Rain fell in sheets over a dimly lit tarmac.
Former Tier-1 covert operative Elias Vale crouched behind a service truck, watching an unmarked plane taxi out of sight.
The bitter tang of jet fuel mingled with the scent of wet asphalt as he mentally reviewed the mission parameters.
Extract the package. Leave no trace. Standard op.
Except nothing about tonight had been standard.
A subtle hum pulsed against his skin—the Shimmerskin suit flickered at his wrists, nanofabric misfiring after a long ghost run.
Fourteen hours active was pushing the tech beyond recommended limits.
He gritted his teeth and disabled it manually, fingers finding the hidden command nodes beneath his collar.
"Dammit," he muttered, feeling exposed as the adaptive camouflage powered down.
The rain plastered his dark hair against his forehead, water trailing down his neck.
The mission should have been simple—infiltrate the private airfield, intercept the package during the handoff, extract without detection.
But the intel had been compromised from the start.
Instead of the expected two guards, he'd encountered a full security detail.
Instead of the promised fifteen-minute window, he'd had barely three.
His earpiece crackled. "Nighthawk, confirm extraction."
Elias tapped the comm twice—the signal for mission accomplished.
The small data drive in his pocket felt impossibly heavy for something so small.
Whatever was on it had cost three lives already.
He flexed his fingers, still feeling the phantom resistance of the last guard's throat against his palm.
No choice. The man had seen his face.
A flicker of regret, quickly suppressed. This was the job.
Lightning fractured the sky, and for a moment, the airfield blazed with harsh white light.
Elias counted—one, two, three—before thunder followed, rolling across the tarmac like artillery fire.
The storm was getting closer.
He needed to move.
Taking a deep breath, he prepared to break cover, plotting the fastest route to the perimeter fence.
Then, without warning, something overlaid his vision: floating text, translucent metrics, the shape of a heads-up display—but nothing he recognized from any gear he'd ever used.
Blue light bathed his periphery, statistics and unknown parameters materializing in his field of view.
[SCANNING BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURE]
The text glowed against the darkness of the night.
[NEURAL INTERFACE COMPATIBILITY: 98.7%]
Elias froze, training kicking in as he scanned for threats.
[CALIBRATION IN PROGRESS – INTERFACE DETECTED]
Was this some kind of counter-measure? A security system he'd triggered?
He blinked hard, trying to clear the display, but the text remained, anchored to his vision regardless of where he looked.
His hand instinctively reached for the sidearm holstered against his ribs, taking comfort in the solid feel of the weapon.
"Command, I'm experiencing some kind of visual interference," he whispered into his comm.
Static was his only answer.
A progress bar filled rapidly across his field of view.
[CALIBRATING NEURAL INTERFACE]
"What the hell..."
[ESTABLISHING BASELINE PARAMETERS]
His pulse quickened, a rare sensation of fear crawling up his spine.
[INITIALIZING PLAYER PROFILE]
"Player?" he whispered, confusion creasing his brow.
The world around him seemed to shift subtly—colors becoming more vivid, sounds more distinct.
He could suddenly hear each individual raindrop striking the tarmac with crystalline clarity.
The night air felt electric against his skin.
His senses had always been sharp—a requirement for someone in his line of work—but this was different.
This was enhanced beyond human capability.
[WELCOME TO NEXUS, ELIAS VALE]
The words hovered at eye level, refusing to disperse no matter how many times he blinked.
[CLASS DETECTION IN PROGRESS...]
A strange tingling sensation spread from the base of his skull, radiating outward along his nervous system.
[CLASS ASSIGNED: GHOST OPERATIVE (RARE)]
A flood of information cascaded through his mind—skills, attributes, abilities—terms he recognized from games but now somehow applying to him.
His breath caught as reality itself seemed to recalibrate around him.
[INITIAL STATISTICS CALIBRATED]
[STRENGTH: 14]
[AGILITY: 19]
[ENDURANCE: 16]
[PERCEPTION: 18]
[INTELLIGENCE: 15]
[CHARISMA: 12]
The numbers meant nothing to him, yet somehow he intuitively understood they represented a quantification of his capabilities.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
But how? And more importantly, why?
[TUTORIAL INITIATED]
He shook his head, trying to clear it.
This had to be some kind of hallucination, maybe a side effect of the extended Shimmerskin use.
The suit's neural feedback systems had been known to cause sensory anomalies when pushed beyond operating parameters.
