Lio dreamed of falling upward.
Not flying—falling, but in reverse. His body strained as if gravity had decided it no longer cared about direction, only hunger. Silver threads wrapped around his limbs, tugging gently at first, then harder, pulling him toward a light he couldn't see.
He woke with a sharp inhale.
The Null quarters were still dark, the air heavy with the smell of sweat and stone dust. Someone nearby coughed wetly. Somewhere farther off, a child cried and was hushed.
Lio lay still, heart racing.
The dream lingered too clearly. He could still feel the pull.
Carefully, he focused inward again.
Nothing.
No window. No text. Just his own breath and the dull ache of a body that had worked too hard the day before.
Good, he thought. Maybe it was just… yesterday catching up to me.
The copper tag on his collarbone itched.
He dressed quickly and joined the flow of workers toward the quarry. The city above them loomed pale and distant, its towers catching the first light of dawn. The temples gleamed brightest, as always.
Halfway to the quarry, a horn sounded.
It was low and resonant, the kind of sound that didn't ask for attention—it took it.
The workers slowed.
The overseers stiffened.
A second horn followed, then a third, each one closer than the last.
Jessa grabbed Lio's sleeve. "That's not for us," she whispered.
Lio wasn't so sure.
Figures emerged from the upper street, their footsteps measured, synchronized. They wore layered armor the color of old bronze, etched with runes that crawled faintly across the surface like living script.
Correction Enforcers.
The crowd parted instinctively. People bowed their heads. Some dropped to one knee.
The Enforcers moved like they owned the ground beneath them.
Each carried a staff tipped with a crystal prism that pulsed softly, matching the rhythm of the horns. As they walked, faint lines of light extended from the prisms, brushing over the workers like invisible fingers.
Scanning.
Lio's mouth went dry.
Don't think. Don't look. Don't react.
One of the prisms swept over Tarin.
Tarin flinched as the light passed through him. His shoulders sagged—and then he gasped.
LEVEL UP!NULL — LEVEL 10
The System's voice rang clear and loud, audible even to those nearby.
The workers murmured.
Level 10.
The cap.
Tarin staggered, eyes wide, a wild, disbelieving smile breaking across his face. "I—did you see that?" he whispered, half-laughing. "I did it. I actually—"
The smile faded.
Another line of text appeared, colder.
LEVEL CAP REACHEDXP ROUTING ADJUSTEDFURTHER GAINS REDIRECTED
Tarin's breath hitched. The warmth drained from his face like blood from a wound.
"Oh," he said quietly.
The Enforcer didn't even look at him. The prism swept on.
Jessa squeezed Lio's arm hard enough to hurt. "Don't move," she whispered. "Please."
The light brushed over her.
Nothing happened.
Then it reached Lio.
The moment the prism's glow touched his skin, the world tilted.
Pain slammed into his collarbone, sharper than anything he'd felt before. He bit down on a cry, teeth clacking together.
The copper tag burned like molten metal.
Inside his head, something screamed—not in sound, but in sensation. Pressure, resistance, like two forces grinding against each other.
The Enforcer stopped.
Slowly, deliberately, its helmeted head turned toward Lio.
The visor was dark, opaque. No eyes visible.
The prism brightened.
SYSTEM NOTICE:ANOMALOUS XP FLOW DETECTED
Lio's vision blurred.
A window forced itself into existence, jagged at the edges, text stuttering as if struggling to render.
CORRECTION IN PROGRESS—
The words fractured.
Static rippled across the text.
—ERROR—
The Enforcer's grip tightened on the staff.
Around them, the quarry had gone silent.
"Null," the Enforcer said. Its voice was flat, genderless, amplified slightly as if spoken through a great distance. "Remain still."
Lio couldn't have moved if he wanted to.
His heart hammered so hard it hurt.
"I—" His voice came out hoarse. "I didn't do anything."
The Enforcer tilted its head. "Action is not required for deviation."
The prism flared brighter, heat radiating from it. Lio felt something tug at him—not his body, but something deeper. Something earned.
Reflexively, without thinking, he resisted.
The sensation snapped.
The pain spiked—and then vanished.
The prism dimmed abruptly.
The Enforcer froze.
For a long, terrible second, nothing happened.
Then the staff emitted a sharp chime.
CORRECTION FAILEDSTATUS: ESCALATION REQUIRED
A ripple of unease passed through the other Enforcers.
The one facing Lio straightened. "Subject designation," it intoned. "Null. Level Two. Flagged for observation."
Observation.
Not execution.
Not correction.
Something worse.
The Enforcer lowered the staff. The pressure eased, leaving Lio shaking, sweat plastering his clothes to his skin.
"Resume labor," the Enforcer ordered the overseers.
The horns sounded once more, and just like that, the moment shattered. Noise rushed back in—shouts, movement, the scrape of tools.
The Enforcers turned and walked away, already losing interest.
Lio sagged, barely staying on his feet.
Tarin stared at him, face pale. "What did you do?"
"Nothing," Lio whispered. "I swear."
Jessa pulled him close, shielding him with her body as if that could help. "Don't talk," she hissed. "Don't even think too loud."
They worked under watchful eyes that day.
Lio felt it constantly now—a pressure inside him, like something had been partially unplugged and left that way. When he lifted stone, the familiar dull ache came… but it didn't drain him the same way.
Once, near midday, a faint flicker appeared.
+0.01 Will
Immediately, pain lanced through his collarbone again.
He nearly dropped the slab.
So that's how it is, he thought grimly. I grow, and it hurts. I stop, and they notice.
That night, the Status window returned on its own.
STATUS (MONITORED)
Active Effects:— System Desync (Unstable)— Observation Flag (Minor)
Below it, a single line pulsed faintly.
RECOMMENDATION:CONFORM
Lio stared at the word.
Conform.
He closed the window with a thought and lay back, staring into the darkness.
Above him, the gods were still feeding.
Below them, the System had tried—and failed—to take what little he had gained.
Lio didn't feel powerful.
He felt hunted.
And for the first time, he understood something terrifying:
The System wasn't just a set of rules.
It was watching.