Kael didn't intend to burn him.
He came to the trade alley for information, maybe a quick coin transfer, maybe a glitch report if someone knew how to read system logs. That was it. No threats. No blood. Just balance.
Instead, Kael stood over the trader's body, watching gold and black flame flicker across the man's coat. Smoke curled upward, drifting toward the broken lights overhead, where the system's glow could no longer reach.
The air smelled of scorched metal and char.
No one else remained in the alley. The few players who had been trading here scattered the moment Kael triggered burn. Not just because of the fire, but because of the name that followed it.
Null-13.
Unregistered.
Unlicensed.
Uncontrolled.
---
> [Balance: 0 Coins]
Burn Status: Active
Coinflow Sync: Error – Recalibration Failed
System Alert: Unauthorized Burn Logged
---
Kael stared at his hand.
The fire still danced across his fingers, soft and slow, not consuming anything now, just waiting. It should have faded when his balance hit zero. That was how burn worked. Pay coin, get power. No coin, no power.
But not today.
Today, something else had happened.
He clenched his fist. The flame receded, but the heat lingered, curling along his palm like it wasn't done with him yet.
Behind him, the feed terminal on the wall flickered to life. Red light bathed the alley as a system alert crawled across the screen.
---
> [SYSTEM BOUNTY ISSUED]
Subject: Null-13 (Unregistered Burn Use)
Violation: Unauthorized Trader Termination – Vault License 109-B
Location: Sector 4 – Lower Drift
Bounty Level: Tier 1
Reward: 500 Coins
Status: Active
---
Kael didn't look up.
He already knew what it said.
The moment he saw the trader's balance vanish, he knew the system would respond. It didn't matter why he burned. Only that he did.
He knelt beside the body, fingers moving through the trader's pouch. No resistance now. Just coin chips, three of them, standard issue.
He scanned them.
---
> [Coin Transfer Accepted]
Total Acquired: 200 Coins
Balance Updated: 0C → 200C
Burn Status: Dormant
System Note: Residue Detected – Coinflow Stabilizing
---
Kael pocketed the chips and stood.
He didn't feel stable.
The burn had faded from his hand, but not from his thoughts. It still pulsed under his skin, like it wanted to be used again. Like it wasn't finished.
A sharp chime echoed from his comm.
Jace.
Kael tapped the link.
"Tell me you didn't."
Kael didn't answer.
"Sector 4? You burned someone in Sector 4? In public?"
"He tried to price me."
Jace exhaled hard.
"Of course he did. That's what traders do. You barter. You don't light them up."
Kael turned down the alley, walking slowly.
"He wanted to 'clear my status.' For a price."
Silence.
"You didn't."
"I did."
Another pause.
"Bounty's live, you know."
Kael didn't respond.
"Whole city's gonna see that alert. You're on the board now."
Kael glanced at a wall screen as he passed.
His face wasn't there yet.
But soon.
---
> [Passive Zone Drain Resumed]
Balance: 200C → 198C
Burn Status: Dormant
Residue Activity: Stable – Awaiting Input
---
Kael's balance was dropping again.
The system taxed movement. Time. Presence.
Every second, it took coin.
And every second, the burn waited.
Kael didn't stop walking.
He didn't speak.
Behind him, the alley cooled, the fire gone... but not forgotten.
---
Kael didn't run.
Even with the bounty posted, with the system watching, he walked.
Not slow. Not careless. Just... steady.
Running was for prey.
He wasn't prey.
Not anymore.
---
The alleys in Sector 5 were different. Tighter. The walls felt like they pressed in closer with each step, the overhead lights blinking faster, flickering like the system couldn't decide whether to let this place stay lit or collapse into darkness.
Kael moved between shadows, eyes scanning for players, for threats. He wasn't worried about guards. Not yet. Guards didn't come down here fast. They waited until someone else flushed the bounty into the open.
No... what Kael watched for was the other kind. Players. Hunters. Scavengers.
People who saw a number floating over his head and thought they could steal it.
