The slums of Okelhaven didn't smell like lavender. They smelled like damp earth, desperation, and the kind of rot that the Adulation Engine couldn't quite bleach away with golden light.
Kai leaned against a crumbling brick wall, his breath coming in ragged, shallow hitches. A sudden, violent tremor shot through his right hand—not a shiver, but a jagged, purple spark that smelled of ozone and burnt hair.
"Serene… what the hell was that?" he wheezed.
[STATUS: ENERGY LEVEL 4%]
[WARNING: STATIC REJECTION INCREASING.]
[SOUL-BODY SYNCHRONIZATION: CRITICAL.]
"Synchronization?" Kai's eyes widened, a cold pit forming in his stomach. "What do you mean critical? I'm in the body, aren't I?"
[EXPLAINING: USER 'KAI' IS A FOREIGN SOFTWARE ATTEMPTING TO RUN ON AN INCOMPATIBLE HARDWARE VESSEL 'BARON VANE.' THE RESULTING FRICTION IS IDENTIFIED AS 'STATIC.']
[NOTE: ENERGY IS THE 'SOLDER' HOLDING YOUR SOUL TO THIS FRAME. IF ENERGY HITS 0% NATURALLY, THE CONNECTION WILL SNAP. LETHARGIC ATROPHY WILL COMMENCE. YOUR HEART WILL STOP IN APPROXIMATELY 14 MINUTES.]
Kai's heart hammered against his ribs—a frantic, uneven rhythm that felt like it was already trying to escape. "So if I don't get 'hated' in the next quarter-hour, I'm a corpse? Again?"
[AFFIRMATIVE. THE JOKER ARCHETYPE REQUIRES CONSTANT FRICTION TO REMAIN ANCHORED.]
"Great," Kai muttered, wiping cold sweat from his brow. "Dying twice in one day. That's got to be a record. I need a fight, and I need it now."
He looked up as the sound of heavy, rhythmic boots echoed down the narrow street. Three men in polished silver breastplates marched toward a small fruit stall.
To a normal citizen, they were just the Prince's tax collectors. But Kai's vision flickered, the UI overlaying red text above their heads.
[ASSET CLASS: THRESHOLD GUARDIANS]
[AFFILIATION: ARCHETYPE CONTINUITY AUTHORITY (ACA)]
"Threshold Guardians?" Kai whispered, ducking lower into the shadows.
[DATA ACCESS: THE ACA IS THE COSMIC OVERSEER OF AETHELGARD. THEY VIEW THIS WORLD AS A 'NARRATIVE ENGINE.' THESE GUARDIANS ARE NOT MERE SOLDIERS; THEY ARE CLERICAL ENFORCERS ASSIGNED TO ENSURE THE 'STORY' FOLLOWS THE PRE-WRITTEN SCRIPT.]
"So they're literal plot-armor police," Kai realized.
[CORRECT. THEIR CURRENT MISSION IS TO REINFORCE THE 'ORDERLY KINGDOM' NARRATIVE BY EXTRACTING TRIBUTE. ANY DEVIATION FROM THE SCRIPT IS DEEMED A 'GLITCH.']
The lead collector, a man with a jawline like a shovel, kicked over a basket of tubers. He wasn't just being a bully; he was performing a role. He was the "Necessary Evil" that made Prince Arthur look like a "Divine Savior" by comparison.
Kai saw a mother clutching her child, her face a mask of genuine terror. That terror was "Yield"—emotional energy being harvested by the Engine.
"Tax day, citizens," the lead guard barked. "The Prince's purification of the Whispering Woods isn't free. Your tithes fuel the light that protects you."
He kicked over a basket of shriveled tubers, his sneer practiced and cruel.
Kai saw them—the "forgotten." The mother clutching a malnourished child, an old man whose hands shook as he reached for a meager coin purse. In a normal story, this was where the Hero stepped in with a soaring speech.
Kai wasn't a hero. He was a battery running on empty. And these guards were full of the one thing he needed: Spite.
He pushed off the wall, stumbling into the middle of the street. He made sure his walk was a garish, uneven lurch. He adjusted the silk collar of Baron Vane's tunic—a bright, obnoxious violet that screamed 'I have more money than sense.'
"If they want a script," Kai growled, his hand sparking again with that dangerous purple static, "I'm about to give them a massive rewrite."
"Oi!" Kai shouted, his voice cracking with a high-pitched, aristocratic whine. "You there! Tin-man!"
The guards froze. The lead collector turned, his eyes narrowing as he took in Kai's disheveled appearance. "Baron Vane? What are you doing in the mud, you pathetic drunk?"
[DETECTION: TARGET RECOGNIZES VESSEL.]
