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THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 48
Zero’s First MoveSomething was wrong.The streetlight above me flickered as I passed, casting shadows that didn’t feel like my own. My reflection in a storefront window lagged for half a second before catching up. I stopped, turning back to face it, my pulse hammering in my ears.Nothing. Just me.I exhaled, shaking it off, but the feeling didn’t go away. It had been like this for hours—like something unseen was pressing against reality, distorting it at the edges. Like the world itself was holding its breath.I ducked into a side alley, keeping to the shadows. Kane had warned me to lay low, but that wasn’t the problem. Something was already watching.I ran a hand over my face, exhaustion digging into my bones. Every move I made since escaping the facility felt predetermined—as if I was following a script I hadn’t written. The stolen data had done something to me. Or maybe I had done something to it.The air shifted.My muscles tensed. The alley was empty, but suddenly, it didn’t fee
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 49
The First Fragment of TruthThe data fought me.Lines of code blurred, rearranged, and rewrote themselves as I read. Every time I thought I had something solid, it twisted into something else, like it was actively resisting me.But I kept going.Because something in my gut told me this wasn’t just about uncovering secrets. This was about survival.My fingers hovered over the keyboard, tension tightening my jaw. I had been digging into Zero, cross-referencing stolen files, piecing together scraps of information that shouldn’t exist.And then I found it.The screen flickered. A name.Not a codename. Not a designation.A real name.I froze. A cold, electric shock ran through me as I read it again.Zero had a past.A past that had been erased.And worse—I knew him.A rush of fragmented memories slammed into me, hitting like a train at full speed.A voice—familiar, laughing in the dark.A hand gripping my shoulder pulled me up when I had nothing left.A promise. "We don’t go down easy."T
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 50
The Overseers SpeakI fell asleep like a man sinking through deep water.But this wasn’t sleep.I knew it the moment the world around me disappeared—replaced by something else.A void.Endless, stretching in every direction. Black, but not empty. It watched me. Felt me. Every cell in my body screamed to run, but there was nowhere to go.Then, it spoke.Not in words. Not in sound.Understanding flooded into me like a tidal wave.I staggered, gasping, my mind cracking under the sheer weight of it. Too much. Too vast. My body wasn’t meant to hold this knowledge, but it forced its way in anyway.The system isn’t just about control.It’s about correction.Reality isn’t a fixed thing. It’s shaped, molded, and curated. And people like me—people who resist—aren’t just rebels.We’re anomalies.And anomalies must be neutralized.Or rewritten.I tried to speak, but my voice was swallowed by the void. My thoughts were ripped apart and stitched back together, rewritten before I could even fully fo
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 51
Kane’s Last OfferThe city stretched before me in an endless sea of flickering lights and shifting shadows, but I didn’t feel safe.Not here. Not anywhere.My breath came in ragged gasps as I weaved through alleyways, my body running on pure instinct. I had been on the move since escaping my apartment, but I wasn’t sure where I was going. I only knew one thing—I couldn’t stop.Because they wouldn’t stop.The Overseers had spoken. Zero had come for me. And now, I was being erased, piece by piece.I turned a corner too fast, my foot slipping on wet pavement. I caught myself against the brick wall, my fingers digging into the rough surface. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, drowning out everything else.And then—A presence.Not the void. Not Zero.But something just as dangerous.I didn’t need to turn around to know she was there.“Kane,” I muttered.Her voice was smooth and patient. “You look like hell, Tony.”I forced a breath through my teeth. “Yeah? Well, h, ell and I are getting rea
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 52
Zero’s Hunt ContinuesThe world was breaking.I could feel it in my bones, see it in the cracks forming around me.Street signs flickered, shifting between names I didn’t recognize. A woman in a red coat crossed the street, only to appear back on the sidewalk seconds later, trapped in a loop that shouldn’t exist. Cars rolled by with an eerie smoothness, their tires barely touching the pavement. I turned to look at a shop window, but my reflection wasn’t right—too slow, too delayed like it wasn’t just a reflection at all but something watching me back.I exhaled sharply, pressing my palm against my temple. Focus. I had been running for what felt like hours, but I couldn’t stop now. Not with the way reality itself was shifting around me, bending to the will of something unseen. The Overseers were tightening their grip. I was out of time.And I wasn’t alone.That cold, creeping sensation crawled up my spine—the feeling of being watched.I turned just as a blur of black moved at an imposs
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 53