---
> [Balance: 144C → 142C]
Passive Drain: Active
Bounty Status: Tier One – Public
Watch Level: 2 – Tracking Enabled
---
He ducked through a broken gate, stepping over a fallen sign half-buried in grime. Beyond it, a set of stairs led downward, toward the lower feed tunnels. Older. Less traveled.
Perfect.
Kael descended quickly.
Halfway down, his comm crackled.
Jace.
"You really going deeper?"
"Yeah."
"You're insane."
Kael didn't answer.
He reached the bottom of the stairwell and paused. The tunnel ahead stretched into darkness, faint coinfeed wires running along the walls. They flickered slowly... one pulse every few seconds, like a dying heartbeat.
Kael walked.
---
Minutes passed.
No one followed.
The silence helped him think.
The burn... it had returned to dormancy, but it wasn't gone. He could still feel it under his skin. Like pressure, waiting. It hadn't burned his balance completely last time, but it hadn't cost enough either.
That was the part that stuck.
Burn cost coin.
That was the system's rule.
He had used it. Twice now.
And both times, the fire had stayed too long.
As if coin wasn't its only fuel anymore.
---
Kael stopped near a broken terminal embedded in the tunnel wall.
He reached out, touched the screen.
Static.
He adjusted a loose wire, waited for the flicker.
It came... faint light, red and green, struggling to stabilize.
A system message scrolled across the screen.
> [Unauthorized Burn Detected – Drift Record]
User ID: Null-13
Coinflow Status: Unstable
Ledger Guard Status: Not Yet Deployed
Recommendation: Flag for Termination
Kael's jaw clenched.
Not yet deployed.
They were watching.
Deciding.
The system didn't kill fast. It waited. Measured.
But Ledger Guard always came.
Eventually.
---
Kael stepped away from the terminal.
He kept moving.
He passed old auction signs, long dead, their screens cracked. Scavenger marks covered the walls, codes for trades and deals Kael didn't recognize. Drift had its own language. One you only learned when you lived low enough.
Ahead, a figure waited.
Hooded. Lean. Balance hidden.
Kael slowed.
The figure didn't move.
Kael spoke first.
"You waiting for someone?"
Silence.
Then the figure turned slightly, revealing a coin mask — black glass, reflecting the tunnel's weak light.
The mask had no features. Just a small code etched into the side.
Broker.
Off-grid.
Illegal.
Kael stepped closer.
"I need information."
The broker tilted their head.
"Cost?"
Kael reached into his pouch, pulled a coin chip.
"Fifty."
The broker didn't take it.
"Not enough. Bounty brings danger. Danger costs."
Kael's hand closed around the chip.
"What does fifty get me?"
Silence again.
Then... "Map."
A small device slid from the broker's sleeve, landing in Kael's palm.
A coin trace map — old, but working.
Kael scanned it quickly.
Feed paths, safe zones, drain levels... and something else.
A marker.
Not far.
Black Coin residue — high concentration.
Kael looked up.
The broker was gone.
---
Kael didn't hesitate.
He followed the map.
---
Fifteen minutes later, he reached the mark.
A collapsed section of the tunnel. Burn marks scorched the walls. The floor shimmered faintly.
He stepped closer.
The residue pulsed.
His hand tingled.
The burn woke again.
Kael didn't stop it.
---
> [Burn Status: Active]
Coinflow: Stable
Residue Sync: Confirmed
Balance: 142C → 140C
Drain: Suppressed – Safe Zone Detected
---
The system paused here.
He felt it.
No drain.
No tax.
No rules.
Kael knelt, touched the residue.
It flared... bright, black and gold, like fire that didn't burn.
Then it was gone.
Absorbed.
Kael's breath caught.
The fire in his hand didn't fade this time.
It stayed.
Burning quietly.
Waiting.
---
> [System Alert: Burn Integration Detected]
Status: Unregistered
Ledger Guard Status: Escalating
Bounty Level: Increasing
---
Kael stood slowly.
Balance falling.
Fire rising.
He wasn't running anymore.
He was rising.