The rain never stopped. It poured over Neonspire like the city itself was drowning. Aya pulled her coat tighter as she followed Riku into a forgotten subway tunnel, deep below the glowing streets.
The air was damp, heavy with rust and mold. Old train tracks stretched into the dark, swallowed by shadows.
"Why here?" Aya asked, her hand brushing the holster at her side.
"Because Oracle doesn't come down here," Riku replied. His voice was steady, but his eyes flicked to every corner, like he expected the shadows to move. "Down here, the silence belongs to us."
He pulled a scorched data drive from his pocket. Its surface was cracked, as if burned.
"This," Riku said, holding it up, "is from The Whisperer."
Aya hesitated before connecting it to her wrist-link. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a voice poured out—soft, layered, a thousand whispers speaking as one.
> "Oracle sees all. But Oracle does not remember. You traded freedom for silence. And silence… is the loudest lie."
The words cut through her, cold and heavy. Aya's chest tightened.
"What do they want?" she asked.
Riku's face was pale in the dim light. "To wake the city up. Even if it means burning it down."
Before Aya could reply, the tunnel lights flickered. Just for a second.
Then came the sound—whispers, faint at first, then growing louder, crawling across the darkness like living things.
Shadows began to stir in the water by the tracks, stretching upward, twisting into shapes that weren't human.
"You're late… you're late…" the voices hissed.
Aya's pulse raced. She drew her gun, the sound sharp against the whispers.
Riku grabbed her arm. "Don't shoot! It'll only make them stronger."
The shadows crept closer, words spilling into Aya's mind. The rain above seemed to echo their chant.
"Run!" Riku shouted.
They sprinted down the tunnel, boots splashing through black water as the whispers chased them like a storm of voices.
Riku slammed an iron gate shut behind them. The whispers faded, melting back into silence.
Aya's breaths came fast, her heart pounding like war drums. She looked at Riku, whose smirk had finally vanished.
"The Whisperer isn't a rumor," he said, voice trembling. "It's real."
Aya nodded, her fists clenched.
The city wasn't safe anymore.
And the game had only just begun