A Past Life RevealedI sat in the dim glow of the computer screen, fingers moving in a feverish rhythm over the keyboard. The stolen data was a labyrinth of encrypted files, redacted names, and digital ghosts. Each line of code led me deeper into the rabbit hole, my pulse quickening with every decrypted fragment.Zero wasn’t just a phantom the Overseers had conjured up. He had a past, a real identity—one that they had erased.And I was about to find out who he was.The screen flickered as I bypassed another layer of encryption. A list of names scrolled before my eyes—people who had been rewritten. Repurposed.I clenched my jaw. How many lives had they stolen? How many people had been wiped clean like a goddamn hard drive, stripped of their memories, and turned into weapons?And then I saw it.Subject-07: Active Status – Zero.I hesitated, my hand hovering over the keyboard. A sinking feeling coiled in my stomach, a sense of recognition before I even opened the file.I swallowed hard a
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 54
The Turning PointThe alley was empty except for the distant hum of traffic beyond the concrete walls. A single flickering streetlight cast distorted shadows across the cracked pavement. My heart pounded, but this time, I didn’t run.I had run before. Fought. Escaped. None of it worked.This time, I had to stand my ground.A gust of cold air rushed past, carrying the scent of rain and asphalt. Then, I felt it—the shift in the air, the silent predator in the dark.He was here.I tightened my grip on the gun at my side, but I didn’t raise it. Not yet.Footsteps, light as a whisper, echoed through the alley. A shadow detached from the darkness, moving with the lethal grace of a machine honed for one purpose.Zero.His mask gleamed under the dim light, the sleek black visor reflecting nothing. His stance was unreadable—still, patient, like a wolf sizing up its prey.But I wasn’t prey. Not tonight.His voice, cold and stripped of humanity, cut through the silence. “You don’t run.”I forced
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 55
Who Was Zero?The files weren’t just data.They were memories.I sat in the dimly lit safe house, staring at the stolen tablet on the table. My fingers trembled as I swiped through the decrypted documents. This wasn’t just a kill list. This was a blueprint for destruction.And at the center of it—Zero.Or rather, Ethan Calloway.My stomach twisted. Seeing it in black and white made it real.Ethan had been one of us. More than that. He had been my brother-in-arms.A grainy surveillance image flickered on the screen—two figures ducking behind a ruined vehicle, fire raining down. One was me. The other… him.The memory hit like a bullet.---We had fought together. Bled together.Ethan saved my life that night. Tackled me out of the way just as a drone strike obliterated half our squad. We hit the ground hard, coughing through the debris, faces streaked with blood and dirt.“Next time,” I wheezed, “just let me die standing, yeah?”Ethan grinned, teeth white against the grime. “Next time,
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CHAPTER 182
Darren's PromiseThe lies were gone, like old skin peeling off. I saw the truth: they had made me a servant. This made me angry, wanting revenge.I found Tony in a broken room. He was my old friend, but now he seemed lost, not knowing what was real. I felt bad and also really loyal to him. He sat on a broken chair, smiling and talking nonsense. The bright Tony I knew was gone. He looked at me for a second, the old Tony in his eyes."Darren?" he whispered weakly. I felt a little hope."Tony, it's me," I said, my voice shaky. I knelt down.He smiled more, but his eyes didn't. "The stars are singing, Darren. Can you hear?"My heart sank. He was lost. The Overseers had messed with his mind. I felt guilty. I was so busy with my own problems, I didn't see how bad Tony was.I felt a strong loyalty to him. We were friends. I couldn't leave him like this.I took his cold hands in mine. "Tony," I said firmly. "The stars aren't singing. It's just me, Darren. I'm here."He looked
CHAPTER 180
Echoes of ControlDust floated in the moonlight coming through the broken windows of the Overseer's main place. I felt a cold fear, like sharp glass in my stomach. Kane moved quietly beside me in this dead computer world. Her fingers, usually so good at finding secrets in computers, now just touched cold, still metal.Damn it, I thought, grinding my teeth. We broke their network, bit by bit, but winning felt empty. It was like beating the boss but finding a whole army behind him."Anything?" Kane whispered. Her forehead wasn't as she looked at the smashed computer.I shook my head. The smell of burnt wires hurt my nose. "Just memories. Like the computers remember being in charge, but nothing real. They erased everything."Elias stood nearby, eyes closed, head tilted like he was hearing something we couldn't. A faint shimmer moved around him. It was what was left of their mind control. He looked sick, sweat on his face."Something's here," he whispered, voice tight. "Layers
CHAPTER 180
The Untouched ShadowThe broken metal and wires of the Overseers’ control room were all around us. We had done this. We had broken their system, bit by bit, and fought through their guards. But looking at the mess, I didn’t feel good. Just empty and annoyed.Kane kicked a broken piece of a machine. It made a noise in the big, ruined room. “We took down their system, destroyed their buildings…” Her voice was tight like she was trying not to be angry. “…but it feels like we didn’t even touch the real problem.”Elias nodded, looking sad, as he looked at the mess. “The Overseers were just tools. Complicated ones, but still just a way to get what they wanted.” He looked out at the empty land through a hole in the wall. “The real power… it’s still out there, untouched.”Darren sat in a corner, looking white and tired. The memories he found had hurt him a lot. “And if they could control something like the Ascension System…” His voice was soft, like a whisper. “…what else can they
CHAPTER 179
