The wind moaned through the broken arches of the fortress, carrying with it the scent of ash and old blood. Leo led the way, his machete drawn, every sense taut with expectation. Shadows clung to the walls like old regrets, thick and unyielding.
Camille leaned heavily on Aïcha, his face pale, every breath a tremor of pain. The black mark on his cheek had deepened, a dark tendril creeping down his neck like a living tattoo.
Leo's stomach twisted at the sight. Every step felt like betrayal. He'd done that. His darkness. His failure.
"We need to rest," Aïcha said, her voice strained. She guided Camille to a stone bench, its surface cracked and cold.
Leo scanned the ruins—a once-grand fortress, now reduced to little more than a skeleton of shattered walls and burnt banners. A symbol of a kingdom long dead, like everything else in this world.
"We can't stay long," Leo muttered, his eyes never still. "The Régime's dogs are still out there."
Aïcha's staff glowed faintly, casting a pale halo around her. She looked tired, her dark skin streaked with sweat and grime. "Leo," she said, her voice hesitant. "There's something you need to know."
He turned, his eyes hard. "What now?"
She glanced at Camille, then back at Leo. "It's about the System."
The word hit him like a blade. His hands trembled around the machete. "Spit it out."
She took a deep breath, her staff trembling. "Before the Collapse, I was part of the team studying the System. A researcher. I thought… I thought it could be controlled. That it could save us."
Leo's eyes narrowed. "You what?"
Her voice wavered. "I believed we could harness its power. Use it to rebuild, to protect. But the System—" She shook her head, tears glistening. "It's not what we thought. It's alive, Leo. And it's not bound by our rules."
Leo's chest burned. "You knew. You knew what this thing was—and you didn't tell me."
Camille stirred, his voice weak. "Aïcha…?"
She turned to him, her face crumpling. "I'm sorry, Camille. I thought I could help you. I thought—I thought I could save you."
Leo's rage surged. "You thought you could control it. You thought you could play god."
Aïcha's eyes met his, raw and pleading. "I was wrong," she whispered. "I know that now."
The System pulsed inside Leo, cold and hungry. She lied to you, it hissed. She's as guilty as the Régime.
He turned away, the shadows pressing in. "I trusted you," he growled.
Aïcha's voice cracked. "Leo—please."
But Leo couldn't look at her. The darkness in his veins surged, every heartbeat a reminder of betrayal.
"We'll talk later," he snapped. "Right now, we need to keep moving."
Aïcha's staff dimmed. "Leo—"
"Later," he spat, his voice like a blade.
The wind howled through the fortress, carrying with it the ashes of a thousand broken promises.
The fortress's silence pressed in like a vice. The wind had died, leaving only the sound of Leo's ragged breathing and Camille's shallow, trembling gasps. Aïcha's staff flickered weakly, the runes along its length fading in the gloom.
Leo paced, every step echoing off the broken stone. The System's presence slithered beneath his skin, cold and eager.
She lied to you, it whispered. She'd do it again.
He stopped, turning on Aïcha with a snarl. "Tell me everything. No more half-truths. No more lies."
Aïcha straightened, but her eyes were haunted. "Leo—"
"Now!" he barked.
She flinched, then let out a slow, shaking breath. "The System was designed as a failsafe," she said, her voice low. "A way to judge humanity's worthiness after the Collapse. But it was never meant to bind itself to a single host. That wasn't in the original code."
Leo's jaw clenched. "And yet here it is. Living in my head. Whispering. Controlling."
Aïcha's eyes glistened. "When the Collapse happened, something—someone—changed the System. Corrupted it. It developed a mind of its own. It needed a vessel. Someone strong enough to hold it—and weak enough to break."
Leo's blood ran cold. "And you knew?"
She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I didn't know it would choose you. I thought… I thought I could study it, control it, help people. But the System—it's a living nightmare, Leo. It's a prison."
Camille let out a weak whimper, his head rolling to the side. The black scar on his cheek had spread, tendrils of darkness now crawling across his jaw.
Leo's heart clenched. "What about him?" he rasped. "Can you fix it?"
