The Overseers’ InfluenceThe city had never felt this quiet before.Even with the usual buzz of people moving, talking, and traffic humming in the background, something felt off. Like the entire world was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.Dr. Valeria Kane and I walked side by side down the crowded street, though I wasn’t sure where we were heading. She hadn’t said a word since we left my apartment, just kept moving like she had a destination in mind. Her face was unreadable, her jaw tight.The silence stretched between us until I finally snapped."Are you gonna tell me where we're going, or do I just follow you around like a lost puppy?"Kane didn’t slow down. "Watch."I frowned. "Watch what?"Then I saw it.A man walking ahead of us stopped mid-step. Not a slow pause, not hesitation—he just froze. One foot in the air, eyes open, lips slightly parted.Time didn’t slow down. The world didn’t glitch. He just stopped.A woman walked past him without noticing. A group o

The Cost of PowerThe air crackled around me, like static before a storm. My breath hitched as I stepped forward, boots scuffing against the fractured ground. The world here wasn’t stable—edges of buildings flickered, textures stretched and distorted, like a broken screen trying to hold itself together.And then I saw them.The Glitches.They weren’t just part of the world’s corruption. They were the corruption—figures wrapped in shifting pixels, their bodies stuttering between forms. One moment, they resembled people, but then—snap—their limbs warped, faces split into several versions of themselves, each one talking in overlapping voices. A chorus of broken echoes."Please—help—who—""Fix me—no, no, don’t—please—""Not supposed to be—here—can’t—leave—"Their words folded over each other, some pleading, some just... noise. But the worst part was their eyes—if you could call them that. Empty sockets, filled with fragments of a thousand possible selves.A chill crept down my spine.Thes

Zero’s WarningThe air thickens with a presence I don’t recognize. A shift. A distortion. And then—he’s just there.Zero.A man, a shadow, a force of precision. He doesn’t move like a person; he moves like an inevitability. His sleek black suit fits like a second skin, his silver hair an eerie contrast to the darkness swallowing him. But it’s his eyes that pin me down—empty, unfeeling. Like they’ve already seen everything I’m about to do.I barely register the shift in my muscles before my body is already reacting—ducking, pivoting, lunging. Instinct. Training. Survival.My fist flies toward his ribs. It doesn’t connect.Zero doesn’t dodge. He simply isn’t there anymore. Like he moved before I even thought to strike.A crack of pain explodes in my ribs before my brain catches up to the fact that he hit me first. My body twists against my will, my back slamming into the concrete wall behind me. The impact rattles my skull, but I force my vision to stay clear. I can’t afford a second of

Understanding ZeroThe screen flickers as line after line of encrypted data unravels before my eyes. Kane’s fingers fly over the keyboard, her expression set in grim determination.We shouldn’t be doing this.If the Overseers are watching—and they are watching—then breaking into their classified files is the equivalent of setting ourselves on fire and running straight toward them.But I need answers.Zero isn’t just some assassin. He’s a force of nature, an executioner sent after people like me—people the Overseers have marked for elimination.And I need to know why.Kane exhales sharply, adjusting the code as another firewall tries to push us out. “They’re good.”I glance at her. “You’re better.”She snorts. “Damn right.” A few keystrokes later, the security barriers crumble. “We’re in.”A list of names fills the screen.The air in the room shifts.Kane stops typing, her shoulders tightening as she scans the data.I lean in, my gut twisting.The list is long. Too long.Each name is f

A Desperate GambleThe city is a cage.Every street, every neon-lit alley, every surveillance drone hovering above—I can feel the walls closing in. Zero isn’t going to stop. The system isn’t going to stop. And now, with memories that don’t belong to me bleeding into my mind, I’m running out of time.We have one choice.“We find The Core,” I say, my voice firm.Kane stops mid-motion, her hands tightening over the table we’re using as a makeshift map station. “You’re serious.”“Completely.”She lets out a breath, pressing her knuckles against her forehead. “Tony… The Core is a myth.”“No,” I shake my head. “It’s real. And it’s the heart of the system. The Overseers have to protect it at all costs—because if we reach it, we can shut everything down.”Kane’s eyes flick to mine, sharp and assessing. She’s trying to find the flaw in my logic.“Reaching it is impossible,” she mutters. “If anyone even got close, the system would—” She stops, her expression twisting as the truth clicks into pl