✦ The Escape ✦
Riven ran through the dark hallway, his boots hitting the cold metal floor. His heart thundered in his chest. His clothes were torn, and blood dripped from his arm.
Behind him, the alarms hadn't gone off yet.
That was strange.
The lab should've been crawling with guards, cameras, and laser traps. But something was wrong.
Or maybe...
Something was finally right.
Riven didn't know how, but he had escaped.
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ Three Hours Ago ✦
He was strapped to a table in a cold, white room.
"This is your final test," one of the scientists had said.
"After this, you'll be perfect."
They pushed something into his veins - a glowing blue liquid.
The pain was worse than anything he'd ever felt.
His vision blurred. His ears rang. He screamed -
"AAAAAGHHHHHHH!!"
Then-
Time slowed.
The guards froze.
The clock on the wall paused.
Even his heartbeat... stopped.
He didn't know what he'd done.
But he had escaped.
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ Now ✦
He was running.
And he wasn't alone.
Riven, can you hear me?" a girl's voice crackled in his ear.
It was Liora - the AI embedded in his neural chip. Not human. But still... the closest thing he had to a friend.
"You're almost out! Just take the next hallway to the left!"
"Got it," he panted.
"Also, fun fact: I hacked their cameras using a broken laptop and leftover pizza sauce."
Riven chuckled through the panic.
"You're insane."
"Yeah, but I'm the good kind of insane."
Then-
"THERE HE IS!!"
Shouting. Lights. Guns.
The soldiers had found him.
Riven raised his hand - blue symbols glowed faintly on his skin.
He focused.
The air shimmered.
Everything slowed.
He moved - faster than ever.
The soldiers were statues.
He slipped past them like smoke.
But the more he used this power, the more it hurt.
His head throbbed.
His nose bleed.
Memories flashed.
A lab full of children.
Screams.
A boy standing still in the chaos.
Dante.
---
Dante had been his best friend.
Now, he worked for the ones who did this to him.
Dante had powers, too.
But unlike Riven -
Dante had stayed.
---
"Riven," Liora's voice returned. "You're almost there. I unlocked the east door. Just keep moving!"
"Thanks, Liora."
"And please don't die. I spent WAY too much time breaking their firewalls."
"I'll try not to."
"Also... you NEED a cool name. Like Time Ninja. Or Chrono Cat."
"PLEASE STOP."
-----------------------------------------------------------
He BURST through the final door.
The cold wind hit his face. The mountain lab behind him was swallowed by darkness.
Finally -
Alarms began to ring.
Dozens of drones launched into the sky - blinking red lights closing in.
They were coming.
And somewhere in the dark...
Dante was watching.
---
Riven didn't stop.
He had escaped - but it was only the beginning.
He didn't know where he was going.
He didn't know how long he had.
But he knew one thing:
"I WILL NEVER GO BACK."
(•_•)💥
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ Shadows in the Smoke ✦
The city was still asleep when Riven slipped through the alleyways - a ghost in a broken world.
His coat flapped behind him, shadows clinging to his steps. Neon signs flickered, half-dead cafés hummed like forgotten songs.
The ground smelled like rain and burnt wire.
"They're already looking for me..."
He paused at a cracked mirror.
His reflection was warped.
Hair wild. Eyes hollow.
A mess of bruises and old blood.
"You look like a rejected anime protagonist," a voice said in his ear.
"Lioraaa. Not now."
"But it's TRUEEE! Broody stare, tragic backstory. You'd totally be the guy fans argue about on forums."
"I'm being hunted."
"EXACTLY. That's peak Episode 2 energy!"
"You're lucky you're just a voice in my head."
He smirked faintly.
She wasn't wrong.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Any sign of agents?"
"Scanning... yep. Two freelancers, southbound. You've got fans, TIME BOI."
"Stop calling me that."
"Okay, CHRONO-BOI?"
"Liora..."
"Fine. Mister Edge Lord of the Temporal Realm."
"I swear I will shut you off."
"You TRIED. Your brain nearly fried. Face it - you're stuck with me. Like a clingy anime sidekick."
(•_•)✨
-----------------------------------------------------------
He turned a corner-
A child. Standing alone. Maybe 8yr. Hoodie too big. Eyes too wide.
Behind him-
TWO SOLDIERS.
Black armor. Pulse rifles raised.
"Target acquired."
"Step aside, kid."
