She was currently planting micro-cams on my jacket like a high-tech gardener sowing seeds. She installed uplinks to herself and Antwan like she
was building her own personal satellite network. Her fingers flew over the keyboard at speed levels usually reserved for supernatural possession.
Antwan, the tech nerd that he is, watched her in full awe-mode, like he just met his keyboard waifu.
Then we heard it again.
That guttural, squishy moan coming from the other room. I squinted toward the noise and raised a brow.
Girl… are you torturing someone again?
Julia flushed tomato-red, her words glitching like a corrupted voice message.
N-n-no, not at That's just… a c-client. Yeah, and I'm the Queen of If it was just a toy, you wouldn't look like someone caught you summoning Satan with a glowstick. — I crossed my arms. — Don't tell me it's who I think it is…
I brushed past her, heading straight for the bedroom. Antwan stayed behind, completely hypnotized by her chaos-coding control board. Julia trailed me like a pale ghost, pleading the whole way for me to -don't look, don't go in, it's not what it seems,- until she stubbed her pinky toe on a giant dresser and yelped, momentarily silencing herself with pain.
I, meanwhile, blasted into the bedroom like a judgmental hurricane...
Only to find that another, smaller storm had already hit the place.
Clothes scattered. Lingerie draped like cobwebs. Someone had lovingly shoved a dildo into a flower vase. And the adorable painting I gave her of three ducklings with toothy smiles? Now sporting hand-drawn genitals and bondage masks.
And right in the middle of this art installation of shame…
A scrawny, greasy-haired man was lying on the bed, handcuffed to the headboard, with a classic red ball gag stuffed in his mouth and crotchless briefs doing their best to maintain dignity.
My brain will never recover from It has officially been corrupted. I exhaled through gritted teeth and stared down
She shrank further than any dominatrix should be allowed to.
The man — her -client- — was twitching his eyes in pure panic. He recognized me. I recognized him.
You told me you broke up with him for good! Julia, seriously?! How many times are you gonna roll around with this human roach? The guy's scum! It's not what it looks .. Don't. DARE. — I cut her off, mocking her tone. — Don't give me that -not what it looks like- BS. He beat you. He treated you like garbage.
And now you're hooking up with him again?
It's how I process it! — She shouted, pointing at the handcuffs like they were a feminist badge of honor.
But I wasn't buying that crap for a second.
I rolled up my sleeves and stormed toward squirming, gagged Josef. Grabbed him by the collar like a cat mom lifting her misbehaving kitten.
Look into my
He shook his head violently.
Nope. Nuh-uh. I SAID LOOK AT ME, YOU FLESHY LEECH!
My voice cracked the air like the collective scream of a thousand prehistoric beasts, and he finally looked up.
That was all I needed.
I replayed the lesson I got from dear old Mom, summoned the mental blueprint, and began pulling the man into me. Literally.
This wasn't one of my usual mind-moves. This was full-blown banshee- grade dark sorcery. Something I shouldn't even be able to do.
But it worked.
To Mia's absolute horror, Josef flickered like a candle in a hurricane and vanished — ball gag, cuffs, and dignity included.
Where did he go?! Ali, honey, what did you do?! — Mia's voice wobbled like her emotions were about to short-circuit.
She probably had more questions, but all of them died on her lips when she saw my face.
I was glowing. Not metaphorically — like, literally emitting satisfaction. I felt full. Fed. Complete. I even hiccuped, daintily.
Darling… your .. there's some kind of black haze in them. I can't see your pupils!
Mia stumbled back like she'd seen the devil slide into a beauty filter. And that snapped me out of it.
Instant regret. Cold, suffocating regret.
I realized my mom had set a trap for me — not with wires and lasers, but with power. I'd used her banshee trick once, and already I could feel the change. Another few uses, and I'd lose myself. No more -Alenari. - Just another hungry whisper in the dark.
That was the first and last time! — I blurted, instantly regretting my own drama queen declaration. That's what I used to say about Josef, — Mia shot back, now composed, cool, and just a little pissed. — But human willpower? Pathetic. We always come crawling back to our poisons. So don't make promises you can't keep.
She stepped closer, face tight with pain but not tears.
And you had no right to interfere in my life. I love you — I do. But friendship means Not kicking down my bedroom door like Judge
Judy on meth.
I snapped back, bitter but ashamed:
Friends are supposed to protect each other from parasites like that You know what he did to you.
I'm sorry… but I couldn't just stand there and let you hurt yourself again.
And then I did the one thing I rarely let myself do. I looked down. Shrank. Suddenly I felt like a stray mutt, soaked and scolded.
