I ran through the alleys of the Blue State with my heart hammering so hard it felt like it wanted to abandon my chest and keep going without me. The dark-blue Chi vibrated along my back like a second skin — one I was never meant to have, one I barely understood, but that, for some reason, still kept me upright.
I could only think of her.
Imi.
No matter how fast I ran, it was as if her image were pulling me by the throat. The weak smile, the look too pale for a girl who used to drag me by the ear whenever I screwed up. The memory of her bled through my mind like a constant reminder:
I can't fail. Not this time.
My step faltered when I felt — before I even heard it — Chi cracking the air behind me. Only one kind of creature could emit that sort of dissonance, the kind that ached in the bones.
A Sentinel Devanador.
— Wonderful, I muttered, breathless.
The sound of a leap echoed from the rooftops. I turned on instinct — a delayed reflex — and saw the white arm descending in a perfect arc toward my skull. I dropped my torso at the last fraction of a second, and the wind of the strike licked my ear like a hot blade.
I didn't think. I just jumped.
Awnings, stalls, crates — everything became a springboard as I climbed onto roofs of rusted steel. The Sentinel followed, of course. They always did. They always thought they could crush someone like me.
His gauntlets spat projectiles driven by white Chi, as if it were a natural extension of his breathing. Each stone pulverized a tile with a sharp crack, and I could hear residents screaming, running, cursing my name.
I jumped the gap between two houses and grabbed the ledge with my right arm. My shoulder screamed in pain, but who said you get to choose when something breaks?
Another Sentinel emerged from the left, as if he had grown out of the shadows. He came with a charged fist — glowing like hell — and I deliberately slipped before it could take my head off, crashing straight into the market below.
Tarps tore. Sacks of spices burst into clouds of colored dust. My spine protested as if I'd fallen from the damn top of the Tower.
Then came the psychic shock.
An invisible wave that tore through my mind as if it were trying to sand my thoughts with coarse grit. But, as always, the dark Chi did… something. It absorbed. Swallowed. Stored it like an obsessive collector.
I heard one of the Sentinels shout from above:
— Hey! We were warned about the automatic absorption! He GETS stronger!
The other replied:
— Oh… right.
— THEN STOP USING THAT, YOU IDIOT!
I kept getting up. My ears rang, but my legs responded. A miracle.
I stepped onto a fallen table and lunged forward. I struck the chest of the more talkative Sentinel, and he collapsed like a sack of loose bones. One kick to the face made sure he stayed asleep.
I bent to catch my breath when something rolled near my foot.
A psychic elemental stone.
"Great. Exactly the kind of disaster I should avoid," I thought.
Of course I picked it up.
Another Sentinel came charging in, hatred smeared across his face.
— YOU'RE NOT GOING TO USE THAT!
Before I could say "calm down," he punched me in the stomach. A Chi explosion followed the impact, and I turned into a human projectile flying across the street.
The wall welcomed me with all the affection of old concrete.
— ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?! — I shouted, doubled over.
Instinctively, I clenched the psychic stone.
And the corrupted Chi answered only on my right side.
My arm and my leg became something like… upgraded versions. Faster. Lighter. More dangerous.
— Great… now I'm going to run crooked. I'm a genius.
The Sentinel stared at me with a mix of fear and indignation.
— I'm chasing AN IDIOT who's only ahead because of corrupted Chi!
I straightened up and tried to breathe without looking like I was dying.
The Chi pulsed through my body as if it had a will of its own. Heavy. Dense. Wrong.
And yet… necessary.
I closed my hand around the stone. It was hot, almost burning. I knew it was destroying my body. I knew it.
But letting go…?
I couldn't.
— I can't keep using this… — I murmured, fully aware it was a lie. — But I also can't stop.
I shoved the stone into my pocket.
And then another Sentinel appeared. Always one more. Always faster.
— Remember me? — he shouted.
I ignored him.
He didn't like that at all.
Before he could hit me, I tried to replicate the absorption. I closed both hands. The Chi only vibrated on the right side. Of course. Because my body loved humiliating me.
Red roots — alive like lightning — crawled up my arm.
I don't know how to use this crap. I'm doing everything wrong. Again. And again.
But I raised my hand anyway.
— Come on.
The Sentinel hesitated. Looked at me as if I were already dead.
— I didn't want to see this again…
— Your Chi is coming apart. The stone marked you. And no one comes back from that. Not even the strongest.
He took a deep breath.
— I'm not saying this to scare you. But… I know how it ends.
My throat tightened. My chest burned. He spoke as if he had read my soul.
I answered anyway:
— There's only one thing I want. To save someone. Everything else can break. I don't care if the whole world turns its back on me — it already has. I don't want power to please anyone. I just…
I breathed.
— I just want enough strength not to die before I reach her.
The Sentinel frowned. For the first time, he looked… human.
Then he advanced.
A wave of Chi lit up his forehead and exploded in his fist. The impact dragged me several meters back. My feet burned from friction, but I smiled.
— Absorbs energy naturally… — I murmured. — Just like the absorption stance.
I ran straight at him.
Blows. Stumbles. Crooked dodges. I was too fast, too strong… and completely unbalanced. But it worked.
With my right leg — the monstrous leg — I delivered a kick that sent the Sentinel flying like a rag doll.
That was my cue.
I ran.
The Blue State fell behind as I sprinted through narrow streets, but every corner dragged me deeper into the forgotten part of the city. Chiulrom was an island — and I was already too close to its urban edge. If I tried to leave through the coastal forest, I'd only find cliffs and rough sea. No way out.
Houses soon gave way to uneven rock and tall brush, as if civilization had abandoned that area altogether.
The night weighed heavily in the air, and the corrupted Chi throbbed in my arm like an extra heart.
That was when I saw it.
A rock covered in irregular symbols.
I touched it.
And light burst forth — red and blue — flowing straight into my hand.
"This feels like… a bad idea," I thought, far too late.
A mirrored bubble swallowed my body. The world spun. Total silence. Gravity was thrown away.
When the bubble burst, I crashed onto a metal grating.
I stood up slowly. The place smelled of rust, ozone, and a disturbing hint of abandonment.
I looked around. Broken pipes. Curved walls. A laboratory? A forgotten sector? Someone important's mistake?
— Great. I walked into a secret lab. Clearly this is where my life is supposed to end.
I picked up some old documents. Names, formulas, calculations… nothing made sense. Everything felt over-studied and deeply wrong.
Then I heard a footstep.
Faint. At the end of the corridor.
I pretended I hadn't heard it. Solid strategy: ignore it. Always works.
I closed the file. Took a deep breath.
I looked at the locked door.
Or… what I thought was locked.
Because, as I watched…
It was slightly ajar.
I blinked.
And it was closed again.
A shiver ran down my entire spine.
— What…?
The air turned icy. As if the place were… remembering me. Or remembering something I hadn't lived yet.
A déjà vu so strong I nearly stumbled.
A glitch.
I swallowed hard. My hand slid to my pocket, touching the warm stone.
No. Not now.
— Maybe… maybe it's better not to mess with this today.
Whatever lives in here…
It's going to have to wait for the next step.