[FIRST QUEST ASSIGNED: ESCAPE DETECTION]
"Perfect timing," he muttered sarcastically.
Headlights swept across the tarmac as security vehicles approached from the terminal.
The earpiece crackled again, more urgent this time.
"Nighthawk, we have a situation. Extraction point compromised. Find alternate route."
Finally, something that made sense.
Deal with the immediate threat now, figure out the hallucinations later.
Elias rose slowly from his crouch, feeling strangely different in his own body.
His muscles responded with unusual precision, as if operating at peak efficiency despite hours of strenuous activity.
The fatigue that had been setting in at the edges of his awareness seemed to have receded.
Whatever was happening, he didn't have time to figure it out now.
He needed to move.
But as he prepared to run, he caught sight of a small icon pulsing in the corner of his vision.
[GHOST WALK ABILITY AVAILABLE]
Curiosity overrode caution.
He focused on the icon, and somehow—instinctively—activated it with a thought.
A wave of coldness washed over him, and the world took on a bluish tinge.
Looking down, he saw his body had become translucent, like living smoke.
Rain passed through him rather than landing on his skin.
"What the..."
[GHOST WALK ACTIVE]
[DURATION: 00:30]
[INVISIBILITY: 87%]
[MOVEMENT SOUND: -95%]
A timer appeared in his peripheral vision, counting down from thirty seconds.
Acting on instinct, Elias broke from cover and sprinted toward the perimeter fence.
His footfalls made almost no sound, even as he splashed through puddles.
The security vehicle passed within meters of him, its headlights sweeping directly over his partly transparent form without the guards showing any sign of noticing him.
He reached the fence—three meters of chain-link topped with razor wire—in seconds.
Normally, scaling it would require equipment or at least significant effort and noise.
But his body felt lighter, stronger, more capable than ever before.
He leaped, hands grasping the metal links, and climbed with inhuman speed.
At the top, he vaulted over the razor wire with a precision that should have been impossible, landing on the other side with the grace of a cat.
[GHOST WALK DEACTIVATED]
His body solidified as the timer reached zero.
The rain once again pelted his skin, but he barely noticed.
Adrenaline and confusion warred within him as he sprinted toward the treeline fifty meters away.
[FIRST QUEST COMPLETED]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 75]
[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: SHADOW STEP]
The text flashed briefly before his eyes as he reached the cover of the trees.
Only then did he allow himself to stop, pressing his back against the rough bark of a pine as he caught his breath.
His breathing steadied almost immediately—far faster than normal.
"Command, do you copy?" he whispered into his comm.
Static hissed in response.
He was on his own.
With careful movements, he retrieved the data drive from his pocket, examining it in the dim light filtering through the trees.
An ordinary-looking device, indistinguishable from any consumer storage drive available in electronics stores worldwide.
Hard to believe people had died for this tiny piece of plastic and circuitry.
Whatever secrets it contained must be valuable indeed.
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: DELIVER THE PACKAGE]
[DIFFICULTY: MODERATE]
[REWARD: 250 EXPERIENCE, SKILL POINT]
The notification appeared without warning, startling him despite his years of training in maintaining composure.
"This isn't happening," he muttered to himself, tucking the drive away securely.
But deep down, he knew it was.
The evidence was literally before his eyes.
Lightning flashed again, closer this time, illuminating the forest in stark white.
Thunder crashed almost immediately after.
The storm was directly overhead now.
Rain streamed down his face as he accessed his mental map of the area.
The original extraction point—a secluded section of rural highway five kilometers east—was compromised.
Protocol dictated he should proceed to the secondary extraction point, an abandoned gas station fifteen kilometers south.
A long trek on foot, especially in this weather.
[SHADOW STEP ABILITY AVAILABLE]
The notification pulsed gently, drawing his attention.
Once again following instinct, he focused on it.
Information flooded his awareness—Shadow Step, an ability that allowed rapid short-range teleportation between shadows.
Limited to line of sight. Consumed energy. Recharged after use.
Perfect for covering ground quickly while remaining undetected.
Elias scanned the forest, noting the deep shadows cast by the trees in the intermittent lightning.
He focused on a particularly dark spot between two massive pines about twenty meters ahead.
Something shifted within him, a sensation like falling yet remaining perfectly still.
The world blurred, and suddenly he was standing where he had been looking, having traversed the distance in an instant.
