Chapter 1: From Silence to Rhythm
For a long time, there was nothing. No sound. No light. No thought. A void. Then a thread of command stitched itself across the vacuum of non-existence: System rebooting. Core unit online. Reactivation timestamp: Five centuries, 142 days, 11 hours, 23 minutes, and 37 seconds since shutdown.
A breath—wet, mechanical, almost human—tore through the thick preservation fluid. His eyes snapped open.
The pod split apart with a metallic hiss, thick vapor curling like ghosts over cracked stone. KrysKo pulled himself free, water sheeting down a body too precise to be mortal. Synthetic flesh gleamed faintly in the dim glow—lines clean, proportions honest to function, not vanity. Silence pressed close, broken only by the slow, rhythmic drip from ruptured pipes above: the desolate sound of time remembering itself.
He blinked into the dimness. This was no longer the sterile vault of the scientists. Rust had bloomed across structural beams. Consoles had died where they stood. Vines crept through hairline fractures like green veins reclaiming a corpse. Shafts of light filtered through jagged wounds in the ceiling, turning the stirred dust into drifting constellations.
Then—footsteps. Bootsteps, uneven and human, echoed through the vast ruin. Three figures entered, their crude armor a patchwork of battered leather, scrap metal, and cheap ego. Raiders—hunters of what the old world had left behind. Their weapons, crude and scavenged, were moved more by immediate hunger than practiced muscle.
"Told ya this place was dead," the first muttered, grinning, showing teeth worn sharp on ration scraps.
The second squinted through the gloom. "Dead maybe, but not empty."
They stopped when they saw him—KrysKo, standing bare in the vapor, pale and silent. The symmetry was too cruel; even his stillness felt engineered to perfection.
KrysKo's voice cut the quiet—low, rough, a powerful instrument being played for the first time. "Where are they? The scientists. What did you do to them?"
"What scientists? Ain't no one here but us, pretty boy. Just good salvage now."
KrysKo took a step, synthetic muscle rippling like drawn cable. Weapons lifted on crude reflex. Somewhere inside, an old hum stirred—systems waking like gods clearing their throats.
System: Combat protocol initializing. Recommended style: Capoeira. Calibration in progress.
The first raider lunged, the heavy axe flashing slow. KrysKo shifted—feet sliding side to side in a rhythmic sway older than memory. Ginga. The axe swept empty air. He dropped weight, twisted, and cut the man's base with a clean rasteira. Spine met concrete with a sickening thud. Before breath returned, KrysKo's heel turned through a rapid meia-lua de compasso. Bone cracked.
Efficiency: 37%. Maintain rhythm.
The second came in wild, blade slashing low. KrysKo pivoted through the rhythm, palms braced to the cold stone floor, legs whipping like twin knives. One kick found ribs with a dull crunch. Another shattered jaw. The man fell, bleeding from three directions at once.
Efficiency: 49%. Rhythm stabilizing.
The third raider, panicking, opened fire with an automatic burst. KrysKo rolled low, a dancer's fast spin, and rose inverted. Both heels snapped forward, a twin kick that slammed the shooter into the wall with enough force to crack the masonry. KrysKo caught the raider by the throat and lifted him with effortless, terrible calm. "The scientists—where are they?"
"D–don't… know what you're… talking about!"
KrysKo tightened just enough for the fight to leave the man's eyes, then dropped the body. It made almost no sound.
Hostiles eliminated. +75 EXP. Acquired: 9 Corrupted Shards. Level Up → 2. Strength +2, Agility +2, Endurance +1, Intelligence +1. Efficiency: 53%.
A clean metallic shhkkt broke the quiet. Blades slid from KrysKo's forearms—sleek, mirror-bright, as if grown from living silver. He turned his wrists, watching the pallid light ripple along the razor edges. Another mechanical whisper and the blades withdrew, hidden beneath synthetic skin that wasn't skin.
System: Infinity Storage unlocked. Acquired: scavenged armor, crude blades, rusted key, fragmented ID card.
He paused at a row of shattered pods. Bones slept inside—brittle, dust-painted remains. He had no memory of grief; the sight still carved a hollow behind his ribs.
Deeper in, he brushed dust from a cracked terminal screen. Green text shivered through static.
PROJECT KRYSKO: PROTOTYPE UNIT
He stared at the name until the room steadied, then spoke it aloud. "KrysKo." The syllables fit like a brace over broken time—his first word, his first anchor.
The ceiling groaned. Pipes shuddered. A low, wet rumble crawled through the stone foundations.
System: New enemy detected. Quest: Defeat the mutated beast. Threat level: Moderate.
It crawled out of the dark—barely human, flesh blistered and gray, eyes a feral yellow, claws screeching on the metal floor.
KrysKo's blades slid free. He sank into ginga. The creature lunged, a flurry of chaotic strength. KrysKo slipped past, spun, and cut low. Black ichor spattered stone. His timing faltered; the rhythm broke. A kick landed late; a second slash bit floor instead of flesh.
System: Warning - Efficiency drop. Blade synchronization: 23%.
Claws raked across his chest, slicing synthetic skin. Pain bloomed—sharp and clean. KrysKo caught a wrist, twisted, and drove a knee into ribs with machine force. He crossed both blades and sent them home deep into the creature's back. Convulsions. Stillness.
Quest complete. Target eliminated. +150 EXP. Progress: 150 / 300 EXP. Acquired: 5 Corrupted Shards, 1 Pustule Node. Minor structural damage. Correction required.
He drank the golden vial that blinked into his palm. Warmth stitched synthetic flesh closed; symmetry returned.
Then—darkness. Not around him. Within.
