Abaka’s voice carried down the corridor, almost alerting the company personnel below.

  “Are you crazy?!” Annie hissed as she pulled him down below the railing, pressing both of them ft against the cold stone. “Quiet,” she mouthed, shot him a gre and signaled the others to get down as well.

  A fshlight beam swung zily overhead. They froze, until it passed by the balcony, and gave a relieved sigh.

  “Well, we found it. Now what?” asked Abaka.

  Annie scanned the room below.

  Broil crossed his arms. “You want to take them on?”

  “Well, I mean, yeah,” she shrugged. “They don’t look too tough to be honest. Apart from that one.” She pointed at the one standing on the portalstone ptform. “Wait...”

  “That’s the one from the interview.” Kol stated.

  “You know him?”

  “He stalked Annie,” Kol answered coldly, not hiding the disdain in his voice.

  “Time to find out who he really is.”

  Annie opened her interface, scanning the guy. “Oh shit.”

  “What’s up?” Abaka asked.

  “That’s... Joshua Yosemite.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “He’s Jason Yosemite’s son—the rgest shareholder of The Gateway, the guy whose money funded the neural immersion tech. He’s the reason DRE could start testing in live environments so early in development.”

  Broil’s brows furrowed. “So he’s not here to py.”

  “No. He’s here to own it.” She answered grimly.“But he’s not much stronger than we are.”

  “Hold on,” Mervin cut in. “You seriously not thinking we can still do this, right?”

  “Why yes, I do,” Annie replied quickly, her tone now unbothered. “Why?”

  “Did you forget what you’ve just said?! He’s the son of the rgest shareholder of The Gateway. Forget the game, if we cross paths with someone like him, they could ruin our lives!” Mervin’s voice rose with disbelief.

  Annie didn’t answer right away. Her jaw tightened as her eyes tracked Yosemite below, walking back and forth bossing people around. She could almost hear the arrogance in his stance, even from this distance.

  Then, an idea sparked in her mind. “Then we don’t let him see us.”

  They exchanged questionable looks.

  “We cover our faces and knock him out,” Annie continued, her voice turning calcutive.

  Mervin’s face fell. “You have to be kidding! All he has to do is open his interface to know all our names instantly!”

  “Not if we’re quick about it. We just need something to hide our faces with...”

  “Actually, I might have something.” Broil opened his interface, browsing for a moment before a shirt materialized in his hand.

  “Where did you get that?”

  “Bought it on day one.” Broil replied, ripping the shirt apart quietly and handed a piece of cloth to everyone. “They won’t hide much, but better than nothing.”

  Mervin scoffed. “Do you even hear yourselves?” He whispered, voice half filled with panic. “Even if you manage to take them out—”

  “You never brawled before?” Kol interrupted, his tone colder than usual.

  “No, I haven’t—but that’s not the point!” Mervin snapped back, his nerves getting the best of him. “Even if you pull this off—without weapons, I might add—we still can’t actually use the portalstone!”

  “He’s not wrong,” Abaka murmured.

  “Maybe,” Kol spoke up. “But there is always a manual override.”

  “You’re thinking there’s a developer backdoor...?” Annie questioned.

  “You said yesterday it had yers That means there is also a panel or something else we can use to direct it to the Korikangoku server.”

  “T-this—this is insane,” Mervin stammered, his voice trembling. “We’re not remotely ready for this! We don’t have—”

  Annie cut him off quickly, covering his mouth and shaking him gently. “Get it together.”

  Then, a small ctter of debris peeled off the balcony, hitting the floor below, sending an audible echo through the cavernous room and alerting the people below.

  “Fuck!”

  ***

  Joshua paced near the base of the portalstone, barely listening as two interns rattled off diagnostics. “The routing can be solved,” one said. “But there’s a slight fluctuation in the core.”

  “I don’t care what’s its problem,” he snapped. “Pack it up already! And don’t touch it!”

  Of all the pces in this game, his father sent him down into this dump.

  What he hated the most was that he had to prove himself. Watch these half-rate technicians run around doing the bare minimum work required, ungrateful of the opportunity they’ve been given.

  He stopped near a rusted-over console, kicked it lightly in disgust. A puff of dust flew out. Of course. No matter how advanced the engine was, they still bothered to simute decay, and the smell of muck and shit. For "immersion."

  Pathetic.

  Then—a sound.

  Stone falling on the floor echoed through the room.

  Joshua turned toward the source of the sound; a balcony.

