Kade didn't plan to leave the bunker.
But the System glitched—quietly.
No sirens. No sparks. Just a moment where the air felt too still, the light too sharp. He blinked, and his hands were on the wrong keys. His reflection on the screen didn't match his posture.
> [SYSTEM THREAD UNSTABLE]
Minor Temporal Shift Detected
Correction Protocol: In Progress
Auto-Stabilization ETA: Unknown
Recommend: Do not interact with external networks.
He sat back, frowning. The Echo Core pulsed dimly. Whatever caused this—it wasn't random. Nothing in Virelia ever was.
That night, he couldn't sleep. Not because of the glitch. Because of what it meant: he wasn't in control. Not fully. Not yet.
So he did what any glitchborn with something to prove would do.
He traced the instability back to its origin.
And he followed it.
---
The coordinates didn't lead to some secret realm or mystic shrine. It was just… a building.
Unmarked. Old. Looked abandoned. A few districts outside the Core. No guards, no gates. Just silence and concrete.
Kade stood across the street and waited.
Ten minutes passed.
Then the lights inside flickered on.
He crossed.
---
The inside was cleaner than it looked. Polished floors. Brushed steel walls. Dim amber lights that never buzzed.
At the center of the room stood a single table. And sitting at that table, behind a glowing slate of glass, was a woman.
She didn't react to his entry. Didn't look up.
Just kept working—scrolling through documents that didn't seem to exist in any known network.
She wore a black blouse, sleeves rolled. A tight skirt. Hair pinned back with clean precision. Not a speck of dust on her.
She looked like the kind of woman who ran empires from desks. Or destroyed them with a single message.
Kade's steps slowed.
Something about her was… familiar. Not in a déjà vu kind of way—more like a melody he'd heard in another lifetime. Her posture, the unbothered calm, the way she scanned the screen like she'd already memorized everything twice.
> [SCAN FAILED]
> Identity: UNREGISTERED
System Access: BLOCKED
Observation: Human. Probably.
Confidence: 61%
Comment: "She's either your new boss or your future problem."
She finally glanced up. Brown eyes, steady.
"You're early," she said.
He blinked. "Excuse me?"
Her lips twitched, not quite a smile. "Or late. Hard to tell with people like you."
"You know who I am?"
"Not exactly." She folded her hands, eyes scanning his face. "But I recognize your kind."
He didn't move. Didn't speak. The System tried to process her voice pattern and failed.
She stood up slowly, straightened her skirt, and walked around the table — not towards him, just… past him, like she was checking the room.
"You're not in danger," she added. "But you will be. Everyone building something real eventually is."
"Who are you?" he asked, quietly.
She paused at the doorway. "No one important. Yet."
And with that, she walked out.
The lights cut off behind her.
---
When he got back to the bunker, the System was unusually quiet. Echo hummed faintly on the table. Kade rubbed his eyes.
Had that happened?
He checked the security logs.
Nothing recorded.
Not even his own presence in that building.
Only one file had changed—buried deep in the system registry.
> NEW CONTACT: UNKNOWN
> Alias: NULL.SEC
Application Status: Pending
---
The next morning, Kade activated Oblivion Thread's internal network to start building his executive team. Applications flooded in from hackers, system runners, and corporate washouts.
But one file stood out.
> Name: Neris Vale
Role: Executive Assistant / Operations Lead
Experience: (None listed)
References: (Redacted)
Note: "I prefer to work with founders who don't play safe."
Attachment: A 4-second clip of her eyes locking with his across the room.
Kade leaned back, a slow breath leaving his lungs.
He didn't know what she was.
But she knew exactly who he was.
And somehow, that terrified him more than anything else in the city.