The Unseen WatcherKane walked back and forth in the room we were using as a lab. Her boots made soft sounds on the floor. The air felt heavy like we hadn't done anything right. Tony… I still saw his fading eyes. What had that thing done to him? Was he still… Tony?Elias played with his machines, looking annoyed. “It’s like we’re fighting a ghost, Kane,” he said quietly. “A power that doesn’t follow any rules we know. The Overseers… they were just toys, weren’t they?”That thought made me cold. Toys. And we were so focused on them, we didn’t see the real person in charge.I suddenly felt cold, even though the room was warm. It wasn’t just cold; it was… something else. A feeling. Like when you know someone is behind you, even if you can’t see them.“It’s not just the system,” I said slowly, looking around the room. Nothing looked wrong. The machines hummed softly, the lights made long shadows. But… “I feel like… someone is watching us.”Elias stopped what he was doing and l
CHAPTER 178
Slipping AwayThe white light still hurt my eyes, even if I wasn’t seeing it now. Was I? Everything felt blurry, like a bad dream. Kane… her face… was she there? I remember a quick look like she was worried. Or maybe the bright light tricked me.The sounds around me were wrong. They twisted and broke, like talking underwater. Or maybe there was no sound, just a buzzing in my head that ate my thoughts. Words floated around, pieces of talk, but they didn’t stay. They didn’t make sense anymore.My own hand looked far away. Like it belonged to someone else. I tried to close my fingers, but it felt slow, like moving through thick mud. Was this still my hand? Was I still me?A cold fear grabbed me, worse than before. Not fear of pain, but fear of… disappearing. Like a picture in the sun, the colors faded away until nothing was left.Don’t forget me… please… The thought went around in my empty head, a soft cry against the growing confusion. Who was I asking? Kane? Elias? Darren…
CHAPTER 177
The Glitch in the MemoryMy fingers moved fast on the screen. The broken data from the Overseers jumped and changed. Kane looked closely, her face showing she was thinking hard. “If they were scared,” she asked quietly, “why did they want to control Tony so much?”Elias touched a black, shiny piece they found. His small machine showed strange power inside it. “Maybe,” he said slowly, “control was how they protected themselves. Maybe it was a way to use what they didn’t understand as a weapon.”Darren, still looking white and shaky, moved restlessly. He didn’t want to think about the things put in his mind, but we needed answers. Now, his eyes moved around the room like he could still hear bad things. “There was a name…” he whispered, his voice soft. “I think I heard… something about a ‘Conduit’…”Conduit. The word stayed in the quiet room. It felt important and dangerous. Kane and Elias looked at each other, knowing this could be something big. My own mind raced. Was I t
CHAPTER 176
A Pledge of AidBlue light from Kane’s key blinked in the dark. Fake Kane made a scary noise. My head still hurts from the changed memories. Kane’s light helped."I don’t know all they did, but they feared something… something they couldn't control."A voice cut through the air. Darren stood in the doorway. He looked sure now, not unsure. His eyes looked at Kane with hope.Kane looked at him, not sure but hoping. "Why now, Darren? After all the bad things?"Darren stepped in. He looked at Kane, then Elias with his weapon. "Because I see what they took from me… from all of us. I won’t let it happen again."I need to think clearly. My body felt heavy. The floor was cold.His words felt important. Darren used to work for the bad guys. Trusting him felt wrong.Kane looked hard at Darren. "Feared what, Darren? They controlled everything. What scared them?"Darren looked worried. "There were whispers… about something old. Before everything changed. They called it… the Unmake
CHAPTER 175
The Rewriting BeginsMy breath was short. The shiny building across the street felt wrong. I looked hard, a cold knot in my stomach. The bright picture Kane made on the wall was gone. Now there was a plain, creepy shape.Need to be strong. My muscles hurt, but it felt a little real."The street… not… different…" I said quietly. The air felt still and wrong. The buildings looked a little off, the signs making weird shadows.A quick thought of Kane and me here, laughing about her drawing. Her smart face… it felt far away. Did that happen here? Or was my brain playing tricks?More. Focus, Tony, focus. The metal hurt, but it felt real.I tried to remember talking to Kane about the bad things coming, the quiet talks about a power that could change everything. But the words were mixed up. Her voice sounded strange."Did I say that? Or… someone else?" The question stayed in my head, making the bad feeling worse. The outside and my memories felt wrong.I felt dizzy. I leaned on the
CHAPTER 174
Tracking the Ghost SignalsMy back hurts. It always did after bending over Elias’s weird machine for hours. Wires snaked all over the dusty floor like metal snakes connecting old parts. The air buzzed a little, like the nervous lights on the screens. The screens showed numbers and letters that didn't make sense. It felt like they were asking questions we couldn't answer.“There!” Elias said suddenly, his voice tight. He pointed at a tiny light that flashed and disappeared on a screen. “A weak signal… it’s not coming from anywhere we know.”Kane leaned closer, her dark eyes looking hard. The dim light in our hidden room made her face look serious. “Can you find it?” she asked, her voice quiet but strong.Elias shook his head. “It’s like a ghost. It shows up and then vanishes. One second it’s strong, the next… nothing.” He messed up his hair with his hand, something he did when he was frustrated.“But it’s connected to the leftover energy from their system, right?” Kane asked