  “There’s someone up there,” he muttered.

  A second ter, the balcony exploded, and bits of bricks came crashing down, creating an intense dust cloud. From the dust five figures, all wearing ragged cloth masks, dashed out and began to fight his crew.

  “What are you doing?!” Joshua shouted. “Fight back!”

  He attempted to open his interface to see the attackers’ identities—but a chunk of debris flew at his face. He dodged just in time. The brick grazed his cheek, slicing a line of fire into his skin.

  A blur charged at him.

  He staggered back, blinking through sweat and grit. Blood trickled into the corner of his mouth. He raised his arm to wipe it, which only made the sting worse.

  The attacker didn’t slow.

  A knee smmed into his stomach. Air left his lungs in a gasping wheeze as he was thrown backward, skidding across the floor. He dropped to one knee, hacking up air.

  ‘Hits like a motherfucker,’ Joshua thought to himself.

  The figure lunged again, but this time Joshua sidestepped and drew a bde. Then another. One clean strike—a shallow line across the thigh.

  The figure hissed but didn’t fall. They only gnced down briefly at the blood running down their leg, then surged forward again, ignoring the pain.

  Joshua narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t help but be surprised a bit. The wound was a clean slice—not deep enough to cripple but should’ve been enough to slow them down.

  “You have no idea who you’re fucking with,” he spat, voice low, almost venomous.

  He surged forward, bde sweeping in a tight arc.

  Idiot.

  This was it. Checkmate.

  Just when the intruder came within range, the intruder caught Joshua’s wrist mid-swing, yanking his arm forward and stepping into his guard. In a blink, their other arm snapped around his second wrist, locking both of his hands behind his back in a brutal hold.

  Joshua snarled, struggling to free himself.

  Then—

  BLAM.

  A vicious headbutt smmed into his nose, exploding his vision into white stars, and blood began pouring into his mouth.

  He barely had time to stagger back before a fist collided with his chest, sending him crashing to the floor. His breath left him in a single, broken grunt.

  Joshua id stunned for a second. Who the fuck are these people? he thought, focusing through the pain and trying to find his scattered bdes.

  The intruder stepped over him, casting a long shadow in the flickering light of the portalstone. A sliver of fabric drifted down, torn loose in the scuffle, nded a few feet away.

  Joshua looked up, eager to know who the intruder was.

  Then he saw his face.

  And froze.

  “You,” he muttered. His throat was thick with blood and voice with anger. “You’re... fucked.”

  Kol didn’t respond.

  The st thing he saw was Kol’s fist rocketing forward. Then, everything became dark, and Joshua went limp.

  ***

  The others stood frozen for half a second, stunned by the violence of it.

  “Kol... Your mask...” Mervin said. “And you’re bleeding!”

  Kol wiped his cheek, barely registering the wound on his leg as he stared at the smear of blood, until Annie’s voice pulled him back.

  “Shit. We’ve got to move.”

  She strode up to the portalstone to examine it. After a few seconds, she spoke again.

  “So, I got bad news and questionable news. The bad news is; there is not panel or interface that I can see. The other thing is; according to the data from these researchers,” She picked up a tablet from the ground. “This thing is on the verge of colpse.”

  Abaka approached. “Define ‘colpse.’” He asked, eyes flicking between the tablet and the portalstone.

  “Wild energy fluctuation, unstable core, degenerating routing yer—”

  “In English,” Broil interrupted.

  “The portalstone is about to blow.” She replied. As if on cue, the portalstone began to pulse faster and stronger, vibrating in a way they felt throughout their bodies. “Seems like soon too.”

  “No way, I’m using that then.” Mervin shook his head. “We can still climb out. We can go back the way we came.”

  The sound of boots and voices began to get increasingly louder behind them.

  Abaka ughed.

  “We’re busted. So, let’s recap; we kicked the ass of a corporate prince, he knows one of your faces, so he can easily find us IRL,” he counted on his hand. “Honestly, I’m way more chill about the situation than I should be.”

  Kol didn’t say anything. He just kept staring at the smear of blood on his fingers. Then he dropped his hand and looked at the portalstone, which pulsed ever stronger by the second.

  He walked up to it, staring at it intently. He extended an arm towards it, just close enough for it to react by changing its hum.

  “Hold on to me.” Kol finally said.

  “What?” Almost everyone said simultaneously.

  “Just... do it.” He repeated.

  Annie was the first to move. She stepped forward and grabbed his arm without further ado.