The child... stepped away silently.
Riven acted without thinking.
Time bent.
Tic.
His hand glowed.
Tic.
Everything slowed.
Tock.
He vanished.
And reappeared behind them.
One rifle twisted out of a soldier's hand. The other was flung into a wall.
THUD.
CRASH.
Time resumed.
The agents hit the ground.
The kid stared.
"COOOOOL..."
"You okay?" Riven asked, kneeling.
"Are you a hero?"
He hesitated.
"Ahh!! Noo. But I'm trying to stop the bad guys."
"That's kindaa the same thing."
Liora's voice buzzed in his ear.
"Reinforcements coming. MOVE, TIME LORD."
"STOP. CALLING. ME. THAT!!"
-----------------------------------------------------------
From a rooftop far away...
Dante watched.
His red eyes glinted.
"He's changing."
"Should we engage sir?" an agent asked.
Dante's lips curled into a smile.
"Not yet. Let him run. The longer the chain... the louder the snap when it breaks."
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ The Girl with the Umbrella ✦
Rain fell.
Not the soft kind -
the dramatic, anime kind, like the sky was crying for someone it couldn't save.
Riven walked through the city with his hood up, slipping between crowds like a ghost. Nobody noticed him. Nobody cared. Another tired kid in a hoodie.
But inside, he was breaking.
His ribs ached.
His blood still ran hot.
His heart?
Getting heavy.
"Liora..." he whispered under his breath.
"Yeah?" came the soft voice in his ear - familiar, warm.
Liora - the rogue AI living inside his neurochip.
She was supposed to be a tool.
Instead...
She became his only real friend. (•_•)🤖💬
"How long can I keep running?"
Is there any pause...
"As long as it takes, Riven.
But maybe... you don't have to run alone."
Before he could answer - someone bumped into him.
A girl.
She dropped a notebook and quickly scooped it up.
She was... unusual.
Black dress.
White umbrella.
Big glasses over sharp, curious eyes.
Not scared.
Not surprised.
Just watching him.
"Sorry," she said politely. "You okay?"
"Yeah..." Riven replied, surprised. "I'm fine."
"You look like someone who hasn't slept in days."
He cracked a faint smile.
"Accurate."
" Your Name?"
"...Riven."
She tilted her head, amused.
"That's either very cool... or very suspicious."
"You?"
"Liora."
Riven froze.
"Wait - WHAT?!"
The girl laughed softly.
"Not your Liora. That's just what people call me.
Short for something longer."
"Okay, NOW I'm confused," Liora-AI chimed in his mind.
"Who is this girl using my name?
I SMELL PLOT TWIST."
Riven barely had time to reply.
A CRASH echoed from the nearby alley.
Metal flew through the air.
People screamed.
A massive figure stepped into the street.
Gas mask.
Armored arms.
Eyes like scanners.
A hunter.
"TARGET LOCKED," it said in a robotic snarl.
"RIVEN. ORDER: CAPTURE."
Riven sighed.
"Of course."
The girl beside him didn't move.
She calmly closed her umbrella.
"You gonna fight? Or should I?"
"...Huh?"
"I've seen that look before," she said.
"You don't want to hurt anyone.
But you're tired of getting hurt."
She stepped forward.
Before Riven could stop her -
The hunter charged.
FAST.
Too fast.
Riven raised his palm - sigil glowing - and slowed time.
Only for a second.
"He's jamming your time field," Liora-AI said quickly.
"That tech is expensive. Someone REEEALLY wants you back."
The hunter swung.
Riven dodged. Rolled.
Countered with a strike -
CLANG.
It was like punching a truck made of hate.
"Any ideas?" he grunted.
"Yup. RUN. Then cry later."
"Super helpful, thanks."
But before Riven could flee -
The girl moved.
She tapped her glasses.
Her eyes - glimmered with purple light.
Then -
BOOOOM.
A flash of purple energy hit the hunter dead in the chest.
He flew backward, smashing into a concrete wall.
Silence.
Riven blinked.
"...Okay. You are DEFINITELY not normal."
She gave a small smile.
"I'm not your enemy, Riven. But I am watching you."
And then -
She vanished.
Just like that.
No sound.
No trace.
Only a broken umbrella remained on the ground.
"Liora..." Riven whispered.
"Yup?"
"That girl... what WAS she?"
