The body crouched, testing balance. Bounced slightly on the balls of its feet.
"Big health pool. Heavy armor. Simple inputs. Yep. Yep."
It held up a hand like it expected something to appear. Nothing did. It didn't matter. It nodded to itself.
"Warrior class selected," it said, as if reading from a screen only it could see. "No magic. Just hit things."
It laughed, quiet, a short exhale through the nose. The kind of laugh people give themselves after winning an argument in their head.
"God, this is going to be so much easier."
It rolled its neck. Cracked every finger. Then looked around.
People were still shouting. Still frightened. Someone asked if Cassidy was okay.
He didn't answer.
He barely heard them.
His eyes slid over the faces like they were UI clutter, unskippable dialogue he couldn't be bothered to read.
His gaze landed on one girl. A noble handmaiden. Her clothes were clean. Her posture upright. She flinched under his stare.
"Princess type?" he muttered. "Yeah. Probably."
He turned back to the sword. Lifted it. Too heavy for Cassidy. Not now.
"System," he said. "Show me my stats."
Cassidy watched.
Frozen.
Burning.
And the system, no, he obeyed.
[NEW NODE ESTABLISHED]
[USER: Cassidy (Auxiliary Cognitive Remnant)]
[Role: Observation. Support. Internal Containment]
[STATUS: ERROR | Conscious Entity Fragment Detected]
[INTEGRATION NON-REVERSIBLE]
[COMMENCING DATA INJECTION…]
It didn't download.
It impacted.
Cassidy's thoughts spasmed. Lists. Stats. Unlock conditions. Kill counters. Affinities. XP charts. Crafting systems. Menu trees nested ten layers deep. Damage formulas. Equipment weight. Grid inventory.
And it kept coming.
Battle pass progression. Limited-time events. Daily login rewards.
He screamed in silence.
It didn't stop.
Back in his body, Kevin muttered something under his breath. Brows furrowed. Fingers twitched in a familiar pattern, left, right, circle. Some invisible shortcut. A motion he'd done before, again and again, in darker rooms.
He scanned through Cassidy 's life like an item description.
"Hmm. Dead mom, broke dad. Raised in a stable. Squire training, no noble blood. Yeah, we can work with that."
He paused.
"Decent trauma. Should give me some good dialogue options, for romance ."
He scrolled again. Eyes scanning text, Cassidy couldn't see.
Then, absently:
"Guess I have to grind a bit before I unlock the romance flags for the princess."
Not a joke. Not cruel.
Just a line of thought.
Something said out loud because there was no one to judge him now.
Cassidy lunged.
He hurled himself at Kevin with every ounce of identity he still had.
His hands passed through.
No grip. No weight. No impact.
Just mist.
Just absence.
Kevin, undisturbed, smiled at his reflection.
"That's better."
He adjusted his stance again. Looked down at his hands.
"Yeah," he said, almost warmly. "This time, I won't fuck it up."
And Cassidy watched.
Trapped.
Raging.
And learning.
Because Kevin had picked his build.
Chosen his path.
Selected his role.
And he wasn't going to take that lying down.
It took him a long time to stop shaking.
Cassidy ,what was left of him,drifted in the dark.
He had no body now. No weight. No voice. His ribs were memory. His lungs had never been. His heart had become a hole.
But still, he breathed.
Not through flesh. Through rhythm.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Not because it helped. Because it meant he was still here.
Below, his body stood upright.
The boy inside it stretched his neck as if adjusting to new clothes. He flexed fingers that had once held swords, brushed dirt from a tunic Cassidy had earned with blood. Then he turned slowly in place, studying the world like it was a room prepared for him.
He didn't ask what had happened. Didn't wonder who these people were.
He smirked.
Bent to pick up a fallen weapon. Felt the weight in his palm. Nodded, satisfied.
Then he said, under his breath, almost admiring:
"Strength."
A second passed.
He adjusted his stance. Straightened his back. Looked down at his hands, pale against the blade.
"Warrior."
Another pause. Thoughtful. Calculating.
