Chapter 3: Ghost City Protocol
The ruins of Old Virelia loomed like a jagged crown on the horizon.
Once a beacon of scientific progress and genetic innovation, it now lay crumbled, its biotech spires strangled by rust and time. Rose had heard rumors—whispers among the wastelanders—of AI echoes and rogue mechs still guarding the city. But what truly drew her was the legend of Codex Delta, a gene archive said to have survived the Purge Wars.
If there were answers anywhere, they'd be buried in that ancient network.
She reached the city's edge by midday, lungs aching, pack lightened to essentials. Her boots crunched over shattered ferroglass and twisted rebar. Every step was like walking on the bones of a forgotten world.
Her right hand throbbed.
GENE ACTIVITY: STABLE.
SENSORY RANGE ENHANCED.
The interface in her vision had evolved again. She could now see faint trails of heat signatures—flickers of life in the ruins.
She wasn't alone.
Inside Old Virelia
A shape darted behind a fallen column. Small. Quick.
Rose drew her shock-dagger, holding it close to her hip as she moved carefully through the shattered streets. Ancient billboards flickered with glitching holograms, advertising gene-enhancement programs that hadn't existed in a century. Some still showed warnings:
"Unauthorized gene manipulation punishable by termination.""Syndicate Authority: Protecting Purity Since Cycle 288."
Rose snorted. "Yeah. Protecting their monopoly, more like it."
Something skittered again. Closer this time.
She spun—just in time to catch sight of a figure: no taller than her shoulder, ragged cloak, glowing yellow eyes. It hissed and vanished into a breach in the wall.
"Wait!" she called out.
Too late. Gone.
She considered chasing it but thought better. Instead, she marked the breach on her HUD and kept going.
The Codex Vault
Her map pinged a subterranean entrance—beneath the shattered University Tower.
It took hours to pry open the rusted bulkhead, using her magnetic claws and a few clever tricks with energy feedback from a drone core. By sunset, she descended a cracked stairwell lit by emergency power still clinging to life.
The Codex Delta lay ahead.
A massive chamber opened before her, walls etched with data-glyphs, banks of half-functional servers flickering with ghostlight. In the center, a curved chair and an intact console.
She approached, heart racing.
A voice rang out—calm, mechanical, ancient.
"User profile unrecognized. Genetic signature: anomaly. Access: restricted."
Rose stepped back. "I need information. Anything on the Black Gene. Supergene architecture. I know you have it."
"You carry… the Uncoded Helix."
Her breath caught. "You know what this is?"
"It was thought extinct. Its bearer is… incompatible with linear evolution. You are… forbidden."
Suddenly, panels slid open. Defense turrets rose from the walls.
"Security protocol: Soulcage initiated."
The Trap Unleashed
Something dropped from the ceiling with an echoing crash.
A humanoid—but wrong. Its skin was a patchwork of mirrored scales and blackened flesh. Mechanical eyes glowed red, and long needle-like fingers twitched with anticipation. Its voice was a broken melody of voices.
"You… are… mine."
Rose backpedaled. Her dagger hummed. "What the hell are you?"
"Prototype. Syndicate-born. Soulcage Mark I. Purpose: contain and dissect Black Gene anomaly."
"No thanks," she snapped—and threw her dagger.
It passed through the creature's shoulder—and instantly melted into bubbling data goo.
Rose stared. "That… is new."
The creature charged. Faster than anything she'd fought.
It struck.
She barely blocked, twisting mid-air, using a burst of reflex-speed she didn't know she had. Her HUD flared:
GENETIC OVERDRIVE ENGAGED.
LIMITER TEMPORARILY DISABLED.
Suddenly everything slowed. Again.
But this time, she could feel something else—a choice.
Three options appeared in her mind like selections:
[Adaptive Defense]
[Velocity Break]
[Gene Absorption Pulse]
Her instincts screamed.
[Gene Absorption Pulse]
She chose.
Her palm lit with black light. As the Soulcage reached for her, she grabbed its wrist.
The creature screamed.
Black veins pulsed through its arm. It convulsed violently, circuits frying, lights flashing.
Rose screamed too, the surge too powerful to contain.
When she let go, the Soulcage collapsed—smoking and twitching.
Her vision blurred.
[Sequence Integrated: Phase Mutation]
New ability: Phase Claw unlocked.
She stumbled back, gasping.
"What is happening to me…?"
The Codex console pinged softly.
"Access granted. Welcome, Host of the Black Gene."