POV: 30014i — Surviving Class Student
Location: The Underground Library, Blackwood Borderline District
---
I had only heard whispers about this place.
The Underground Library wasn't really a library. It was a collapsing bunker beneath the old freight rail, lit by scavenged power cells and warmed by human breath and tension. No guards here. Just hope and madness.
A boy named 27002iii led me in. His mother was executed last year for forging an auction document. His eyes never blinked.
> "Don't talk," he said, "Just listen."
Inside, around fifty kids. All our clothes looked the same: rough, sunburnt, and patched with old uniforms. No numbers stitched here. No rank.
Just children trying to remember their names.
"Tell me yours," I said quietly.
He stared at me.
> "Can't remember. But they used to call me Jayden."
---
A girl stood at the front. Maybe 16. Fierce. Burnt scarf wrapped around her face. A broken badge clipped to her belt—once belonging to a First-Class school enforcer. Stolen, no doubt.
> "I was 24888ii," she said, loud. "But now I choose Myra again. And I'm not buying another damn number."
Someone clapped.
Another choked back a tear.
This place was dangerous. If caught, we'd be erased faster than a glitch. But here... for the first time, I felt real.
> "We'll find a way to break the auction," Myra said. "Every system has a crack. Even the Blackwood God bleeds."
---
Later That Night
I returned home and stared at my reflection in a piece of broken mirror.
30014i.
That number meant nothing here.
But Myra?
Jayden?
Me?
We might just be the virus in the empire's system.
And if names can come back...
So can freedom.
---