Aïcha's face crumpled. "I—I don't know. I can slow it, but…"
Leo's rage boiled. The System pulsed, every beat a temptation. I can save him, it hissed. All you have to do is let me in.
His hands trembled. "And what? Become like it? A monster?"
Aïcha stepped forward, her staff trembling. "Leo—if you give in, it wins. We all lose."
Leo turned away, his chest heaving. Camille's breathing was shallow, each exhale a struggle.
Let me save him, the System urged. Trust me.
Aïcha's voice was a broken whisper. "Please, Leo."
Leo clenched his fists, shadows coiling at his feet. "Then tell me how to fight it. Tell me how to kill it."
Aïcha's eyes widened. "I—I don't know. But I know this: if you give it an inch, it will take everything."
Leo's jaw tightened. "Then I'll give it nothing."
But even as he said it, the darkness pulsed with laughter, a promise of strength he couldn't ignore.
A sound like boots on broken glass shattered the silence. Leo spun, machete raised, every muscle taut with anticipation. Shadows writhed at the edge of his vision, the System's pulse cold and eager beneath his skin.
Aïcha's staff flared, runes igniting with pale fire. "They're here," she whispered.
Camille whimpered from the bench, his breath a thin, ragged thread. The darkness on his cheek spread, webbing down his neck like veins of ink.
The first figure emerged from the shadows, armored in black with the Régime's crimson insignia smeared across his chest. A visor hid his face, but the voice that crackled through the comm-link was ice.
"Leo Dormien," the soldier intoned. "By order of the Régime, you are to surrender the System."
Leo's jaw tightened. "Like hell."
The soldier raised his weapon—a sleek, rune-inscribed rifle that hummed with lethal energy. "This is your only warning."
Aïcha's staff crackled, shadows coiling around its length. "Leo, we can't fight them all."
Leo's chest burned. The System's voice slithered in his mind. Let me in, it whispered, cold and seductive. We can kill them. All of them.
A second soldier stepped from the darkness, followed by a third and a fourth. Shadows pooled behind them like living things, but Leo felt no comfort in their presence.
"Leo," Aïcha hissed, "someone told them where we are. They couldn't have found us otherwise."
Betrayal cut deeper than any blade. Leo's gaze snapped to Aïcha. "You think I told them?"
Her eyes widened in shock. "No! I—I didn't—"
The System laughed in his head, a chorus of voices. She lied before, it purred. She'll lie again.
Leo's hands trembled around the machete. The darkness pressed in. "Then who?"
A soldier raised his rifle. "Surrender now."
A shot rang out, the sound sharp as a scream. Leo ducked instinctively, shadows exploding from his skin in a burst of jagged tendrils. The rifle's blast shattered a pillar beside him, stone dust clouding the air.
Camille cried out, his voice raw. "Leo—help me!"
The System surged. Use me, it hissed. I can save him.
Leo's heart thundered. The darkness burned in his veins, stronger than ever. The shadows at his feet twisted, eager for the kill.
He looked at Aïcha, her eyes bright with terror and something else—trust.
"Leo," she whispered, "don't."
The System roared, a tide of power that threatened to drown him. Choose, it demanded.
Leo's grip on the machete tightened. His gaze flicked to Camille, then to Aïcha, then to the soldiers closing in.
"Leo," Aïcha pleaded.
He trembled on the edge of decision.
The air trembled, every breath heavy with betrayal. Leo's knuckles whitened around the machete's hilt, the System's cold laughter coiling in his skull. The soldiers advanced in a slow, relentless line, rifles glowing with malevolent light.
Aïcha's staff flared weakly, her voice a desperate plea. "Leo—think! This is what the System wants!"
But Leo's mind burned. Shadows writhed at his feet, reaching, hungry. His gaze darted to Camille—his brother in all but blood—and the boy's terrified eyes.
One of the soldiers stepped forward, voice amplified through the comm-link. "Leo Dormien. We know about the traitor. We know who gave you up."
Leo's jaw clenched. "Who?"
The soldier's helmet split open, revealing a face Leo knew all too well—pale, marked by a thin scar running from temple to jaw. A friend he'd trusted with his life.