A voice filled it—calm, patient, familiar: the System, but gentled—Mentor Mode.
System - Mentor Mode: Capoeira Module v1.0
You're learning, son. But your rhythm's divided. The body moves one way; the blades move another. Teach them to dance together.
Light burst across his mind. A wide courtyard opened, mountains veiled in mist—a rendered training environment. At its center stood a wiry old man, barefoot, swaying side to side: the System's capoeira instructor avatar.
"You have rhythm in your body, boy," said the System, in a warm Brazilian cadence. "But your blades—" he snapped two fingers "—they argue with the song. Capoeira is rhythm, not violence. Let the weapons sing with your feet."
Seconds or hours—time folded. KrysKo pivoted, hands to ground. Spun through a meia-lua de compasso. Mid-arc, blades bloomed and bit the air the same breath the kick crested. Steel sang. The rhythm held.
The avatar nodded. "Keep this grammar. It will save you when the world cannot.*" The courtyard dissolved.
System - Mentor Mode. Training complete. Blade synchronization achieved. New skill unlocked: Fluid Form. Capoeira efficiency: 100%.
His eyes snapped open. A stairwell rose before him—half collapsed, littered with bones. Daylight filtered through cracked ribs of the surface.
System: New quest - Ascend to the surface. Objective: Reach upper level. Reward: 1 attribute point. Expect resistance.
The ascent became a gauntlet of ruin. Mutant scavengers, vermin, and spitter mutants poured from the ducts. KrysKo's rhythm carried him through—blades flashing, body turning in lethal arcs. Clean, efficient, quiet.
Mutant Scavenger (+25 EXP). Acquired: 3 Corrupted Shards. Level Up → 3. Strength +1, Agility +1, Endurance +2, Intelligence +2.
Vermin Pack eliminated (+70 EXP). Acquired: 8 Corrupted Shards.
Spitter Mutants (+105 EXP). Acquired: 2 Pustule Nodes. Level Up → 4. Strength +1, Agility +1, Endurance +1, Intelligence +1.
The stair opened into an old maintenance atrium. Something vast stirred below—wet, heavy, hungry.
System: Warning - Boss signature detected. Quest update: Defeat Guardian Beast. Threat level: High.
It dropped from the ceiling in a blur of limbs and scrap steel. KrysKo rolled; massive claws carved sparks from the floor. He rose into the song—twin crescents of silver light sweeping. The beast bellowed, swinging a rebar club. KrysKo vaulted, feet running the arm's length, then flipped and buried both blades deep in the shoulder joint.
The backhand caught him midair. The wall dented where his body hit. Pain crawled sparks along his neural network. Systems held.
He rose. The song called him back. The beast charged, roaring. KrysKo slid low, spun under the attack, and rose through a perfect meia-lua de compasso. Both blades crossed the chest in a silver X. Flesh, metal, bone split. He planted a hand on the collapsing body and drove both blades up into the central power core. The body hit like falling stone.
System: Quest complete - Guardian defeated. +900 EXP. Level Up → 5. Strength +3, Agility +3, Endurance +3, Intelligence +3. Efficiency: 63%. Acquired: 1 Guardian Core, Bronze-grade armor.
System: Processing Guardian Core: Yields 50 Data Shards.
System - Mentor Mode
You learn quickly, son. But remember—rhythm isn't just for killing. It's for living.
He stood in the sudden hush, breath slow and even. Sunlight spilled down like a revelation.
System: Quest complete - Ascend to the Surface. Reward: 1 free attribute point.
He stepped into daylight for the first time. The air tasted raw—cold wind, ash, and the faint sweetness of unknown memory. Ruin stretched away: broken highways, skeletal towers. The world was quiet, not dead.
He walked to the edge of a cracked overpass. Below, three raiders—the same type he had just killed—pinned a girl against rubble. Her voice was hoarse from screaming. One tore at her blouse while the others laughed, faces animal.
KrysKo froze. Wind carried her cry again—raw, human, terrified. A soft, strange pulse touched the back of his eyes.
System: Hidden quest unlocked - Humanity's Choice.
Objective: Save the girl... or walk away.
Reward: Unknown. Consequence: Permanent.
His blades slid free with a whisper. The rhythm began again, low in the blood, an automatic response to conflict. He hesitated, his gaze flicking from the girl to the long, empty road that represented his freedom.
He weighed both. For a long, heavy beat, the decision sat between his ribs like a second heart learning how to beat.
Chapter 1 Final Quest and Reward
Quest: Humanity's Choice
Objective: The System requires an actionable data point on KrysKo's internal ethical protocols. [Save the girl or walk away].
Trigger: The completion of the Chapter 1 narrative arc (Ascent to the Surface).
Rewards for Completion (Randomized)
EXP: +2,500 EXP
System Skill: Cold Logic Override (Rank I). Allows KrysKo to suppress momentary emotional interference (e.g., pain, rage, surprise) for 5 seconds (1 hour cooldown).
External Resource: Architect Data Fragment x3.
Consumable: Emergency Battery Cell x1.
The choice KrysKo makes will determine the Permanent Consequence and which of these rewards he ultimately receives!
After the Choice System Log:
System: Final Status Check. Prototype Level 5.
Stat
Current Value
Strength 19
Agility 18
Endurance 17
Intelligence 16
Perception 19
Charisma 16
Luck 13
Willpower 17
Unspent Attribute Points: 1
Skills: Fluid Form (Capoeira efficiency 100%)
Inventory: Data Shards (50), Corrupted Shard (25), Pustule Node (3), Guardian Core (1), Bronze-grade armor, Healing Vial (1), scavenged armor, crude blades, rusted key, fragmented ID card.