The world swam in slow motion as Kavin slammed the brakes. His heartbeat thundered louder than the screech of twisted metal. The kid—just a blur of wide eyes and a red backpack—stumbled clear of the car's path. Then impact. Glass rained like frozen tears. Darkness.
Then—*gasp*—alive. But wrong. Cold asphalt bit into his palms. The air smelled like stale paper. Kavin blinked up at a sky the color of wet cement. No sun, no stars, just… grey. Even the rain felt lukewarm, like the world couldn't bother to care.
A whimper cut through the haze. Across the street, a guy in a ratty suit was clutching his chest, tears carving clean tracks down his grey cheeks. *"Marla, please—"*
Three suits materialized—black on black, faces blank as mannequins. One flicked a rod. Light crackled. The crying man reached out—
*Pop.*
Gone. Not even ashes. Just… space where a person had been.
Kavin's stomach lurched. *What kind of hell did I crash into?*
Then he saw it—the Tower. A skyscraper glitching between a neon-lit casino and a crumbling castle, its edges bleeding pixels.
The *only* color in this washed-out nightmare. His chest tightened. Not fear. Something worse.
*Hope.*
And that scared him most of all.
Then Kavin saw it—a skyscraper flickering like a broken TV. One second it was all vines and junglewished* then neon signs buzzed.
The only color in this dead place.
Inside the Tower, the air hummed.
Something skittered past—a lizard thing with scales that shimmered like oil. Kavin flinched, *wishing* he could blend in too.
**Ability Acquired: Chameleon Scales (Toggle On/Off)**
A status screen flickered in his vision. Just for him. Weird.
"Don't move." A guy in a patched-up coat stepped from the shadows. Jax.
No weapon, but his eyes were sharp. "You're new. And that makes you dangerous."
Kavin's hands went up. "I just got here. I don't even know *where* here is."
Jax leaned against the flickering Tower wall, thumbs hooked in his belt loops like he'd done this a hundred times.
"Look," he said, flashing a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"This dump? Rules are simple—feel too much, you blink out.
Laugh, cry, even *sigh* too loud, and poof." He snapped his fingers.
"But you? You're a glitch in the system."
Kavin frowned at his grey-tinged arm. "So what, I'm your cheat code?"
"Bingo." Jax shoved off the wall, nodding toward the elevator. "Tower shifts every hour—jungle level, cyber-city, wild west—but the real prize's at the top.
Archives. Proof they *stole* emotion from us." He flicked a grin.
"Help us crack it, and you get answers. Maybe even a way out."
Kavin hesitated. "Why trust me?"
Jax snorted. "Kid, you wished for lizard skin and got it.
That's not luck—that's potential." He tossed a small, battered token into Kavin's palm.
A clown's face, half-faded. "Found that in level 14. Someone *laughed* once.
Bet you wanna know how that feels, huh?"
The token was warm. Kavin's fingers curled around it. "What's the catch?"
"No catch." Jax winked. "Just don't lose your face like the last guy.
His nose turned to stone mid-heist. Hilarious. Tragic." He strode toward the elevator, tossing over his shoulder, "Coming or not?"
The elevator doors yawned open, humming with static. Inside, the buttons shimmered—unknown worlds waiting. Kavin took a breath and followed.
The grey patch on his arm itched. He ignored it.