Sunday, 11:56 PM
Neon Station, Platform 9
Rain fell in cold, thin needles, cutting the air with every breath. Neon lights smeared themselves across puddles as Aidan stood alone at the far end of Platform 9, the city humming like a sleeping beast in the distance.
His coat clung to him damply. The subway terminal above was mostly shut down for the night—only freight lines and deep transit rails were still active.
Aidan scanned the platform. No sign of the caller.
The station clock ticked to 12:00 AM.
Just then, a gentle hum rolled across the tracks—far too soft for a train. Then, footsteps. Light, confident. From the far end, under a flickering light, a woman emerged.
She wore a dark coat, unzipped just enough to show a slim tactical vest beneath. Auburn hair tucked tightly behind one ear. Her gaze locked onto his instantly.
"You came," she said, voice as calm as on the phone.
Aidan's fingers flexed unconsciously, ready to act.
"I need answers. If this is a setup—"
"It's not," she interrupted. "I don't work for them anymore."
He narrowed his eyes. "Them?"
She stepped closer. "Project Helix. Or what's left of it."
---
They sat on a bench, away from the cameras. She handed him a small black device—like a pager.
"Static-field emitter. Keeps our conversation private for four minutes. So listen closely."
Aidan's system pulsed softly in the background, but didn't interrupt. It, too, seemed to be waiting.
"I'm not the enemy, Aidan," she began. "My name is Dr. Elira Sorn. I was a neural-interface designer at Helix during its final year."
"You mean the year I was taken."
She looked away for a moment, guilty. "You weren't the only one. Project Helix used thirty-two candidates over a four-year period. But you were part of the final three—candidates selected not randomly, but… algorithmically."
"Algorithmically?"
She nodded. "We trained a deep cognition model to predict not just intelligence—but potential. Mental elasticity. Emotional thresholds. Decision depth. You had the rare ability to grow beyond your logical ceiling."
"That sounds like something my system says," Aidan muttered.
She leaned in. "That's because your system is built on that exact model."
He blinked.
"What?"
"Your Decision Core was the last Helix interface ever constructed. It's not just adaptive. It's recursive. The more complex your decisions become, the more intelligent your system becomes in response. It's evolving with you."
---
> [System Notice: Verified External Insight Matches Core Profile]
> Status: Evolution Path Confirmed
Latent Potential Unlocked (Processing...)
Aidan ignored it for now.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I'm dying," Elira said flatly. "Late-stage cortical decay. One of the side effects from overexposure to early prototypes. I have a few months left. I want to undo what I helped build."
Her eyes locked with his.
"And because the others—the surviving five system users—are converging. Someone is pulling the threads tight."
---
> [Major Branch Triggered]
> Quest Update: "Trace the Helix"
Objective Revised:
— Meet 3 of the remaining Helix users
— Discover the identity of the 'Convergence Director'
Reward: System Mutation Slot + 2 Attribute Points
---
"Who are the others?" he asked.
She hesitated. "I only know two identities for certain. One of them… is already watching you."
Aidan's mind flickered to Rikuto.
"And the other?"
She looked at him solemnly. "You'll know when she finds you. She doesn't hide."
The timer on her device beeped softly.
"Time's up. After this, I go dark. But I've left something behind for you."
She handed him a sealed envelope.
"In it is a keycard to a Helix backup facility under the old Tremora Bridge. They erased most of it, but one section remains untouched. Go there. And Aidan?"
He looked at her.
"Eliminate the program. Before it finds new candidates."
Then she walked into the shadows and didn't look back.
---
Back home, Aidan opened the envelope. A sleek blue keycard with an embossed spiral symbol slid into his palm.
Underneath it was a folded scrap of paper with coordinates, and a simple sentence:
> "They never planned for you to survive."
The words stuck like ice in his chest.
---
Later that night, as Aidan lay in bed, the system finally spoke again.
> [Status Update: System Evolution In Progress]
> Mutation Thread Preparing: "Judgment Branch"
> Would you like to preview potential future mutations?
[Yes] [No]
He stared at the blinking options.
If his system was no longer static…
If it could now mutate…
This wasn't just about adapting anymore.
It was about transforming—into something far beyond any of the other users.
And that meant…
He couldn't just survive Helix.
He had to outgrow it.
--