"Honestly? No clue. But one thing's clear -
you're not the only strange one anymore."
Riven looked up at the sky.
Rain kept falling.
The game was changing.
And he wasn't sure he was ready.
(•_•)☔✨
---
✦ Whispers Behind the Mask ✦
It had been hours since the girl with the umbrella vanished.
Riven now sat in the back of a forgottenlibrary, hidden deep in the lower districts - a place where the drones didn't fly and the satellites never looked.
The air was stale.
The lights flickered.
And silence pressed against his skin like a second coat.
He flipped through a book without reading a word.
His mind was a mess.
Who was that girl?
How did she know his name?
And that power...
It felt like she knew him better than he knew himself.
"Want me to file her under Mysterious Potential Ally," Liora said in his head,
"or Possible Spy Girlfriend?"
"NEITHER," Riven muttered, frustrated.
"Okaaay, edgy. You're definitely spiraling. Classic MC move."
He groaned, closing the book.
"I'm not spiraling."
"Uh, you're sitting in a haunted library, muttering to yourself, soaked in rain, full tragic stare mode activated - yeah, you're spiraling."
(•_•)💢
Before he could roll his eyes again -
the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then - a voice.
Low. Calm. Cold.
"You shouldn't be here."
Riven stood instantly, muscles tensed.
From the corner shadows -
a man stepped out.
Tall.
Wearing a dark coat.
Face hidden beneath a black mask with no mouth. No expression.
Just two glowing eyes, like they remembered every mistake you ever made.
And Riven could FEEL it -
This man was dangerous.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ⚠️
-----------------------------------------------------------
The man didn't draw a weapon.
He didn't need to.
He tossed something onto the table - a small disk that lit up with a soft hum.
A projection blinked into life:
A list.
A file.
A red name at the top.
RIVEN.
STATUS: RUNAWAY
THREAT LEVEL: CLASS-A
BOUNTY: UNLIMITED
Riven's jaw clenched.
"What is this?"
"Your new reality," the masked man replied, voice like cracked ice.
"You're the most wanted runaway in the world now."
Riven stared at the flickering hologram.
"I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS."
"You used your power," the man said.
"Now they fear you. And what they fear - they hunt."
Riven stepped forward.
"So what - you're here to bring me in?"
"No," the man said quietly.
"I'm here to give you a choice."
A beat of silence.
"You can keep running. Hiding. Watching people like that girl suffer because of you.
OR - you can learn to fight back. PROPERLY."
Riven narrowed his eyes.
"And what's the catch?"
"There isn't one," the man said.
"Just truth: Power without control isn't strength.
It's a bomb waiting to explode."
Then he turned and walked away - cloak trailing behind like a ghost.
But before leaving, he added:
"I won't offer again."
Then - gone.
Just like that.
Riven stood in the cold again, staring at the list still glowing beside him.
His name.
At the top.
Hunted. Labeled. Feared.
He clenched his fists until his knuckles went white.
"I'M DONE RUNNING." (•_•)🔥
"There it is," Liora said proudly.
"That was your full anime resolve moment. Super satisfying.
Now, cue training montage?"
"You're enjoying this too much."
"Of course. I'm built to enjoy chaos. And upgrades."
Riven gave the smallest, tired smile.
Maybe she was right.
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ Elsewhere... ✦
A sleek control room deep underground.
Red light.
Glass walls.
Screens watching everything.
Dantestoodstill, eyes on the feed showing Riven in the library.
He watched without blinking.
Studied every move.
Listened to every word.
"He's getting stronger," said a man behind him.
Dante didn't turn.
Didn't speak.
Just... stared.
"Shall we deploy Unit XIII?"
Pause.
Then -
A quiet, cold smile.
"Yes," Dante said.
"Let him keep running.
Let him think he has a chance.
And then..."
His red eyes gleamed like coals.
"We snap the chain."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Somewhere far below them...
A door unsealed.
A hiss of frozen mist.
A roar like metal being torn in half.
Unit XIII was waking up.
And it wasn't human anymore.
(ಥ﹏ಥ)🔒💀
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ Scars Don't Fade, They Echo ✦
The metro station was dead quiet -
A graveyard buried beneath the city's heartbeat.
Riven stood in the center of it, shaking.
His coat was torn.
His skin burned from power surges.
And his breath came out in short, ragged bursts.
He reached out with a trembling hand.
Focused.
