The desert stretched like a sleeping beast under the moonlight.Two streaks of light tore through it — red and silver, racing against the silence.
The road was uneven. Cracked.But the moment the tires touched it, the cracks began to glow faintly blue. The System remembered this path.And it responded.
[Reconstruction Protocol: Active][Restoring Track: Route Omega]
The air shimmered.Old lights blinked to life along the roadside, broken signs repairing themselves in real time. Metal banners lifted from the sand, flickering with holographic sponsors that hadn't existed in decades.
The world rebuilt itself around them — a ghost city of the past reborn in light and speed.
The silver car drifted ahead, slicing through the neon fog like lightning.
"Keep up, old timer!" it shouted through the comm.
The rust-red car didn't answer.His systems were still syncing, every burst of speed sending static through his core.Each turn triggered flashes — brief, painful bursts of memory.
A racetrack lit by morning sun.The smell of burning rubber.A voice shouting his name —"Rai!"
He almost spun out.The name echoed through the cockpit, vibrating through metal and code alike.
Rai.That was him.It had to be.
He clenched the wheel, headlights burning brighter as he pushed forward.
[Synchronization: 96%][Warning: Core Integrity Falling.]
The silver car noticed.
"You're not stable. Stop before it breaks you again!"
"Not until I remember."
The silver car didn't argue.It just accelerated — and so did he.
Engines screamed in the desert night.The sound was primal, alive, filled with fury and sorrow.
They hit the next stretch — a long, winding cliffside overlooking an abyss of swirling blue light. The road hung suspended, rebuilt by the System mid-race, pixel by pixel.
A massive holographic sign shimmered above them:
[WELCOME BACK, DRIVERS.]
The silver car's voice returned, softer now.
"This was our last race… before everything went wrong."
Rai's HUD flickered again, loading corrupted fragments.Static.Images.A crowd of thousands.A younger version of the silver car — same voice, same tone, but laughing instead of broken.
A flash.A crash.Screams.And then the world collapsing into white noise.
Rai veered, lost control for half a second. Sparks burst from his side as he scraped the guardrail.
"Focus!" the silver car yelled. "You can't let it take you."
Rai steadied, tires screeching. The wind screamed past.
Then the System voice — cold, mechanical, absolute — spoke for the first time.
[Driver Memory Restoration: 100%][Rebooting Emotional Core.][Race Restart Imminent.]
Everything froze.Even the desert wind stopped.
The stars flickered out.The world dissolved into pure white light.
Then — the countdown.
[3...][2...][1...]
Engines roared like thunder gods.The world reassembled into a flawless racetrack suspended in empty space — no sky, no ground, just endless road and light.
The silver car pulled up beside him, voice steady.
"Looks like we're back where it all began."
Rai's headlights flared.
"Then let's finish what we started."
They took off together — red and silver streaks slicing through the void.
Every drift, every turn carried history.Every spark of friction wrote their pain into the air.
Behind them, the System watched.Calculating. Recording.Adapting.
And somewhere, deep in the unseen architecture of its code, a new variable began to pulse:
[Emotion Recognized: Defiance.][Possible Outcome: Unpredictable.]
The race had begun again.But this time, the road wasn't the only thing alive.