Chapter 8: The Second Heartbeat
The Under-City was a cemetery of data. Rusted car frames from a 1990s Lagos that never was sat next to floating, half-rendered skyscrapers. The air tasted of ozone and old copper.
David leaned against a pile of discarded "Human Memory Files"—glowing cubes that whispered the names of people who had been deleted.
[Current Status: Rank 10]
[Condition: Severe Soul Fatigue]
"Drink this," Emily said, tossing him a vial of glowing blue liquid. "It's 'Cradle-Fluid.' It won't heal the bone, but it'll stop your Soul Force from leaking out."
David downed the bitter liquid. His heart, the obsidian stone in his chest, gave a slow, appreciative thrum. "Thanks. Where are we, Emily?"
"The Graveyard," she said, checking her pulse-rifle's energy cell. "When the Ancestors update the simulation, they don't delete the old versions. They just dump them down here. It's the only place the 'Sky Eye' can't see us clearly."
Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.
David stiffened. The Rhythm of Fortune was back, but it sounded different. It wasn't the light tapping of a treasure; it was a deep, resonant echo, like a second heartbeat calling to his own.
"It's close," David whispered.
"The Monk?" Emily asked, her finger on the trigger.
"No. Something... older."
David stood up, his Storm-Step making his movements eerily silent. He followed the rhythm through a forest of rusted rebar until they reached a giant, half-buried obsidian sphere. It looked exactly like the stone that had started his journey, but it was cracked, leaking a strange, gold-flecked mist.
Beside the sphere was a terminal, its screen flickering with ancient, white text—not the system's gold or blue.
[ERROR: BACKDOOR 009 DETECTED]
[Destination: Earth-Prime (Ruined State)]
[Warning: This is not the Eternity Realm. This is the Void-Scar.]
Emily gasped. "A backdoor? David, if we use this, we leave the test. But we won't go to the Eternity Realm. We'll go back to the real world... and the real world is a wasteland."
David touched the screen. His Pulse of Providence went haywire.
Badum-badum-badum!
A notification appeared, visible only to him:
[Hidden Path: The Lone Ancestor]
[Option: Escape the Erasure. If you enter the Backdoor, your 'Candidate' status will be masked. You can seek the 5th Ritual in the Real World, away from the Heavens Alliance.]
"David? What does it say?" Emily asked, peering over his shoulder.
David hesitated. His heart gave a strange, mournful tug—a Neutral Pulse that felt like a warning. For the first time, the "Fortune" felt lonely. If he told her, would she come? Or would her desire for the "Eternity Realm" make her see this as a failure?
"It's just a glitched log," David lied. The words felt like lead in his mouth. "It says the 4th Blessing is in the Labyrinth. It doesn't mention the exit."
Emily sighed, her shoulders relaxing. "Good. We need that 4th Blessing. I didn't come this far to go back to a ruined Earth. I want the Eternity Realm, David. I want to be a God."
David looked at the cracked obsidian sphere. The "Opportunity" was right there. A way to escape the "Saint," the "Monk," and the rigged game. But it would mean abandoning the Top 4 race.
[Opportunity 'The Lone Ancestor' will remain open for 72 Hours.]
"Let's go, then," David said, turning away from the backdoor. "Let's go find your Godhood."
As they walked away, David's heart gave one final, heavy Thump of Dread. It wasn't pointing at the darkness or the Monk.
It was pointing at Emily's back.