**UPDATED INTRO FROM READER SUGGESTIONS 1-31 Thanks for the help all.**

  Leo’s hand throbbed with a dull, burning pain, the skin still tender from where he’d touched the monolith in the game the night before. He examined it in the fluorescent light of the classroom, his mind barely registering his teacher’s voice as symbols from the game swirled in his thoughts, refusing to fade. The symbols had haunted him for weeks, strange shapes and patterns that appeared in his dreams and doodles, surfacing from some dark recess of his mind he hadn’t known existed. Now, though, they felt familiar, as if they were meant for him. He could almost understand them.

  The rest of his school day passed in a blur, with his mind drifting back again and again to the voice he’d heard in the game, the strange man on the bus, the symbols that somehow made sense to him now. By the time the final bell rang, he was more than ready to leave, almost eager for his ritual after-school visit to the hospital. But tonight, he had something he’d never shared with anyone to tell his father – something that felt urgent, as if some hidden clock was ticking down, and only his father had the answers.

  The hospital smelled of antiseptic and recycled air, the lights sterile and harsh against the dull green walls. Leo made his way to his father’s room, his heart pounding with a mixture of anticipation and dread. He found his father awake, looking weaker than usual, but with a sharpness in his gaze that softened when he saw Leo.

  “Hey, Dad,” Leo greeted softly, taking his usual seat beside the bed.

  “Hey, son,” his father replied, his voice gruff but warm. “You look… different. Something on your mind?”

  Leo hesitated, the symbols dancing behind his eyes once more. He stared at his burned hand, then looked up, deciding he couldn’t keep it in any longer. “Dad… there’s something I need to tell you.”

  His father’s brow furrowed, but he nodded, gesturing for Leo to go on.

  Leo took a shaky breath, trying to find the right words. “For a while now, I’ve been… seeing things. Symbols, shapes, like… they’re part of me somehow. I thought it was just my imagination or stress, but… then, last night, I touched something in a game, and I saw… I heard…” His voice trailed off, embarrassment creeping into his cheeks.

  His father’s face softened, his eyes filled with something that looked like recognition – a look that made Leo feel he wasn’t alone in this. “Tell me what you saw, Leo,” his father said, his voice barely above a whisper.

  The story poured out of Leo in fragments – the strange monolith in the game, the symbols that seemed to come alive, the voice calling his name. He left nothing out, even the parts that sounded crazy to him, like the feeling that the game was more than just a game.

  When he finished, his father closed his eyes, as though processing something deep and painful. Finally, he looked at Leo with a steady, searching gaze. “I didn’t know if I’d ever tell you this, Leo,” he began, his voice low and thick with emotion. “But it sounds like maybe… maybe you’re old enough to know now.”

  Leo’s heart raced as his father reached for his hand, gripping it tightly despite his weakened state. “Leo, our family’s been tied to something far beyond anything most people can imagine. When I was younger, I worked for the military, doing… special assignments. The kind most people don’t even know exist.”

  Leo’s eyes widened as his father continued.

  “We were assigned to investigate sightings – things people called ‘UAPs.’ It was a joint mission with the Pentagon and CIA, one of those black ops that never officially existed. I was young and eager, willing to take on anything, no matter how strange. I thought it’d be like the movies, busting conspiracies wide open, but it wasn’t like that at all. They sent me and my partner, Jennifer Casari, on a mission to an ancient archaeological site. They wanted us to survey the area for… anomalies.”

  “Jennifer… as in, Mom?” Leo whispered, his heart catching in his throat.

  His father nodded, a faint smile crossing his lips. “Yes, your mother. We were just two soldiers following orders back then. But that place… what we found there, it changed everything. There were symbols, like the ones you’ve been seeing, carved into stone so old it shouldn’t have still been standing. They were… alive, almost. The place felt wrong, like we’d stumbled on something that wasn’t meant for us.”

  Leo gripped his father’s hand tighter, hanging onto every word.

  “We tried to report it, of course,” his father continued, “but they didn’t want the truth getting out. After that, strange things started happening. We were watched, chased by people who… well, let’s just say they didn’t seem like anyone I’d ever met. People who didn’t have names or records. They wanted us silenced, and they almost succeeded more than once. We knew we had to go dark, so we ran.”

  His father’s voice cracked, and he closed his eyes for a moment, fighting back tears. “Eventually, we stopped running long enough to try and build a life. Your mother and I… we thought we were safe enough to get married, to have you. But we weren’t safe. After you were born, those people found us again.”

  Leo held his breath, images from a memory he couldn’t explain flashing in his mind – a hazy vision of trees and shadows, his father’s terrified face, and a glowing figure.

  “We were in the woods,” his father whispered. “We thought we’d given them the slip, but they showed up anyway. We ran, your mother and I. You were just a tiny thing in my arms. We didn’t know what they wanted – her, me, you, or all of us. But as we tried to get away, something happened to her. She… she started to glow. It was like she was trapped in a bubble of light, frozen in place. I tried to free her, tried to break it, but nothing worked.”

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  Leo’s chest ached as he saw the tears slip down his father’s cheeks.

  “She told me to run. She told me to protect you, no matter what. I tried to fight, to get her out, but when I attempted to puncture the bubble-like glow with my trusty knife, I broke the tip clean off of it... She was taken, Leo. They took her, and I never saw her again.” His father looked down, his grip on Leo’s hand loosening. “It’s haunted me ever since. I thought, maybe, if I kept you safe… maybe someday, you’d be free of this. But now, I don’t know if that’s even possible.”