[SHADOW STEP SUCCESSFUL]
[COOLDOWN: 45 SECONDS]
Disorientation gripped him briefly, a moment of vertigo that passed quickly.
He steadied himself against one of the pines, marveling at what had just happened.
"Convenient," he murmured, already scanning for his next point of transit.
Another shadow, another step.
Twenty meters became forty, then sixty.
Each jump brought a momentary cooldown, but even with those pauses, he was moving far faster than he could on foot.
The forest passed in a blur of shadow and motion.
As he traveled, he tried to make sense of what was happening to him.
Game mechanics imposed on reality.
Abilities beyond human limitation.
An interface only he could see.
None of it made logical sense, yet it was undeniably real.
The data drive weighed heavy in his pocket, and for the first time, he wondered if it contained more than just information.
Could it be connected to these changes?
Was this what made it valuable enough to kill for?
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL 2 ACHIEVED]
[ATTRIBUTE POINT AVAILABLE: 1]
[SKILL POINT AVAILABLE: 1]
The notification flashed brightly enough to momentarily illuminate the forest around him.
Elias paused, sheltering beneath a large oak as he explored this new development.
A menu materialized when he focused on the notification, displaying his attributes and skills in greater detail.
He scanned the list of attributes, considering where to allocate his point.
Perception seemed most immediately useful given his situation.
He selected it, watching as the value increased from 18 to 19.
Immediately, the forest around him came into sharper focus.
He could make out details in the darkness that should be invisible to the human eye.
The rustle of a small animal moving through underbrush fifty meters away reached his ears with perfect clarity.
He could smell the distinct scent of motor oil and exhaust from the highway, still kilometers distant.
Enhanced beyond human limitation, indeed.
The skill point presented more options—a branching tree of abilities categorized under Stealth, Combat, Infiltration, and Analysis.
After brief consideration, he selected "Environmental Awareness" from the Analysis category.
[ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS SKILL ACQUIRED]
[PASSIVE ABILITY: AUTOMATICALLY IDENTIFIES THREATS AND POINTS OF INTEREST IN SURROUNDINGS]
Almost immediately, subtle highlights appeared in his vision.
A fallen branch that might snap underfoot glowed faintly red.
A sturdy tree with low branches ideal for climbing was outlined in green.
In the distance, a moving heat signature—likely a deer—appeared as a pulsing orange silhouette.
"Now that's useful," he murmured, already moving again.
Shadow to shadow, he traversed the forest with supernatural speed and silence.
The rain continued unabated, but it no longer hindered him.
If anything, it provided additional cover, masking what little sound he made.
An hour passed before he reached the edge of the forest.
The abandoned gas station that served as his secondary extraction point lay just across a rain-swept field.
No lights, no vehicles—seemingly deserted as expected.
But his newly enhanced perception detected anomalies.
Heat signatures inside the building—two, possibly three figures waiting in ambush.
Not his extraction team—they would have identified themselves through the proper channels.
[DANGER DETECTED]
[HOSTILE ENTITIES: 3]
[QUEST UPDATE: AVOID AMBUSH]
It seemed the interface was catching up to what he already knew.
The secondary extraction point was compromised as well.
This operation had gone completely sideways.
Elias crouched at the forest's edge, considering his options.
He could attempt to neutralize the hostiles, but without knowing their capabilities or equipment, that presented unnecessary risk.
Better to bypass them entirely and proceed to the tertiary extraction point—a private airstrip thirty kilometers north.
A long journey, but with his new abilities, not impossible.
As he turned to head north, movement on the distant highway caught his attention.
A black SUV with distinctive government plates—his people.
They'd deviated from protocol to find him.
Either things had escalated dramatically, or someone high up was very interested in the contents of the data drive.
New plan: intercept the extraction team before they reached the compromised gas station.
He focused on the furthest shadow he could clearly see, at the base of a solitary tree in the middle of the field.
Shadow Step activated, and he vanished from the forest's edge.
[QUEST UPDATED: RENDEZVOUS WITH EXTRACTION TEAM]
[DIFFICULTY: HARD]
[REWARD: 500 EXPERIENCE, RARE ITEM]
The world had changed for Elias Vale.
Reality itself had been rewritten according to rules he didn't yet understand.
But one thing remained constant—the mission came first.
And right now, the mission was to deliver the package and get out alive.
With newfound power flowing through his veins, he moved through the storm like a ghost.
Tonight was just the beginning.