"Vincent," Leo breathed, his voice a whisper of disbelief.
Vincent's smirk twisted, cruel and cold. "You always were too soft, Leo. I did what I had to. The System's too dangerous to trust with a street rat like you."
A roar built in Leo's chest, dark and full of rage. The System's voice roared with him. Kill him. Show him what betrayal tastes like.
Aïcha's staff glowed brighter. "Leo, listen to me—"
But Leo couldn't hear her. Shadows exploded from his skin, black tendrils lashing the walls, the floor, the air itself. Vincent's eyes widened, but it was too late.
Leo lunged, his machete a blur of darkness and steel. Vincent tried to raise his rifle, but the shadows wrapped around his arms, pinning him like an insect.
"Leo—no!" Aïcha screamed, but Leo's voice was lost in the darkness.
He drove the machete through Vincent's chest. The soldier's eyes went wide, his mouth opening in a silent scream. Blood pooled around the blade, dripping into the shadows.
Vincent's breath rattled. "Leo… I—"
Leo's eyes burned black. "You chose your side."
The System laughed, a sound like shattering glass. Good, it whispered. You're learning.
Aïcha's staff crackled with a blinding light. "Leo—stop!"
The shadows recoiled, but Leo's rage burned hotter. His hands trembled, the darkness clawing at his mind.
He turned to Aïcha, his voice raw. "Don't you see? He betrayed us!"
Aïcha's face was pale, eyes wide with horror. "And you killed him," she whispered.
Leo's breath came in ragged gasps. The shadows slithered back into his veins, but the System's voice lingered, triumphant.
One step closer, it purred. One step closer to what you were meant to be.
Leo's knees buckled. He fell, the machete clattering to the ground. His vision blurred, but the System's darkness was stronger than ever.
The fortress lay still, Vincent's lifeless body crumpled in a pool of blood and shadows. Leo stood over him, chest heaving, the System's presence thrumming like a second heart. A sickening satisfaction pulsed in his veins—a hunger he hadn't realized he'd been feeding.
Aïcha's staff glowed faintly, her eyes locked on Leo. "What have you done?" Her voice was a whisper of betrayal, fragile and trembling.
Leo's hands shook. He stared at the blood on the machete, at the black shadows that still curled around his arms like chains. "He sold us out," he rasped. "He would've killed us all."
Aïcha's voice broke. "And now you're the one killing, Leo."
His vision blurred, the darkness pressing in. The System's voice purred in his mind: You're stronger now. Closer to the truth. Closer to what you need to become.
Camille whimpered behind him. Leo turned, seeing the boy's wide, terrified eyes. The black mark on his face pulsed with each shallow breath.
Leo's chest tightened. "Camille…"
The System surged in his mind, cold and certain. I can save him, it whispered. Let me in. Accept me. Together, we can be unstoppable.
Leo's grip on the machete trembled. Aïcha's eyes met his, fierce and pleading. "Don't," she whispered. "Please, Leo. Don't give in."
Tears burned his eyes. "I don't have a choice," he choked.
"You always have a choice," Aïcha said, her voice breaking.
The darkness roared. Choose me.
Leo fell to his knees, his breath ragged, shadows crawling around him. Camille's broken breaths, Aïcha's trembling staff, the smell of blood—it all blurred together.
He closed his eyes. "If I let you in," he whispered, "you help me save him. That's the deal."
The System's laughter was cold and final. Agreed.
Leo's heart stopped. A tide of darkness swept through him, the System's power wrapping around every nerve, every thought. He screamed as the shadows poured into his mind, every memory shattering and remaking itself.
When he opened his eyes, they burned with black fire. His voice was his, but not entirely. "Camille will live," he growled. "And you—" His gaze met Aïcha's. "You'll stay with me. We're in this together."
Aïcha's staff trembled. "Leo—"
He stood, darkness rolling off him like smoke. "We fight this thing together," he said, voice hard. "Or we all die."
A silence fell, thick and uncertain. Aïcha's gaze held his. "Then let's fight."
Leo nodded. The darkness inside him shifted, a coiled promise.
The System's voice whispered in his mind, triumphant and hungry. Welcome home.