CHAPTER 5 — BLACK MARKET OF FORGOTTEN LIVES
947 Words
The city had two faces.
The one above—bright, controlled, efficient.
And the one below—
Forgotten.
---
“You sure about this?” Kael asked, glancing down the narrow stairwell.
Rust clung to the railings. The lights flickered weakly, barely illuminating the descent into darkness. Somewhere far below, a low murmur echoed—voices layered over machinery, distorted and alive.
Lira didn’t hesitate.
“No,” she said. “But it’s the only place we’ll get answers.”
She stepped down.
Kael followed.
---
The Underlayer
The air changed the deeper they went.
Cooler.
Heavier.
Unfiltered.
By the time they reached the bottom, Cyris-Delta felt like a different world.
Gone were the clean surfaces and controlled systems. Here, the walls were exposed metal and cracked concrete. Wires hung loose like veins. The lights weren’t uniform—they glowed in mismatched colors, powered by stolen energy.
And the people—
They weren’t like the ones above.
They watched.
Careful. Calculating.
Like everyone had something to lose.
Or something to hide.
---
“Stay close,” Lira said quietly.
Kael nodded, though his attention was already drifting.
He could feel it.
The same sensation from the Archive Core.
From the memory.
From the street.
Something in this place was wrong.
---
The Market
They turned a corner—
And the space opened up.
Kael stopped.
“…What is this?”
The underground stretched into a massive chamber filled with movement. Stalls lined the walls, built from scrap and metal, glowing screens displaying flickering fragments of data.
People crowded around them.
Buying.
Selling.
Trading.
Not goods.
Not weapons.
Memories.
---
“This is the Black Market,” Lira said. “Where memories go when they’re not supposed to exist.”
Kael watched as a man handed over a small data shard. The buyer inserted it into a neural port at the base of his neck.
His body went still.
Then—
He smiled.
Not a normal smile.
A *new* one.
Like he had just lived something else entirely.
---
“That’s illegal,” Kael said.
Lira gave a humorless laugh.
“So is half the city right now.”
---
The Truth of It
Kael moved slowly through the market, eyes scanning everything.
Fragments were displayed openly.
Childhood memories.
Combat experiences.
Moments of love.
Moments of death.
“People sell these?” he asked.
“Some do,” Lira said. “Others… steal them.”
Kael frowned.
“From who?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
Then:
“From anyone.”
---
The Dealer
“Looking for something specific?”
The voice came from behind them.
Kael turned.
A man leaned against a stall made of salvaged metal and flickering screens. His eyes were sharp, his expression unreadable.
“You don’t belong here,” the man said.
“Neither do you,” Lira replied calmly.
A faint smile crossed his face.
“Fair enough.”
He studied them both.
Then:
“You’re not here to buy.”
“No,” Lira said. “We’re here for information.”
“That’s more expensive.”
---
The Question
Kael stepped forward.
“We’re looking for unstable memories.”
The man’s expression didn’t change.
“Everything here is unstable.”
“No,” Kael said. “I mean recent. Spreading. Memories people didn’t live.”
That got his attention.
Just slightly.
“…You’ve seen it too,” the dealer said.
Lira’s eyes narrowed. “So it’s here?”
The man gestured around them.
“It’s everywhere.”
---
The Fragment
He reached under the counter and pulled out a small, cracked data shard.
“This came in an hour ago,” he said. “Didn’t come from any registered source.”
Kael stepped closer.
“What’s on it?”
The man hesitated.
Then:
“Something wrong.”
---
“Show me,” Kael said.
Lira grabbed his arm. “Wait—”
Too late.
Kael had already taken the shard.
---
The Memory Hit
The moment it connected—
Reality shattered.
---
He wasn’t in the market anymore.
He wasn’t in the city.
He wasn’t anywhere that should exist.
---
Darkness.
Endless.
Silent.
---
And then—
Screaming.
Not from one voice.
From thousands.
Layered.
Overlapping.
Breaking.
Kael felt it in his bones.
In his mind.
In his identity.
---
The Memory Engine loomed before him again.
Larger.
Closer.
Alive.
---
And this time—
It was not alone.
---
Shapes moved around it.
Not human.
Not machines.
Something else.
Something watching.
---
Kael tried to pull away—
But the memory held him.
Forced him to see.
---
The shapes turned.
Toward him.
---
And for the first time—
They noticed him.
---
Back to Reality
Kael ripped the shard free.
He staggered backward, gasping, his vision snapping back into the dim glow of the market.
The noise rushed in all at once.
The crowd.
The lights.
The voices.
“Kael!” Lira caught him before he fell. “What did you see?!”
He shook his head violently.
“…Not a memory.”
“What?”
His voice trembled.
“That wasn’t a memory.”
The dealer leaned forward slightly.
“Then what was it?”
Kael looked at him.
At Lira.
At the entire broken system around them.
---
“…It was happening.”
---
The Shift
The ground trembled.
Subtle.
But enough.
The lights flickered.
Not like before.
Different.
Slower.
Heavier.
---
Kael’s breath caught.
“…It’s getting closer.”
“What is?” Lira asked.
He stared into nothing.
Into something only he could feel now.
---
And deep within Void-9—
Something that had been watching for a very long time…
Finally began to move.
- Writer
