voice dropped to a whisper.
"They call it the black eye."
Noah stared into it.
And it stared back.