Kaelen left the shop wearing the grey cloak. He felt the weight of the box in his bag. It felt like carrying a bomb.
He turned the corner onto the main street and froze.
The crowd had parted. Silence had fallen over the bustling market. Walking down the center of the street were three figures.
They wore pristine white robes with gold trim. Their faces were covered by polished, featureless silver masks. The Inquisition.
Kaelen's heart stopped. [Guide: Do not run. Running triggers predatory algorithms.]
Kaelen forced himself to walk normally. He pressed himself against a wall, pretending to inspect a fruit stall.
The Inquisitors stopped ten feet away. One of them held a device—a golden compass that was spinning wildly.
"Anomaly Detected," the Inquisitor said. His voice was metallic, filtered. "Sector 4. Magnitude 8."
"Source?" asked the second.
"Unclear. The signal is... decayed."
The Inquisitor turned his head. The silver mask reflected Kaelen's face. Kaelen held his breath.
The Inquisitor stepped toward him. "Citizen," the Inquisitor said. "Present ID."
Kaelen's hands shook. He tapped the dampener cloak. A holographic ID popped up. [Name: Joe. Level: 5. Class: Civilian.]
The Inquisitor stared at the hologram. Then he looked at Kaelen's boots. The leather was torn where the Ghoul had slashed him.
"You are injured," the Inquisitor stated.
"Scavenging accident, my lord," Kaelen bowed his head.
The Inquisitor paused. The golden compass spun again, then pointed down—toward the floor, toward Old Tooth's shop in the alley below.
"The signal is moving," the Inquisitor said. (It was the lingering radiation on the screwdriver Tooth had dropped).
"Purge the area," the Leader commanded.
The Inquisitors raised their hands. [Spell: Holy Fire.]
A beam of white light shot past Kaelen, down into the alleyway. BOOM.
Old Tooth's shop exploded. Flames roared up, consuming the junk, the secrets, and the old Goblin.
Kaelen watched, his eyes wide. He wanted to scream. Tooth had saved him five minutes ago. Now he was ash.
[Guide: Emotion detected. Corruption increasing. Calm down, User.]
"Calm down?" Kaelen thought, a cold fury rising in his chest. "They just murdered him."
[Guide: That is the function of the Firewall. To delete bugs. You are the Bug now, Kaelen. If you want to survive, you must become the Malware that crashes them.]
The Inquisitors turned and walked away, indifferent to the destruction.
Kaelen turned the other way. He walked into the shadows. He didn't cry. The Aspect of Decay inside him ate the tears before they could form.