I was expecting a warm-up.
You know — a light jog through a semi-broken plaza. Maybe dodging a vending machine or two.
But no.
Kuro handed me a headset, a neural stabilizer collar, and a jump suit patched with reactive thread.
"We're sending you into Rift-102," she said. "Codename: Echolane. High-glitch density. Memory collapse zones. And possibly a shadow entity."
I blinked.
"That sounds very not fine."
"Then run faster."
Nao, Taki (a grumpy ex-ballet dancer with zero chill), and Juno (the girl who walks on walls) were assigned to my squad. Apparently, they were the "mentorship program."
We exited through a side tunnel that led us to the real mission launchpad: a shimmering elevator shaft, corrupted by a rift pulse. When the door opened, time lagged. The world hiccuped.
Echolane wasn't a street anymore.
It was a fractured echo of one.
Buildings floated in loops. Cars flickered between decades — one moment a classic Toyota, the next a self-driving capsule. The ground was semi-solid; every step caused ripples.
My breath fogged and pixelated.
"Stick to motion," Nao said. "If you hesitate, the rift senses you."
I wanted to ask what that meant exactly, but then the shadows twitched.
Juno threw a flare dart — it bounced off an invisible wall, revealing a hallway midair.
"Run now!" Taki shouted.
So we did.
We leapt across rooftops frozen in different times. Slid down neon rails that flickered in and out of sight. At one point, I ran straight through a wall — only to find myself sprinting on the side of a building, gravity rewired.
For a moment… I felt free.
Like I belonged here.
Then came the shrieking.
Nao skidded to a stop. "Shadow's awake. Split formation!"
My body jolted before my brain caught up.
I turned to see a figure — not walking, not floating, but glitching toward us in jags of corrupted motion. Its shape folded inward, like it didn't want to be seen in any one form.
Taki screamed. Her foot had fused with the ground — a memory snare.
"REI!" she yelled.
I didn't think. I grabbed her. "Run with me!"
She kicked off with one good foot, and I boosted her forward. My gloves burned from the static. We dove through a collapsing window — literally.
It shattered time around us.
The world slowed.
Breathless.
Then… normal.
We were back.
Or at least, outside the Rift bubble.
My legs buckled.
Juno threw her arms around Taki. Nao nodded, tired. And Kuro stood nearby with a calm expression.
"You passed," she said.
"I almost died," I said.
"That's how we know."
As I peeled off the suit, I noticed something beneath my skin — like faint white lines, burning circuits, threading under my arms and ribs.
"Nao," I whispered. "What's happening to me?"
He didn't answer.
Just stared at the same faint lines on his own arms.