"Come on, come on, come on... load, damn it."I smack the side of the extended reality helmet like that'll help. It doesn't—but it makes me feel a little less useless.The clock says 18:56. The tournament starts at 19:00. And I'm still fiddling with the suit settings like I'm plugging in an old blender. Federica is going to kill me.
"Therbo, did you calibrate the input lag?""Delay of 0.24 milliseconds, sir. Ideal for combo execution and evasions.""Perfect. I cannot lose to a bunch of kids with shiny avatars and names like 'xDarkSniperXx'. That would be humiliating."
The visor lights up. The virtual arena appears in front of me, floating like a glass stadium over a futuristic city. In the center, my avatar: Malikova, stealth mode. Hood up, dual daggers, level 59. A fan favorite. And unbeaten for two years straight.
"Let's break the rankings."I settle in, take a deep breath. My stomach's a mess, but not from nerves. It's that feeling. The one that creeps in just before Chronovelo drags me back to its circus with no tickets.
Please, not now.
I was mid-chase when the screen went black."Urgh, perfect," I muttered, pulling off the XR helmet.
The room lit up in soft blue. I was back in the private office Federica and the tech team had set up for my big matches.
"Argh... whatever. This is interesting too."
========
"Flash!" I yelled, leaping off the edge of a bridge. Three giant orangutans were barreling after me with all the grace of a military stampede.
"I only entered your territory by accident!" I shouted while swimming toward the shore, as if they cared.
It's been three months since I entered this world that, for lack of a better name, I've dubbed Chronovelo. Yeah, it's a cheap mashup of Chrono (time, in Greek) and velo, like a veil or layer over the real world. Sounds nerdy. I love it.
By now, I'd explored about 70% of the city. I moved more confidently, knew the safe zones, and which things not to stare at for more than three seconds. But that wasn't the point. The point was I'd finally made it to the edge. The border. The end of the map, like in an unrendered sandbox.
The bridge of solar rails. If I could cross it, I'd officially be outside Velmont City—Chronovelo version.Spoiler: I didn't cross it.I crossed paths with the orangutans.
Now, as I hung my wet clothes on a rusty railing, I didn't let my guard down. I'd learned that in Chronovelo, the second you blink, something tries to eat your soul.
Then I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye.A humanoid figure. Standing, maybe twenty meters away.
"Who are you?" I shouted, spinning around, muscles tensed.No response.They just stared at me, raised one arm... and flashed.Used my ability. Exactly. Precisely. Then vanished like it was nothing.
I stood there, soaked, half-naked, and completely baffled."So apparently... I'm not the only human here," I muttered, drying my hair with my shirt, trying not to spiral into paranoia.
I dressed in record time. Damp pants, shirt inside out, one boot unbuckled and the other foot in a dripping sock. Whatever. I wasn't about to lose sight of that person. Not after what I just saw.
"Hey! Wait! I saw that! I can flash too, so stop being all mysterious!"
I ran like my life depended on it. Maybe it did.The figure moved ahead. Not exactly running—more like gliding through rusted structures and cars frozen mid-time. I followed as best I could, dodging debris, leaping over crumbling walls, panting like I was escaping a math test.
We passed what remained of the shopping district, through a flooded zone where neon signs floated lifelessly, and finally into the industrial sector, where the air reeked of burnt cables and ancient grease.
"Who are you?! I saw you use my ability! That's not normal!"
She didn't answer. Just glanced back now and then with her head tilted, like she was deciding whether I was worth letting catch up. Spoiler: apparently not.
Then she turned sharply and vaulted over a railing."No, no, no..." I muttered. "Don't go that way."
On the other side was District 9-D. Grey Zone. Filled with creatures that even the predators avoided. Not officially "forbidden," but I called it the part of the map that wants you dead.
I ran to the edge and saw her in the distance, moving casually through the ruins devoured by vegetation.
"Hey! Stop! That zone is hostile! You're walking into a literal living biological trap! There's a centipede with a bear's head down there!"
She didn't even flinch. Crossed the border like it was just a school hallway.I stood still for a few seconds. Hesitating.
"Great..." I huffed. "First hint that I'm not alone in this place, and it's a suicidal caped enigma."
I looked around. I needed something. A weapon. If I was going after her, I had to be ready.
I spotted a long, thin pipe hanging from the railing. Loose and rusted, like everything else here. But something about the shape... it'd do. Not elegant, not balanced—but it had potential.
I grabbed it. Weighed it in my hand.This wasn't the first time I'd been in this situation.
A month ago, some damned wolves with beetle shells cornered me. Literally. Eight legs, two jaws, zero chill. I had no spear, no rocks, nothing useful. Just a pair of thick cables dangling from a power box.
And out of desperation—or stupidity—I tried what I now call my second ability.
I channeled that weird energy Chronovelo had planted in me. That feeling like a clock without hands beating in my chest. I don't know how I control it. I just feel it, direct it, and boom. Like an instinct I learned somewhere.
That time, the cables lit up with a silver-gray aura, vibrant, like smoke that wasn't quite gas. When I touched them, I knew they were different. Harder. Sharper. More... real.
And with that, I scared off a pack of monsters that would normally shred steel like butter.
Now, with this pipe in hand, I did the same.I breathed. Focused on that pulse. That heartbeat.
The energy flowed down my arms, through my fingers, and the pipe responded.A thin gray mist enveloped it, trembling slightly. The metal tensed. Stretched. Didn't change shape, but I knew it could now cut more than just branches.
I swung it. The sound it made was different. Cleaner. More dangerous.
"Perfect," I muttered. "An improvised temporal spear. What could possibly go wro—"
I didn't even finish the sentence.I was already sprinting after the mysterious suicide queen, crossing into hostile territory.