Chapter 4: The Scorch Loop

The transport pod jolted hard down the broken tracks towards Sector 11—a district of the city whispered about in dark tones as The Scorch Loop.

Alex sat in the corner seat, one hand holding on to the edge of the bench, the other tapping into his HUD menu. Lyra stood at the window, staring out at the burned landscape flying past—cratered skyscrapers, twisted spires of melted steel, and burning neon grave markers.

"Been here before?" Alex broke the tension.

Lyra didn't look. "Once. Just barely made it out alive."

"Sounds interesting."

She finally looked over at him. "This place is not like the rest of the city. The Scorch Loop was where a failed prototype—the System's original incarnation—was constructed. The feedback energy itself ruined everything digital for miles. Technology, minds, memories. even time acts strange here."

"Time?"

"Looped echoes. Reality glitches. Ghost data. You'll see."

[Warning: Entering Restricted Hazard Zone – Environmental Instability Detected]

[System Functionality: 87%]

[Caution: Quantum Lag Possible]

Alex frowned. "Quantum Lag?"

Lyra smiled. "If you suddenly can't recall where you are, or repeat the same five seconds repeatedly, don't panic. That just means you're still alive."

"Great. Reassuring."

The pod came to a hiss on the edge of the Loop, where the track simply ended in splintered black glass. Beyond, a shattered city glowed like a failing hard drive—spinning chunks of motion, distorted noise, and shining figures marching in circles and vanishing.

Alex stepped out and was immediately conscious of it: the wrongness in the air.

The sky above pulsed in unnatural hues, split between night and a tainted dawn. His System convulsed, pinging erratic signals from every direction.

"Stay close," Lyra told him down a devastated highway. "The fragment's hidden beneath what used to be a quantum relay station."

"Used to be?"

"It phased out three years ago. Literally. Time-burst ripped half the station into a sub-layer of reality. But Rachel encoded the fragment there. That's where we're headed."

Alex blinked. "We're attacking a glitch in time?"

Lyra said nothing. She just walked.

They reached the relay site an hour later—what was left of it.

Half of the structure glowed like a malfunctioning projection, walls shifting between substance and glass. The other half was blackened, melted, and vibrating with residual energy.

Static seeped into Alex's vision.

[System Recalibrating… Stability: 72%]

"This building jacks with the System," he growled.

"It jacks with your mind," Lyra replied. "Stay sharp."

They entered by a shattered side door, picking their way through coils of frozen debris and guttering light. Interior halls curved—literally. Walls curved inward in the shape of a screw. Some doors opened into themselves. One corridor echoed the same scream, every three seconds. The same voice.

"Help me—help me—help me—"

Alex paused. "Is that. real?"

Lyra wagged her head. "An echo. Someone poor tech got stuck in a loop and never broke out. Don't look too long. It can pull you in."

They gained speed after that.

Eventually, they reached the core chamber—a wrecked server vault humming with wild power.

"This is it," Lyra said, bending over a dark panel. "The fragment's hidden behind encrypted memory. We'll have to sync your System and anchor the signal."

Alex opened his HUD.

[Fragment Detected – Access Locked]

Begin Neural Interface?

Warning: Local Time Stability Low

Risk of Memory Desync: High]

"I'm going in," he said, taking a seat and connecting his neural feed to the console. "Cover me."

Lyra nodded, drawing her gun.

Alex initiated the sequence.

Everything went white.

Then—

He stood in a simulation. A memory. Not his.

The sky was gold. The city clean.

And Rachel Kim was at his side.

"You're ahead of schedule," she stated, voice firm.

"Is it real?" Alex inquired.

"It's a recording. Part of the fragment. But I encoded it so the System would be able to read it out to you."

She turned, her image blurring.

"You weren't supposed to find it so quickly. But that means you're the one I wanted. The one the System chose through evolution—not compulsion."

Alex stepped nearer. "What is the System, really?"

"It was a seed. A mirror. It learns from you and adapts to make you better. But SynTech corrupted it. They wanted to standardize it. Dominate it. Mass-produce evolution."

Rachel's voice turned sour.

"They made Viktor."

Alex's pulse quickened. "What did they do to him?"

"He succeeded. But instead of evolving, he took over the System. Now, he sees everyone else as buggy code. He wants to remake the world in his image."

She offered him something—an orb of light.

"The first key. Use it to find me. But watch yourself: Viktor's hunting every candidate. Including you."

Then everything fell apart.

Alex woke with a gasp, his eyes blinking as the vault re-formed around him.

Lyra was standing beside him, gun cocked.

"Trouble?"

He sat up. "Got the fragment. And a note from Rachel."

"Then we have to move."

A sound came from behind them—metal on metal.

Then—

A figure emerged out of the darkness.

Clad in plated armor that shone with distorted energy, face obscured behind a streamlined black visor.

Not human. Not machine. Something else.

"TARGET ACQUIRED: USER_001 – ALEX CHEN"

"ENGAGING."

Lyra fired.

The bullets ricocheted off the figure's armor.

It charged forward at unnatural speed, crossing the distance in seconds.

Alex rolled aside just in time as the impact landed on the ground where he had been standing—a crater of broken concrete left behind.

The System screamed.

[Combat Protocol Activated – Evasion Enhancement Active]

[Enemy Type: Reclaimer Drone – Class Zeta]

[Weakspot: Cervical Node – Back Axis]

"Strike at its neck from the back!" Alex shouted.

Lyra ducked beneath a roundhouse swipe and fired two shots—one wide, but the other struck solid. The drone reeled, sparks arcing from the neck.

Alex advanced, using his enhanced reflexes to bound across debris and boot the exposed node into submission.

Snap.

The drone shuddered—then crashed, sparks flowing from its limbs.

Panting, Alex stood atop it.

Lyra whistled. "Not bad."

He stared at the wreckage. "What the bloody—?"

"A Reclaimer. They chase System players who deviate from mission. Guess Viktor noticed your update."

"Great," Alex growled. "Now they're deploying terminators."

They left the relay station under the cover of digital haze, dashing to a shuttle pad Lyra said was still functional.

As they struck the border of the Loop, the HUD beeped.

[System Update: Key Fragment Acquired]

Access Level Enhanced

Override Code 1: ACTIVATED

Next Destination: Deep Grid Archives – Sector 31]

Alex turned to Lyra. "You said there were more than one of these fragments."

She nodded. "Three altogether. One taken. Two remain."

"And Rachel?"

"She awaits. But we will need all three codes in order to unlock her final coordinates."

Alex nodded, determination toughening in his chest.

He wasn't going up another notch.

He was altering.

And whatever Viktor had planned—Alex was rewriting the future.