Beep… beep… beep.
Eric's eyes flickered open, greeted by a bright white ceiling and the faint smell of antiseptic.
A haze clouded his consciousnes—and a weak beep stuttered somewhere close.
More dead than alive.
Alive…
He blinked at the ceiling. If he could feel his lips, he might've chuckled. But then again, this couldn't be heaven; heaven didn't feel this shitty.
Hell? Sounded more like it.
The last thing he remembered… his brain scrambled back: ashes flooding his lungs, that jagged light pulling him in, Veiny's torso hitting the floor, the Ashspawn's maw yawning wide… Then nothing.
Well, not nothing. He shut his eyes, a feminine figure materializing overhead—pinkish-purple pupils… and… urgh… Pain shot through his skull as his eyes popped open again. Maybe honey-blond hair?
But her words pierced even his heavy unconsciousness: "Pity. My father will have a field day with you."
Who was she? He'd never seen her before. No—the question should be—what was she doing in the light?
Or was it the light? Or just a hallucination?
After that memory, it all went blank. Pain shot through his skull again, his body stiffening, but Eric suspected groaning would hurt even more.
"Did I just…" He swallowed hard, feeling the scratchy hospital covers scrub against his skin. "Did I just cheat death?"
The beep, as though approving his intuition, sped up and grew louder—so loud it hurt to listen.
How the fuck am I still alive?
He knew his luck; survival like this didn't come without a catch, lurking just around the corner to remind him he was the universe's punching bag.
Like… his eyes drifted down… that. The sheet shielded his lower half from view. Was it still there? He couldn't feel much below the waist. Panic—That was his fucking livelihood. If he'd lost his leg he'd rather the Ashspawns had finished the job.
Wait—Kael… His eyes flashed open. Shit! How long had he been out? He needed to get to her before she burned half the city down. Darting pupils grazed the room for a wheelchair, something he could swing by before he checked his legs.
Or lack of—
But then, a rigid, trembling movement caught his attention.
He turned—ow, fuck!—to the entrance. By the door stood a brunette, slim and around his age, hands tightened around a clipboard she hugged to her chest as though it could protect her.
Widened eyes gawked at him like he'd just sprouted another head then, with rambling he couldn't make out, she slowly began to pull away…
"Hey, uh…" Eric began. "Do you have any idea where—"
She bolted, her screams bouncing from the hospital hallway into his ears as she disappeared down the corridor.
"…I am," Eric finished with a grimace. "Dude, I'm not even that ugly." His frown deepened. "Right?"
Heaving a sigh, he glared down at his legs. He'd just have to start small, so when he faced the reality of his unfeeling lower half, it wouldn't be so shocking.
His palms twitched. Both of them. Arms too, as he raised them over his eyes, studying every inch. The pain was welcome—it told him this was real, and he was alive.
Cool, no missing hands. Just one bandaged left one… fair.
He dropped them back to the bed, lids lowering to the sheets. He held his breath and pulled the covers…
His legs were there.
Perfectly intact, even if he ignored the clean bandage wrapped from his left calf to his ankle.
Exactly as he remembered them.
Except…
They didn't feel real.
He reached for his thigh, pressing down hard—not even a slight sensation. It felt like he was touching something that belonged to someone else.
Was he paralyzed in some way?
[System Rebooting]
His breath hitched. What the hell was…
Pain seared—the kind that split brains—exploded in his skull, making the white screen that had just appeared seem even brighter. So intense it burned behind his eyes.
His back arched off the bed, fingers digging into the sheet.
Then words—no, codes—sprawled across that screen that refused to disappear:
[SYSTEM ERROR.]
[USER RECOGNITION FAILED.]
[BODY INTEGRATION: 12%.]
[FINALIZED ADJUSTMENT REQUIRED.]
The machine beside him flatlined. Eric gasped for air, fingers clutching at his neck as though strangled. He rolled off the bed, landing on the hard white floor as everything went white.
A seizure?
Why get me from the Ashspawns to die of a seizure?! What the hell is that screen?!
And then—
A rush of something cold slammed into his spine like a lightning bolt.
Eric choked on air as his lungs snapped back to life, his arched back hitting the floor with a hard thud.
The flatline beep cut off.
The normal rhythm returned.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Too calm, too slow, as though his body had just reset itself. His toe twitched—he could feel his legs again, every inch of him, and unfortunately, that also came with excruciating, blinding pain.