  Leo’s own tears blurred his vision as he wrapped his arms around his father, holding him tightly. They stayed like that, letting the weight of the past and the bond between them fill the silence. He felt his father’s pain, his regrets, his fierce love, and he wished he could ease it somehow, tell him that everything would be okay.

  After a long moment, his father pulled back, wiping his eyes. “I didn’t know what to tell you, son. I wasn’t even sure you’d believe me now. But that’s probably who’s after you, the same people who… took her. They never stopped watching us, Leo.”

  Leo nodded, his throat too tight to speak. He felt a surge of anger at the people who had torn his family apart, a flame of determination kindling deep within him. He wasn’t going to run, not like they’d had to. He’d find out the truth – for his mother, for his father, and for himself.

  They sat in silence for another hour, exchanging a few words, sharing the unspoken love that had been between them all along. Leo clung to every moment, trying to hold onto the time they had left. But time, as always, had other plans.

  A nurse entered quietly, her voice soft as she informed Leo that visiting hours were over. Leo rose reluctantly, giving his father one last hug.

  As he turned to leave, his father’s voice stopped him. “Leo… I think it’s time, son. I’m sorry for all the pain I caused you, but… remember, I’ll always love you.”

  The words lingered in the air, a final goodbye. Leo turned back just in time to see his father’s face relax, his eyes closing peacefully as the EKG monitor let out a single, shrill tone. Leo’s heart plummeted.

  “Dad!” he shouted, stumbling back to the bedside, his voice cracking. “Nurse! Somebody, please!”

  The nurse hurried back in, followed shortly by two more nurses and a doctor. Leo felt numb as they rushed around him, their faces tense and focused, but he knew the truth. His father was gone. He stood there, frozen, as the man who had raised him, who had fought so hard to keep him safe, slipped away, leaving him alone with secrets and a legacy he barely understood.

  A week later, Leo sat in his empty apartment, staring at the pile of bills and paperwork he’d been avoiding. His father’s life insurance policies had been his final gift, taking care of everything Leo would need for the foreseeable future. Leo didn’t have to struggle anymore, didn’t have to hustle to make ends meet. But that didn’t ease the ache in his chest or the weight of the mysteries that his father’s words had left behind.

  The funeral had been small, quiet, and afterward, Leo returned to his apartment, the silence pressing in around him. He felt lost, as if his anchor to the world had vanished, leaving him adrift.

  As night fell, Leo felt an old, familiar pull – the urge to return to the game, to the monolith. It felt like more than just an escape this time; it felt like a door, waiting to be opened. With a deep breath, he slipped on his headset, hands trembling as he logged back into Lost Megaliths.

  With a deep, steadying breath, Leo strapped on his VR headset and waited for the familiar loading screen to appear. But this time, as the world around him faded, he felt something strange, something more intense than before. The familiar jungle scene materialized, but it was different – sharper, deeper, more real.

  Humidity pressed against his skin, the air thick and warm. He could hear birds in the distance, their calls echoing across the jungle, and the rustle of leaves in the underbrush sounded so close that he instinctively glanced down, half-expecting to see an animal dart past his feet. He lifted his left hand, flexing his fingers, feeling a faint prickling as if he were actually moving flesh and bone, not just pixels. The sensation was so realistic that for a moment, he could have sworn he was actually standing in this virtual jungle.

  He took a step forward, his feet sinking into the soft earth, and a faint breeze brushed his face, carrying with it the smell of damp vegetation and the distant hint of something floral. He wasn’t just immersed in the game; he was inside it. The haptics had never been this good before, and he couldn’t tell if it was a glitch or some new enhancement – but it felt as if the game had come alive around him.

  Ahead, the path stretched through the dense thicket, leading to a pyramid that overlooked an ancient astronomical observatory, reminiscent of El Caracol at Chichen Itza. Leo felt drawn to it, and as he began to walk, he felt the shifting ground beneath him, the weight of gravity pressing down as he climbed. The heat from the stone beneath his feet radiated upward, mingling with the sticky warmth of the jungle air. He could feel the pressure of each step as if he were truly there, his surroundings vivid and palpable, his senses sharp and alert.

  Reaching the base of the pyramid, he looked up. The structure loomed above, its stones weathered by time but sturdy and commanding. Slowly, he ascended, his legs burning with the climb. The air grew thinner, and he could feel the wind picking up, tugging at him with every step, like invisible hands urging him forward.

  At the top, he stood overlooking the observatory, its ancient, curved walls aligned with the heavens. The view stretched across the dense, unbroken expanse of jungle, and the sky above was painted with the colors of an approaching sunset. Every sound, every scent, every sensation felt achingly real. Leo felt an odd sense of reverence, as if he were intruding on a place that had held secrets for centuries, a place that was ancient and sacred.

  The observatory looked like something out of legend, a structure devoted to mysteries far beyond his understanding. This was not just a game level; it was alive, breathing, as if waiting for him to unlock its secrets. He took another breath, steadying himself, his focus narrowing on the path ahead. He knew what lay in front of him: trials, puzzles, tests – a labyrinth of challenges he’d faced before but never with this level of intensity.

  The path stretched ahead like an ancient maze, leading him closer to the monolith. It had taken take hours of strategy, patience, and knowledge to pass each challenge. He had already done in twice in one weekend. But now, with the game seemingly coming alive around him, he knew he was about to experience it all on a level he’d never imagined.

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