Control
The city’s skyline burns crimson under a smog-choked dusk, neon fractals bleeding through cracked asphalt as hovercars scream between monolithic towers draped in flickering holograms. You clutch the stolen data-chip—its edges biting into your palm—and duck into a shadowed alley reeking of synth-oil and desperation. Behind you, chrome-plated enforcers bark static-laced threats, their retinal scanners slicing through the gloom. A flicker of movement above: a figure cloaked in tattered augmented-reality shrouds gestures sharply toward a rusted fire escape. “Move. Now.” The voice grates like grinding gears, but you scramble upward, the chip’s secrets searing your thoughts—blueprints to the Lazarus Engine, a relic rumored to rewrite reality itself. Somewhere in the sprawl, the Syndicate’s war drones awaken, their anti-grav cores humming a dirge. You leap across rooftops, the wind howling promises of blood and neon, while deep in the undercity, something older than the corporations stirs. Whispers coil through the static: the Engine isn’t machinery. It’s a heart. And it’s beating.
description
The ancient forest hummed with secrets, its gnarled roots twisting like serpents beneath a canopy choked by ivy. Shadows clung to the air, thick enough to taste—a bitter tang of moss and forgotten magic. Somewhere in the distance, a crow’s cry splintered the silence, sharp as shattered glass. I adjusted the strap of my weathered satchel, fingers brushing the cold hilt of my dagger. Trusting this place was suicide, but the map scorched into my palm pulsed with a heat that matched the fever in my veins. Legends spoke of a relic buried here, a shard of the first dawn capable of burning through lies. Or curses. The ground shuddered, and I froze—stone shifted ahead, grinding like broken teeth. A low growl rippled through the mist, more vibration than sound. Right on schedule. My lips curled. Monsters were predictable; desperation made them careless. I palmed a vial of starlight extract, the liquid swirling like trapped lightning. Let’s see how the creature liked a taste of eternity. The mist parted, revealing amber eyes the size of shields. Game on.