He panted, body drenched in sweat, but that was easy to ignore when he was gawking at this white screen that refused to leave his face.
[SYSTEM STABILIZED.]
[USER ACCEPTANCE: SUCCESSFUL.]
[BELIAL]
Eric pressed himself into the floor, but the damn screen seemed intent on staying four inches from his face. Belial…
Why does that sound familiar?
[User: Belial // Designation: Lord of Anarchy]
[Location: Post-Apocalyptic Sector 7 // Neal City. Earth's favorite dump]
Eric blinked. Okay… now this hallucination was taking too long to go away. He raised his good hand, punching the screen lightly… solid glitch… His brows knit. The fuck!
Maybe if he shattered it…
[Refrain from being a barbarian while I update your stats.]
His fist froze midway, slowly dropping to his side as he swallowed hard.
[STATS LOA…]
His fist swung into the screen again, hitting it with a dull thud like a chop knock, yet it resounded in his ears. His lips pressed together as he waited.
[Your wish…]
The pain came down hard, crashing into his already frail body. It felt like a million volts of raw electricity racing down his nerves, a convulsion that left his teeth grinding against each other and his body trembling when it ended.
Fuck! What the fuck are you?!
[Now that you're calm, surprisingly.]
[Name: BELIAL]
[Class: Pink]
[Level: 0]
[Luck: -20/100]
[External Corruption: 70/100]
[Sanity: 90/100]
[Integration: 12/100]
For the first time in his life, Eric thought of screaming for help. But another pop-up on that damn screen stopped him.
[Allow Belial take over, A DEMO: YES/NO/REMIND ME LATER]
Okay…
His fist clenched at his side, his gawk becoming a glare at the too-bright screen. The damn thing had just zapped him, then given him stats so degrading he felt the urge to punch it even harder.
[You'll suffer the consequences.]
Would be fucking worth it.
[Let's see how long you last… Pink.]
What the fuck.
[I'll be worried about your tongue if you live past a week.]
[Allow Belial take over, A DEMO: YES/NO/REMIND ME LATER]
With another heavy gulp—so heavy he thought for a second he'd swallowed his Adam's apple along with it—he gritted out, "How do I answer when you zap me when I touch?"
A long pause. Then, right on the screen—
[Clicking: An act of selecting an option on an electronic interface by pressing a button or touching a screen]
Eric huffed. It was disgraceful enough bickering with a fu— screen he wasn't sure was real, but that zap wasn't debatable. It hurt like hell.
So, raising a finger, he clicked [NO] as gently as he could.
The screen cleared, leaving one bold word: [CONFIRMED].
Eric's fists clenched again. "I don't know what you are, but you're leaving my damn face the minute I'm out of this shithole."
Silence… then:
[We want the same thing.]
[You have to die before our wishes are granted.]
Eric's breath hitched. A virus… was this a virus? He'd need help to get it out of his head before he went completely insane.
[First Quest]
Quest?
[Say nothing about the event leading to your fall. +5 points]
Points? A screen telling him what to do, wanting him dead, indirectly ensuring he said nothing about Veiny, the Ashspawn, and finally the fall.
Was this a way to keep him trapped? So he couldn't get the "system" [Belial] out of his head? Besides, if he wanted to tell someone, who would he tell that wouldn't look at him like he was crazy?
The screen lit up again.
[The nurse. She'll bring friends.]
[Failure to comply induces great punishment.]
Friends…
Just then, the door was shoved open, and half a dozen guards in matching black suits trooped into his ward. Ignoring his obviously sad, awakened state sprawled on the floor, they lined the wall of his room.
Why? His brows knit. Come on. He groaned. Using a car couldn't be that much of a crime… could it?
But then, as he watched, a couple of shadows strode into the room—one bigger and broader than the other.
And the sight of the bigger dude in a white dress shirt, blue jacket hanging from his arm, had Eric cursing under his breath.
"Mr. Eric," the smaller guy said, looking down calmly as Eric struggled to push himself up.
"Cassian Gilmore, head of research, Ashborn unit, Neal City."
And right next to him, the man who couldn't keep the disdain off his face—a sneer on his lips, pupils cold as blue ice…
Was the Warden of Neal City.
Drenvar Veyle.
Natalie's father.
Eric struggled not to curse.
Maybe… just maybe… it would've been better if the Ashspawns had ended him.