  Broil looked like he wanted to argue but hesitated. Abaka elbowed him in the side and gestured to follow suit.

  “Screw it.” He grumbled as they grabbed onto Kol’s back.

  “Just like that?” Mervin groaned.

  “On one side, there is a bunch of people coming check on corporate daddy’s little dearest. On the other, we”re about to turn into a soup of particles. We’re screwed either way, might as well see how this turns out.” Abaka argued.

  The portalstone shrieked, prompting Mervin to reluctantly join in.

  They formed a chain around Kol, each of their hand anchoring onto him, anchoring them together.

  Cracks began to form across the portalstone, red and green energy leaking out from it, tearing it apart.

  Kol closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He imagined a familiar scene and pced his hand on the portalstone.

  And it reacted.

  A pulse of light burst out, expanding like a shockwave as it engulfed them all.

  For a moment, all fell silent. Then, the light swallowed them whole.

  ***

  Kol’s first sensation was dizziness.

  When he opened his eyes, slow and painstakingly, he was lying face-down on the floor of a long corridor.

  “Ugh... damn it,” someone muttered nearby.

  Kol turned his head and saw Annie struggling to her feet, her face red from the cold stone floor. Her mask was gone.

  “You okay?” she asked, voice hoarse.

  Kol sat up slowly, head still ringing.

  “I’ll live.”

  Across from them, Abaka groaned and rolled onto his back.

  The corridor stretched in both directions. Every few meters, the walls jutted out slightly, breaking the line of sight. The air smelled cold and metallic. There were no windows, no doors, yet it wasn’t completely dark either, and they could see things, if only dimly.

  Abaka sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

  “Anyone get the name of the truck that hit us?” he muttered. “Or was that just the portal being a bastard?”

  The system menu still functions... somewhat.” Annie said quietly. “HUD’s dead. Map’s gone. But there’s still the party link. I have a hunch we are on Korikangoku. No idea where Mervin and Broil are, though,” she added.

  “So it worked...” Kol spoke.

  “What worked?” They asked.

  “I pictured this pce while teleporting.” Kol answered.

  Abaka sighed.

  “It’d be nice if you could call out things like that first, and not just say ‘Trust me’, don’t you think?” He asked sarcastically.

  Kol didn’t answer.

  Then, something caught his attention: the cold. That sharp, clinging cold, creeping along his skin. Not enough to shiver, just enough to...

  Abaka shook his head. “So what now?”

  “I guess we—”

  All of a sudden, Kol broke into a sprint.

  “Kol! Hey!” Annie and Abaka called out to him as they gave chase, more confused than ever.

  Kol didn’t answer. He ran not on fear nor urgency, but instinct. The frost along the base of the wall began to thicken the deeper they ran, yet he ran even faster.

  The corridor twisted gently, never truly straight, always just enough to obscure the distance ahead. Every wall was smooth, ancient, and impossibly long. Until it wasn’t.

  Kol stopped, and Annie and Abaka caught up, panting, a moment ter.

  “The hell was that about?” Abaka snapped. “Didn’t we just say to call out?! Listen, I’m all for you being edgy and mysterious, but this is too much!”

  Kol didn’t argue, only stared ahead.

  The corridor ahead ended with a gate. A looming iron gate, from which chilling mist poured out. Every breath near it felt heavier, colder.

  Annie awed. She opened her interface. It now was glitching. Only one thing was shown clear on it.

  “Uhm, Kol...?” She called to him. “Your trait...”

  Kol opened his profile, simirly glitchy except for one thing.

  His trait was no longer a passive hum. It was a heartbeat now pulsing the strongest it ever did.

  Kol stared back at the gate.

  The mist from the gate spread across the floor, curling like fingers around their boots. Annie stepped back. The air was dense with silence, and beneath that silence there was something. Like static. Like whispering.

  Then, the gate began to creak.

  Kol didn’t flinch. He felt longing. Drawn toward whatever was beyond.

  The gate creaked again, louder, heavier, and began to tear itself apart. From the cracks the mist poured faster now, flooding the corridor past their ankles.

  From inside the gate came a sound. A breath.

  Kol stepped forward.

  “Kol...?” Annie’s voice was taut, uncertain.

  But he didn’t stop. The mist parted around his boots like it recognized him.

  With a final creak the gate colpsed totally with a shudder that ran through the floor. Cold flooded outward like a living thing. Beyond the gate was no room, no hall, just a pure blinding white light.

  And from that light, a figure stepped out.