Morning in the Forsaken City wasn't bright.
It was thinner.
The darkness didn't vanish so much as retreat, pulling itself into corners and cracks, sulking as if offended that anyone had survived the night. Fires burned low along the barricades, smoke drifting lazily upward into a sky that still looked broken, just less angry than before.
People moved like ghosts—quiet, efficient, wounded. No one celebrated surviving. Survival here was provisional, never a victory.
The system chimed, subdued.
DAY CYCLE INITIATED
ENVIRONMENTAL HOSTILITY: REDUCED (TEMPORARY)
NOTE: NIGHT BEHAVIOR DATA UPDATED
Kael sat on a broken crate, rewrapping a bloodied strip of cloth around his forearm. "I don't like that word. Temporary."
"Nothing here is permanent except consequences," I said.
I stood near the edge of the inner barricade, staring out at the city. From this angle, the Forsaken City looked almost peaceful—ruins bathed in dull light, streets empty, shadows behaving themselves.
Almost.
The Legacy Mark pulsed faintly, a low hum beneath my ribs. It reacted whenever I focused on the city, as if listening to something I couldn't quite hear.
The system map hovered before my eyes.
And it was wrong.
Paths twisted where they shouldn't. Landmarks were offset, distances compressed or stretched unnaturally. A street that should have led straight toward the central spire instead looped back on itself, like a snake eating its own tail.
I frowned.
"Kael," I said. "Come look at this."
He joined me, eyes narrowing as he studied the map. "That's not how we came in."
"No," I said. "And that alley shouldn't exist."
The system flickered defensively.
MAP DATA: VERIFIED
SOURCE: SYSTEM CONSENSUS
"Consensus with who?" Kael muttered.
I felt it then—a subtle resistance, like pushing against a current. The Legacy Mark warmed.
The world sharpened again.
Just slightly.
The map… peeled.
Not visually, but conceptually. Beneath the clean, glowing routes the system displayed, I saw faint alternatives—older paths, half-erased routes that didn't obey the same geometry.
Hidden paths.
False dead ends.
"Kael," I said slowly, "the map isn't broken."
He looked at me. "That's worse."
"It's lying."
The system chimed sharply.
WARNING
UNAUTHORIZED PERCEPTION DETECTED
LEGACY INTERFERENCE CONFIRMED
I winced as a spike of pressure lanced through my skull, but the vision didn't disappear. If anything, it grew clearer.
Reth approached us, flanked by two of his people. He looked tired, but his eyes were sharp—calculating.
"We're moving," he said. "Supply caches in the eastern district. Lost two runners last night. Need to know why."
Kael crossed his arms. "Your map say it's safe?"
Reth hesitated a fraction too long. "Safe enough."
I met his gaze. "Your map says a lot of things."
Reth studied me carefully. "You saw something last night."
"I survived," I replied. "That tends to sharpen perspective."
He exhaled slowly. "We don't have the luxury of paranoia."
"No," I said. "You have the necessity of it."
The Legacy Mark pulsed harder, reacting to the tension. The system chimed again, this time colder.
SYSTEM NOTICE:
PLAYER DIVERGENCE INCREASING
Reth made a decision. "You two come with us. If you're seeing what I think you're seeing, I want it on my side."
Kael leaned toward me. "Currency's getting expensive."
"Everything useful is," I murmured.
We moved out shortly after, a small group navigating deeper into the city. Daylight revealed damage that night had hidden—entire buildings hollowed out, streets warped as if softened and reshaped by invisible hands.
The map insisted we were walking straight.
My instincts disagreed.
Halfway to the eastern district, I stopped abruptly.
"Don't move," I said.
The system map showed a clear street ahead.
The Legacy perception showed a void.
Not a pit. Not rubble.
Absence.
I picked up a small stone and tossed it forward.
It vanished midair.
No sound. No impact.
Just gone.
Reth swore. "That wasn't there yesterday."
"Yes, it was," I said. "You just couldn't see it."
The system flickered wildly.
ERROR
TERRAIN DATA CONFLICT
I stepped sideways, testing the edge. The ground there was solid. A faint shimmer marked the boundary of the void, barely perceptible unless you knew how to look.
"The city's rearranging itself," Kael said quietly.
"Or revealing what was always there," I replied.
We detoured carefully, tension high. The map adjusted reluctantly, redrawing routes that made less and less sense.
Then we heard it.
Footsteps.
Measured. Confident.
A group emerged from behind a collapsed structure—armed, well-equipped, bearing sigils unfamiliar to me. Their leader, a woman with cropped silver hair and a scar across her throat, smiled without warmth.
"Well," she said. "Looks like the city's finally letting people through."
Reth stiffened. "You're not from the outer district."
"No," she agreed. "We're from below."
The system screamed.
PLAYER GROUP DETECTED
AFFILIATION: UNKNOWN FACTION
LEVEL RANGE: HIGH
Kael whispered, "These aren't scavengers."
"No," I said. "They're settlers."
The woman's gaze slid to me, lingering. "You're marked."
Every weapon in her group shifted subtly, angles changing.
Reth raised his hands. "We don't want trouble."
"Neither do we," she said pleasantly. "But we do want territory."
She gestured behind her. "The city opened a new route last night. One your map probably doesn't show."
She was right.
The system map was blank there.
The Legacy perception showed a wide avenue leading toward the inner city—toward the fractured spire.
"You can't hold it alone," Reth said.
The woman smiled wider. "We don't intend to."
Her eyes never left me. "But you… you're interesting. The city's letting you see beneath the paint."
The system pulsed angrily.
SYSTEM WARNING:
INFORMATION CONTROL BREACH
"I'll make you an offer," she said. "Walk away from them. Come with us. We know where the real paths are."
Kael's hand tightened on his weapon.
Trust.
Currency.
Dangerous.
I shook my head. "You don't own the city."
"No," she agreed. "But we listen when it speaks."
She turned, signaling her group to withdraw. "Think about it. The map will keep lying. Eventually, it'll get you killed."
They vanished into the ruins with practiced ease.
Silence lingered.
Reth exhaled shakily. "That was too close."
"It's going to get worse," I said.
The system chimed one last time, almost petulant.
SYSTEM NOTE:
MAP DATA SUBJECT TO ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORITY
I stared at the shifting streets, the hidden voids, the false paths.
The system wasn't guiding us through the city.
It was negotiating with it.
And the city?
The city was no longer content to stay quiet.