He didn’t try to follow any of the cultist mbers of the mysterious Order.
As he walked through the silent streets of the village, he rembered the scent he had perceived during the ritual embraces.
That strange and distinctive sll of damp earth, iron, and that sickly sweetness.
It wasn’t a normal sll. Nor did it belong to common NPCs.
Throughout the entire ceremony, he had carefully observed their movents. None of them acted like improvised fanatics playing a chanical role. There was discipline, conviction, and purpose.
That was what was truly unsettling. Even so, Gabriel didn’t feel fear. Only a dangerous curiosity settled in his mind.
Pursuing them now would be a mistake. Major events needed ti to mature; any suspicious movent could destroy the trust he had managed to build.
He needed to wait. Tomorrow the full moon would arrive.
He would finally obtain the answers he longed for. Or more questions.
Gabriel let out a long sigh as he settled onto the bench under the dim light of the streetlamp.
The village remained quiet.
The few players walking the streets seed completely unaware of what was happening beneath their feet.
It was strange to think that while so argued about material prices or experience routes, a sectarian organization was preparing to open a door capable of affecting conventional gaplay.
He rested his head against the back of the bench.
And finally logged out.
Darkness enveloped him.
***
The neural helt retracted automatically with a soft chanical click.
Gabriel opened his eyes.
His small apartnt materialized before him once again.
For a few seconds he remained motionless. The helt still emitted so heat and felt slightly warm.
He removed it completely and set it on the table.
"It’s already late..." he murmured.
He checked the ti; it was much later than he had imagined.
Fatigue slowly began to settle into his muscles. However, he didn’t go straight to sleep.
He stayed seated at the old recycled wooden table, making a loud, steady tapping sound. His index finger drumd against the surface.
Over and over.
His mind kept returning to the iron gate.
To the symbols, the whispers, and the sanity warning.
Was it just a ga chanic?
The big companies loved creating imrsive events. But for a second, it had felt far too real.
Finally, he abandoned his thoughts.
He stood up, lazily turned off the light, and dropped onto the bed.
Sleep ca almost imdiately.
***
And then the dreams began. Similar to psychedelic hallucinations.
First he saw colors. His vision was covered by an extensive horizon of colors.
Tones that didn’t seem to exist within the human spectrum. Shapes appeared and disappeared.
Mountains that breathed rose up, oceans suspended in the sky, and cities built upon gigantic skeletons.
Then he heard voices. Whispering all at once.
And laughter. The laughter was thunderous.
And at so point a door appeared. It seed infinitely large.
Rising over an impossible horizon, sothing enormous hamred from the other side. A massive figure that wanted to enter.
Gabriel tried to approach it. And just before touching it... he woke up.
***
He sat up abruptly. His breathing was ragged, and the sheets were soaked. Sweat ran down his neck and back.
For a few seconds he remained seated, trying to regain a normal breathing rhythm.
The room was still there. Nothing had changed.
However, an unpleasant sensation clung to his skin.
He looked at the clock. He had slept much longer than usual.
"What the hell..."
He ran a hand through his hair. He needed to go to the bathroom.
First he had to remove the sheets. They were completely unusable after that night of sleep.
Fortunately, he still had a couple of old synthetic spares. They were slightly torn and not comfortable, but they would do.
Once he had remade the bed, he entered the small shared bathroom connected to his apartnt.
He turned on the shower. He needed to clear his mind of the strange thoughts.
While washing his hair, sothing caught his attention.
Several strands were caught between his fingers. He ran his hand again and found more hair.
He looked at the drain.
It was accumulating a worrying amount. Not enough to cause alarm, but it didn’t seem normal either.
He had to remove so of it manually to prevent the pipe from clogging.
There was also the itching. His skin had been irritating him all morning.
But his body temperature was cold. Abnormally cold.
No matter how much he raised the water temperature, the sensation persisted.
In the end, he decided to ignore it. He had other problems to deal with.
***
The streets of Lower Neo-Atlas were surprisingly quiet.
Gabriel walked between corroded tal structures while observing the usual traffic. After the latest ergency alert, activity seed to have decreased.
Instead, police drones had multiplied. Small blue lights swept across the polluted skies. They constantly patrolled, scanned, and watched.
Like countless chanical insects.
Gabriel carried a bag with dirty clothes. His destination was the district’s social laundry, one of the few places where you could still have a normal conversation.
A long ti ago, automated service had been rejected and eventually eliminated.
The attendant looked up when he entered. She was a middle-aged woman with a kind expression.
"Gabriel," she said with a smile.
"Hello, Mrs. Mary."
"It’s been a while since I last saw you."
"I’ve been busy."
"As we all are."
She let out a small laugh.
While putting the clothes into the machines, they began to talk.
The conversation quickly turned to the recent ergency alert.
"My nephew was locked in for almost two days," she comnted.
"I heard there were riots."
"They always say the sa thing."
Gabriel nodded.
"And they never explain anything."
"Because they probably don’t even know what’s happening."
The woman burst out laughing.
For several minutes they continued talking about everyday matters. Nothing important or transcendental.
But for so reason, that normality felt comforting.
When the clothes were ready, Gabriel said goodbye.
"Take care."
"You too."
He stepped back out into the streets. And then the cold returned, more intense and deeper.
A shiver ran down his spine. For a mont he even felt like trembling.
He looked at the gray sky.
"It must be the weather."
He found no other explanation.
***
When he returned to his apartnt, the first thing he saw was the neural helt.
Gabriel smiled.
He couldn’t help it. That feeling was familiar.
Similar to the sa excitent he had felt as a child when he found sothing new to explore.
A mystery, opportunities, or a secret.
The quest was still there.
But first he needed to eat. He prepared a simple lunch with synthetic protein and lab-grown vegetables.
The flavor was surprisingly good. It fulfilled its purpose perfectly.
He returned to the table.
He picked up the helt and put it on.
---
The transition to the virtual world happened instantly.
The interface appeared.
His surroundings seed normal. Until sothing caught his attention.
A figure, about fifty ters away, walking through the crowd.
Gabriel froze.
He recognized him imdiately. The man with eyes like wells.
His worn clothes, irregular gait, and strange posture.
It was him.
Without thinking twice, he started moving. Then walking faster.
And finally running.
The figure turned a corner. Gabriel accelerated, crossing the street. He dodged players with agility and reached the intersection just a few seconds later.
Empty. It was completely empty.
He stopped, looking both ways. There was nothing and no one.
As if he had never existed.
Gabriel searched the surroundings for several minutes. Looking and asking, but getting no results.
The man had disappeared. Again.
The silence slowly returned.
Gabriel remained motionless in the middle of the street.
An uncomfortable feeling began to grow in his chest.
Everything seed connected. But he couldn’t see how.
For the first ti since he had started this investigation, he felt like he was walking inside a puzzle whose edges he couldn’t even make out.
He looked up at the ga’s sky. The moon was slowly beginning its ascent.
And sothing told him that when he crossed the doors of that abandoned church again, so answers would finally co to light.
Though perhaps they would be answers he would have preferred not to know.
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