A rusted beam started to fall from the ceiling -
And froze mid-air.
Just for a moment.
Then his nose bleed.
His head throbbed.
CRASHHH!
The beam slammed down.
He dropped to one knee, gasping.
"Okay," Liora buzzed in his ear, "new rule: No time-stopping on an empty stomach and four hours of sleep."
"I'm fine," Riven groaned.
"Says the guy BLEEDING FROM HIS EYEBALLS.
Look at you. You're like a sad time wizard version of a traffic accident."
(•_•)💀
-----------------------------------------------------------
He stood up slowly, wiping blood from his mouth.
The glow from his sigil dimmed.
"I HAVE to keep training," he muttered.
"If I don't-"
He stopped.
Because he didn't want to say the name.
Dante.
Liora went quiet too.
Even her sarcasm couldn't cover this one.
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ The Footsteps ✦
Then he heard it.
Metal dragging against metal.
Chains.
Steps.
Breathing that didn't sound human.
Riven turned fast -
instinct flaring like fire.
From the shadows stepped a towering figure.
Steel arms. Heavy boots. Blue lines of flickering energy across its skin.
No face - only a smooth white mask with a faint pulse behind it.
Unit XIII.
"...Liora?" he said quietly.
"Yeah, uh... BAD news. That's Unit XIII.
The one they kept locked in Sub-Level 9.
The thing they couldn't fix, so they turned it into a ghost."
(╯°□°）╯︵ ☠️
The creature let out a deep, glitched growl.
Then it charged.
Riven barely jumped back as claws tore through where he'd just stood.
"NOPE NOPE NOPE," Liora panicked.
"This thing is immune to basic time fields! DO NOT TRY TO PUNCH IT."
But he already had.
CLANG!
His fist hit the creature's ribs.
It didn't even flinch.
Riven grunted, rolled, summoned the field -
timeslowed - just for a flicker.
He moved behind it.
CRACKK!
A pipe to the back.
Still nothing.
Then the creature paused.
And... stared at him.
A flood of broken memories slammed into Riven's mind:
A boy in a chamber.
Silver hair.
Tears.
Screaming.
"Please... PLEASE don't erase me..."
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ She Returns ✦
Suddenly -
A soft voice behind him:
"You're connecting to him."
Riven spun.
It was her.
The girl with the umbrella.
Only now she had no umbrella - just a hood and sharp, shimmering eyes.
"You again?" he gasped.
"What are you?"
She tossed something at him.
A memory orb.
Bigger than the last.
Glowing a soft, eerie purple.
"This will help," she said.
"But only if you let it."
"Wait-who ARE you?!"
"Call me Echo."
The creature roared.
It was coming again.
But Riven didn't run.
He slammed his palm on the orb.
His sigil lit up.
The world bent.
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ Inside the Mind ✦
White space.
Chains.
A boy on the floor, trembling.
His name hovered in the air:
KAEL.
He looked up.
"Are you one of them?"
"No," Riven said quietly.
"They used me too. But I got out."
"They made me a weapon..."
"Then I'll help you remember your name.
And take it BACK."
The chains shattered.
Kael's voice echoed through the mindscape:
"I REMEMBER NOW."
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ Reality Snaps Back ✦
The masked beast stopped.
Collapsed.
Breathing.
Alive.
Its mask cracked -
a single eye showing underneath.
Kael.
Riven dropped beside him, exhausted.
"He's one of us," he whispered.
"They twisted him... but he's not gone."
Liora sounded stunned.
"I... didn't think that was possible."
(ಥ﹏ಥ)
Riven held the orb in his hand.
It was glowing again.
"There are more like him," he said.
"I can feel it.
They buried their memories.
But I can bring them back."
-----------------------------------------------------------
✦ Elsewhere ✦
Dantewatched.
The monitor showed Kael, unconscious beside Riven.
The orb pulsing in the boy's hand.
He said nothing.
He didn't blink.
A tech behind him cleared their throat.
"He's growing stronger. Should we-?"
"No," Dante said.
"Let him keep playing hero.
Let him believe he's saving them."
He turned toward a dark chamber lined with glowing red orbs.
"Because every time he wins...
he comes closer to remembering what we did to HIM."
His voice dropped to a whisper:
"And that's when he'll finally break."
---------------------------
✦ Author's Note ✦
He escaped the lab.
But the past isn't done with him yet.
(•_•)⏳