But I loved him… — whispered my faithful friend, and her eyes welled up with tears so fat they could've starred in some shit show. — I just hope he's okay… that nothing bad happens to him. He's — I lied. Instantly.
No, Nothing will happen to him. I swear.
So yeah. I'm that kind of person. Judge, jury, and emotional executioner. No court would ever let me off the hook for this one.
In the sticky silence that followed, we left the room and returned to Mia's command center. Luckily, the emotional thermostat dropped a few degrees when we saw Antwan fast asleep, face-down on the console like a cat on a keyboard.
I gently scooped him up — he was all limbs and sugar-snore — and, with Mia's silent nod of approval, carried him to one of the bedrooms. Back on the balcony, she leaned against the railing and told me:
You need to rest too. I know you don't need much sleep, but you're walking into an open-ended If you're gonna write that ending yourself… you'll need the energy.
She took a final drag from her vape, exhaled a lazy plume, and added:
My stream's about to start, so I'll leave you to it. Just… do me a favor and don't use the I might change my mind about letting you go and call in backup.
With a smirk and a flick of her robe, she vanished.
I took her advice — after fumigating the bed, of course. The whole thing still reeked of Josef's existential regret and cheap body spray.
Fresh linens, clean conscience (kind of), and I collapsed into the pillows. Right before drifting off, one thought flashed through my head:
I wonder what's up with him now? I know how to send people into that pocket realm… and how to pull them out. But how to visit them? Or even talk to them? No Maybe he's gambling in a spectral casino or sipping tequila on some psychic beach…-
My mind wandered into half-sleep, and eventually… darkness took me.
…
— Well, hello there, Wall.
Three voices spoke at once. Two of them -online.- One of them — me — standing right there. Right at the foot of that massive, sacred barricade between order and oblivion.
Antwan and Mia had taken up poCityons in her control room, tea in hand, ready to watch this reality show from hell. Her libérica coffee was freshly brewed. Their expectations? Sky-high.
Kinda turning into a vlog, huh? — I said nervously, licking my dry
By the way, how are you even planning to see what happens out there? Nothing works past the Wall! Don't worry about that, - Mia's voice murmured in my head — silky, intrusive, and extremely unwelcome. I flinched. I wasn't used to hearing her inner voice inside my inner voice. Your visual feed is jacked straight into your Technically, we are part of you now.- Not the worst attachment I've ever picked
-We're linked, Ali, - Antwan chimed in, more direct, more Antwan. -We'll help however we can. But first — what do you actually know about the
Wall and what's behind it?-
Not much… — I
Even the Great Wall of China and Berlin's concrete legacy would've looked like Lego fences next to this beast. But it wasn't about the size (yeah, yeah, insert joke here). The Wall wasn't built by peasants with dreams. This thing was made by Technocracy — the ultra-tech elite that built City itself.
Humanity — or at least, the lucky sliver that made it into the city — thought they'd finally made it. A new age. No more plagues, no more burned capitals. Just a bright synthetic sun, clean streets, and citizens pretending trauma never happened.
Then came the real fun.
In a flash, a giant chunk of City got swallowed up like some giant licked it off the map with a tongue soaked in black syrup.
Buildings? Gone.
Animals? Gone. People? Gone.
And anyone dumb enough to investigate? Also… gone.
It wasn't just shadow. It was pure, humming nonexistence. But it stopped. Just… paused. Stayed where it was like a living fog monster on a smoke break.
The rest of the city panicked. They screamed for officials to do something. So the remaining braintrust launched Project: Wall. Nobody wanted to go near the void, so they sent drones.
3D-printers churned out steel slabs like candy. The bots grabbed them, flew to the edge, built layer upon layer until a colossal barrier rose up like a mechanical Babylon. Did it work? Kinda. Did it stop the monsters? Not totally. But at least no humans had to touch the abyss.
No one came here except law enforcement — poor bastards on patrol duty
and Oh, and cultists. Can't forget the robed weirdos. But I didn't
take them seriously. I mean, they wore bathrobes in public. Still… would the Obscurity take me seriously?
I sighed. Heavy. The kind of sigh you give when you know the boss music is about to start.
Without fanfare, I fired a grappling line up the sheer face of the Wall and pulled myself to the top. My boots landed soundlessly on the parapet. I straightened up, expecting… something. Drones? Lights? A warning voice yelling:
TURN AROUND FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!
Nothing. Not even a passive-aggressive pigeon.
No one wanted to touch this place — not even the cops. I was truly alone. So what did I see?
Nothing.
Literally.
You can't see the Dark Sensors don't register it. Eyes don't process it.
I activated my usual -Shadow Sight- — the one that reads energy pulses across realms.
Still nothing. Just black. Like someone deleted the entire concept of - visual.-