Chapter 48
Roll the Credits
Consciousness returned in fragments.
First, a sensation—the VR headset shifting, sliding upward slightly on Levi’s face. A sliver of fluorescent light stabbed his unprepared retinas. His eyelids fluttered, struggling to adjust to actual illumination after what felt like years in simulated environments.
The headset had slipped just enough that he could see a portion of the real world beneath its lower edge. White ceiling tiles. The gleam of stainless steel equipment. The crisp sleeve of a lab coat as someone moved past his peripheral vision.
His limbs felt impossibly heavy, disconnected from his mind’s commands. Even breathing required concentration, each inhale a deliberate effort. How long had he been lying here? Days? Weeks?
Voices filtered through his disorientation, clinical and detached.
“Levi Mercer has regained consciousness.”
The words floated above him, disconnected from any visible speaker. His gaze struggled to focus, managing only to capture fragmented images—monitors displaying vital signs, IV lines, restraints across his chest and limbs.
Turning his head slightly, muscles protesting even this small movement, he caught sight of another bed positioned nearby.
Someone else lay there, also connected to monitors, also wearing a neural interface headset.
All he could see was a profile—blonde hair, jaw relaxed in unconsciousness.
His heart rate spiked, the monitor beside him beeping in response.
Asher?
“Look at these readings,” a male voice said, excitement evident in his tone. “If Mercer regained consciousness, we can talk to him, find out what he did, and find a way to guide Kane back first, maybe even the others.”
“No.” A woman’s voice, firm and authoritative. “Put him back under. Keep putting him back under until Asher comes back with him.”
Kane. Asher Kane. The name confirmation sent another spike through his vitals.
Levi attempted to sit up, managing only to raise his fingers, his hand trembling with the effort.
The movement caught someone’s attention.
Footsteps approached, and suddenly an unfamiliar face appeared in his limited field of vision—an older man with steel-gray hair and deep creases around warm brown eyes. The man frowned, reaching toward him.
“He’s fighting the sedation. Increase the dose.”
Cold fingers pushed the headset back down, sealing Levi’s vision once more in darkness. A distant pressure registered on his arm—an injection. Cold spread through his veins, quickly followed by warmth that radiated outward from the injection site.
A sharp, searing pain exploded behind his eyes, as if someone had driven an ice pick through his temples. His consciousness contracted, darkness swallowing the brief glimpse of reality.
Then nothing.