The System spoke again at 6:02 AM.
It didn't announce itself.
It waited until Elias had almost convinced himself that silence meant safety.
[SYSTEM TUTORIAL — OPTIONAL]Topic: Awakening Fundamentals
Estimated Completion Time: 3 minutes
Elias stared at the words hovering at the edge of his vision.
Optional.
He lay back against the hospital bed, one arm folded carefully over his ribs, listening to the building creak under distant thunder. The staff had stopped reassuring people an hour ago. Now they moved quickly and avoided eye contact.
Optional meant avoidable.
Which meant it mattered.
"Fine," Elias murmured. "Three minutes."
The tutorial unfolded smoothly.
Too smoothly.
[AWAKENING OVERVIEW]Awakened individuals gain access to the Mythos System.
The System provides neutral guidance for survival and growth.
All users are treated equally.
Elias frowned.
Equally.
The word scraped.
Awakened individuals may align with a pantheon for protection and accelerated progression.
Alignment is voluntary.
Refusal carries no inherent penalty.
Elias reread the line.
Once.
Then again.
"No inherent penalty," he repeated quietly.
The System didn't pause.
Unaligned individuals may operate freely within neutral zones.
Neutral zones are protected from pantheon interference.
Elias laughed.
The sound came out thin and sharp.
Protected.
He thought of the broadcasts. The kneeling crowds. The lightning. The sand swallowing cities whole.
He thought of the System message from minutes earlier.
[NOTICE]– Expendable: Unregistered anomalies
"Show me neutral zones," Elias said.
The response was immediate.
[MAP INTERFACE — LOADING]
A translucent globe appeared, rotating slowly.
Green patches bloomed across it—areas labeled NEUTRAL.
Elias leaned forward despite the pain.
Then he saw the timestamps.
Every green zone shared the same tag:
LAST VERIFIED: PRE-INTEGRATION
His breathing slowed.
"Update verification," he said.
A pause.
Barely perceptible.
[NOTICE]Real-time verification unavailable.
Please rely on System guidance.
Rely.
The word settled uncomfortably.
Elias scrolled back.
Pantheons cannot act directly within neutral zones.
System enforcement ensures compliance.
The hospital lights flickered.
Thunder rolled—closer now.
Something heavy pressed against the city, testing it.
Elias glanced at the window.
Clouds churned overhead, dark and low, threaded with lightning that didn't strike—only waited.
"System," Elias said, "define direct action."
The answer came too fast.
[QUERY INVALID]Definition unavailable at current clearance level.
Clearance.
Another word he hadn't agreed to.
"Define indirect."
[QUERY INVALID]
Elias exhaled slowly.
"Okay," he said. "Then explain this."
He pictured the man running.
The lightning.
What was left afterward.
"That execution," Elias said. "That was direct."
The System didn't answer.
The tutorial advanced on its own.
Pantheon-aligned individuals may enforce divine law.
Such enforcement does not constitute direct pantheon action.
Elias stared at the text.
There it was.
Clean. Precise.
A loophole large enough to bury cities.
"So gods don't kill people," he said softly.
"They just outsource it."
Silence.
A progress bar slid into view.
Tutorial Completion: 67%
His pulse quickened—not with fear, but recognition.
This wasn't guidance.
It was legal language.
"Show penalties for refusal," Elias said.
[NOTICE]No penalties detected.
The words hung there.
Then another line appeared beneath them—smaller, dimmer.
Note: Environmental risk may increase.
Environmental.
Elias thought of storms. Of monsters. Of divine champions acting under borrowed authority.
"Define environmental risk," he said.
[NOTICE]Environmental risk varies.
Mortality correlation: SIGNIFICANT.
There it was.
The lie wasn't loud.
It was careful.
Refusal carried no penalty.
Just death by circumstance.
The System chimed softly.
[TUTORIAL COMPLETE]Survival likelihood increased by 12%.
Elias closed his eyes.
The pressure behind them returned—not heavy, but attentive.
"You could've just said the truth," he murmured.
The System didn't respond.
Because it didn't need to.
It had already done its job.
It had shown him the shape of the cage.
Elias opened his eyes.
"Fine," he said quietly. "If that's how you work…"
He focused on the interface—on the dimmed text, the missing definitions, the places where answers refused to exist.
"…then I'll read what you don't want me to."
Outside, thunder cracked—this time with lightning.
The hospital shook.
And somewhere far above the city, a god smiled, confident the System still worked.