Sykaion didn't move.
The air in the penthouse was too quiet. Too clean. Every sound—the hum of filtered air, the distant whir of servos in the woman's arm, the faint buzz of the glowing coin still embedded in his palm—was surgical, deliberate, hostile.
The woman's gaze was emotionless, one eye organic and blue, the other a glowing ring of gold code.
Her weapon, boxy and matte, bore a serial number carved in ancient digits: ##-137-AUDIT//ENFORCER//OMNIBANK.
> [Wealth Management System Alert: Auditor-Class Entity Detected]
Risk of Immediate Liquidation: CRITICAL
Countermeasures: None Available
Recommended Action: Obey.
Sykaion raised his hands slowly, heart pounding like a drumline.
"I didn't choose this," he said.
"You accepted the Phantom Feather," the woman replied, voice sharp as a spreadsheet line. "You stole the Obsidian Coin. You crossed thresholds beyond your clearance level. And worst of all…" She stepped closer. "You tripped the Tidewalker Protocol."
"I don't even know what that is."
"Exactly."
She adjusted her stance. The gun didn't waver. Her golden eye pulsed softly, and Sykaion's interface lit up.
> Incoming System Request: Memory Statement Transfer
If accepted, Enforcer will review personal event thread
Rejection Consequence: Permanent Termination
"Let me see what happened to you," the woman said. "If you're bluffing, you'll be gone in less time than it takes to default on a microloan."
Sykaion gritted his teeth. "Fine. I don't have much to hide."
> Request Accepted.
Streaming Memory Fragment: [Slum Survival → Arcade Acquisition Event → Auditor Encounter]
Duration: 2.4 seconds real time
The world shimmered.
The woman blinked once—fast. Her head twitched slightly.
Then she lowered the gun.
"...That's not possible," she murmured.
Sykaion didn't dare speak.
"You're untagged. Unlinked. Yet the Coin let you claim it. The Phantom Feather acknowledged you." She paced now, muttering. "The system's sealed. Has been for centuries. It shouldn't be active outside Council inheritance chains."
He couldn't tell if she was afraid or furious.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"I don't know," Sykaion said honestly. "I was just trying to survive. I didn't ask for this. I didn't even know what the hell was happening until that coin burned into my hand."
She stared at him. A beat passed. Then two.
"The system's broken," she whispered. "Or waking up."
She holstered the gun with a single fluid motion. Sykaion exhaled.
Then her hand darted to her blazer and pulled a small, black card.
She tossed it on the table. "This is a Ledger Pass. Temporary access to basic Tier I infrastructure—untraceable. It won't keep you alive, but it'll buy you time."
Sykaion picked it up. It felt cold and heavy—wrongly heavy, like the weight of iron dressed in velvet.
"I don't get it," he said. "Why help me now?"
"Because you're not the only one who felt it," she said darkly. "Every major financial sovereign just got a system tremor. The Obsidian Vault's been untouched for over two hundred years. Its return will send ripples through all the Threads."
She turned, walking toward the balcony.
"What happens now?" he asked.
She paused, hands on the glass.
"Now?" she said, not looking back. "They'll come for you."
"Who?"
"Everyone."
With that, she stepped off the balcony—and vanished.
No scream. No fall. Just absence.
> [Auditor-Class Entity EXIT: Recorded]
System Instability: Escalating
Wealth Horizon Event Probability: 41.2%
Next Action Suggested: Seek Shelter | Identify Trusted Entity | Begin Asset Growth
Sykaion stared down at the black card, the feather glowing dimly beneath his shirt.
His mind reeled. Who was she working for? Why did the Coin accept him? What the hell was the Phantom Feather really?
He didn't even notice the sound at first.
A hum. Low. Synthetic.
Then he looked up.
And the walls of the penthouse were melting.
No—that wasn't right. They were shifting, like layers of illusion collapsing inward.
The skyline outside folded into an inverted pyramid. The sun fractured into triangles of glass. And in the center of the room, a man in a suit made of decimal code stepped through the air as if walking down invisible stairs.
His mouth did not move. But a sound flooded Sykaion's mind like stock tickers in a thunderstorm.
"You are the breachpoint. You carry remembered wealth."
Sykaion backed away.
"You will return the balance."
> WARNING: Entity Identified: ChronoBank Revenant
Class: Unknown
Power Source: Temporal Reserves
System Response: FATAL
The man raised a hand.
And Sykaion's world turned white.