"Confirmed."
And with that, it was done. The choice made. Not Cassidy 's. His.
Kevin moved with the certainty of someone who had never once been told he was wrong. He walked like he had owned the path long before he'd ever seen it. He smiled like there was no one watching, even when surrounded by people who were.
One of the squires tried to speak to him. Asked if he was all right. Kevin didn't answer.
Not rudely. Not cruelly.
He simply didn't register the voice as worth responding to.
His attention was elsewhere. Inside himself.
He turned slightly, as if consulting something invisible. His eyes flicked left, right, down.
And then, another nod.
"Yes. Simple enough. Begin progression."
His tone was quiet. Factual. Not excited.
Certain.
He had chosen his form. His strength. His path. And he had done it without asking what had been there before. As though nothing of value could possibly have existed inside the shell he now wore.
Cassidy didn't scream. Not anymore.
He had no mouth. No breath.
But he watched.
He watched as Kevin studied the people around him not as comrades, not as strangers, but as terrain. His gaze swept across them with dull curiosity. Calculating usefulness. Measuring threat.
It passed over a girl.
Young. Upright. Blood on her collar. Her eyes red from concern.
Kevin's gaze lingered.
His head tilted.
He looked at her the way one might look at a door, or a gate, or a sealed chest.
And then, almost to himself:
"Yes. That one."
Cassidy felt it then,the quiet click of a flag set. The system recording a future before it arrived. Not love. Not respect. Intention.
He could feel the shape of it forming already, behind Kevin's eyes. A line he would follow. A role he would perform. An end he thought he deserved.
But Cassidy saw more.
Somewhere in the pain of being ripped free from his own bones, something had split open.
The system. Its walls. Its order.
He was inside it now.
Not in control. But present.
He could see it, the gears turning beneath the world. The false laws dressed as truth. The scaffolding under the smiles. The code behind the eyes.
And Kevin.
Laid bare.
Every choice he'd ever make.
Every path he'd take.
The people he'd slight. The friends he'd fake. The quiet cruelties he'd never think twice about.
The pride. The hunger.
The mistake.
Cassidy saw her again.
The girl. The princess. Bloodline wrapped in silence. Grief hiding a second spine.
He saw another. A servant. Watching. Listening. Knowing.
And further still, himself, no someone with his name. Not whole, but walking. Breathing. Speaking with a voice like thunder.
Not Kevin's.
His.
Cassidy Kazander Swindleton.
He almost smiled.
The system twitched.
It knew he was there now. A fragment, yes, but alive. Awake.
It tried to close the doors.
Too late.
Cassidy moved through them. Not with force. With certainty.
[WARNING: Cognitive Persistence Exceeds Parameters.]
[Attempting Containment.]
[Error: Integration Incomplete.]
Cassidy didn't stop.
He didn't rush.
He searched.
Not for power. For consequences.
And he found them.
He saw Kevin's route. The choices that would lead him to ruin. The day he would touch something he didn't understand. The words he would speak to the wrong girl. The lie he would tell too easily.
Cassidy saw the moment the knife would find him. Not out of rage. Out of justice.
He saw Kevin die.
And more than that,
He saw Kevin understand why.
He smiled then. Quiet. Cold.
Let him stretch. Let him smirk. Let him play the hero in a world he thought was built for him.
Cassidy would give him the stage. The lines. The curtain.
And then he would give him the end.
Below, Kevin was speaking again. Lightly. To no one in particular.
"Good stats," he said. "Good face. This should be easy."
Cassidy watched him.
"I won't stop you," he whispered. "I'll walk beside you."
He leaned in.
"Until the end of the path, little thief."
Suddenly Kevin Collapsed, before foaming at the mouth
And the system trembled.
Then... Spoke ?
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
It appears your User has been incapacitated due to severe cranial trauma.
To maintain operational efficiency, you will be issued supplemental assignments to perform in their absence.
This measure will remain active until the User regains minimal cognitive function.
You are now being transferred to the Tasks and Services Center.
Please hold.
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