Chapter 69: The Cradle and the Chasm
Jay Arkwell opened his eyes.
For a moment, nothing made sense.
The sky above him flickered between hues—blue, lavender, crimson, and gold—as if reality was uncertain about what it wanted to be. Fractal clouds shimmered like broken glass in motion. Below, the grass wasn’t grass, but data-pixels masquerading as nature, blinking in and out of being.
"System..." he muttered, voice rough. "Where the hell did you bring me now?"
No response.
The HUD was gone. No stats. No floating menu. No quest updates. No annoying pop-ups with overly dramatic titles like [You Have Triggered the Fate of Realms].
Just silence. Deafening, raw, and endless.
Jay slowly sat up, brushing phantom grass from his uniform. It was still his old Vija uniform—wrinkled, partially unbuttoned, tie hanging like a noose for responsibility. But something felt different. He couldn’t place it.
Then he noticed the hill.
It rose a few meters ahead, sloping gently into a ridge that overlooked a vast city. But this city—this wasn’t the Academy. Nor was it any memory he recognized.
The buildings pulsed like living stone. Roads shifted every few minutes, rearranging themselves like thoughts trying to organize.
The sky above the city held a floating core—a sun-sized sphere made of shifting clockwork gears and hollow rings of code. It was... humming. Not loudly. But enough that he felt it in his teeth.