[SPITE MULTIPLIER ACTIVE: x1.5]
"I'm looking for my dog," Kai slurred, leaning heavily against a fruit cart. "But all I found were three shiny lapdogs doing the Prince's laundry. Tell me, does Arthur make you polish your armor with your own tears, or is that just the natural glow of being a glorified errand boy?"
The silence that followed was heavy. The villagers stared in horror. The guards' faces shifted from confusion to a deep, vein-popping crimson.
"You've lost your mind along with your reputation, Vane," the lead guard hissed, stepping forward. He grabbed Kai by the collar, hoisting him up.
"Is that a threat?" Kai grinned, and even with the Static screaming in his ears, his teeth looked dangerously white. "Because honestly, your breath is a bigger threat to the Kingdom's safety than any monster Arthur's fought."
The first punch caught Kai in the gut.
It hurt. It hurt like a sledgehammer hitting a sack of glass. Kai doubled over, coughing up a spray of copper-tasting bile.
[NEGATIVE KINETIC STORAGE: IMPACT DETECTED.]
[ENERGY +12%]
"Again," Kai wheezed, looking up with a bloody smirk. "My grandmother hits harder than that, and she's been dead for three Legend Cycles."
The guards didn't need further encouragement. It became a rhythm of violence. A boot to the ribs. A gauntlet to the jaw. To the villagers, it was a one-sided slaughter of a fallen noble. To Kai, it was a transfusion.
[ENERGY +8%]
[ENERGY +15%]
[CURRENT LEVEL: 42%]
The Static began to settle. The energy storage was soldering his soul to the vessel, the purple "static" turning into a dull, thrumming heat in his marrow. He felt the weight of every blow, storing the kinetic force like a spring being coiled tighter and tighter.
"Enough," the lead guard panted, drawing a heavy mace. "The Prince said to keep the peace, but accidents happen in the slums. A 'Lost Asset' is no loss at all."
He swung the mace toward Kai's temple—a killing blow.
"Serene. Release 10%. Physical Reinforcement: Equilibrium."
Kai didn't throw a punch. He didn't even stand up straight. He simply shifted his weight an inch to the left. As the mace whistled past his ear, Kai "tripped."
His foot hooked behind the guard's heel, and he released a focused burst of stored kinetic energy through his shoulder as he "fell" into the man.
BOOM.
It sounded like a muffled explosion. The guard didn't just fall; he was launched backward as if hit by a runaway carriage. He crashed into a stack of empty crates, then into a stone wall, before landing face-first in a pile of rotting refuse.
The other two guards stood frozen. Kai scrambled to his feet, dusting off his ruined tunic and looking entirely accidental.
"Oh dear," Kai said, his voice returning to that annoying, pitchy whine. "I think your floor is slippery. You should really file a report about that. Very dangerous."
He didn't wait for them to recover. He turned and ducked into a dark alleyway, his heart hammering against his ribs—not from fear, but from the raw, unrefined power buzzing under his skin.
[ENERGY LEVEL: 32%]
[DECAY CONTINUING: -1%/MIN]
"That was... exhilarating," Kai whispered, leaning against the damp stone of the alley.
"Exhilarating? Or just incredibly stupid?"
The voice was cold, sharp as a razor, and came from the shadows above.
Kai looked up. Perched on a rusted fire escape was a woman. She wore dark, practical leathers, her hair a shock of crimson tied back with a fraying cord. A notched blade was held loosely in her hand, and her eyes—a piercing, rebellious amber—were fixed on him with a mixture of disgust and curiosity.
This was Elara. The Rebel.
"You're Baron Vane," she said, leaping down with the grace of a cat. She didn't point the sword at him, but she didn't sheathe it either. "I was going to kill those guards. You just cost me three good sets of armor and a lot of satisfaction."
"You're welcome?" Kai offered.
She stepped into his space, her nose inches from his. "You took a beating that should have broken your ribs, then you 'accidentally' sent a trained Guardian flying twenty feet. Who are you really?"
[WARNING: POSITIVE CURIOSITY DETECTED.]
[ENERGY DECAY ACCELERATING: -1.5%/MIN]
Kai winced. He couldn't let her like him. Not yet. He needed her to be his battery, not his fan.
"I'm a man who hates silver armor," Kai said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the apple he'd stolen earlier. He took a loud, wet bite and offered the rest to her. "And I'm a man who thinks your 'rebellion' is missing a very important element."
Elara narrowed her eyes. "And what's that?"
"A Joker," Kai grinned, the purple static flickering briefly in the depths of his eyes.
"Every tragedy needs a bit of comedy to keep the audience engaged, don't you think?"