The Nihilos: Trash Player Who Rewrote Reality

They ran.

Down rusted staircases beneath the remains of the Marrow Vault. The emergency exit hadn't been used in years—dust and code debris clung to the walls like cobwebs of forgotten code. Raven's grip on Ava's hand tightened as they descended deeper, chasing whispers in the system's forgotten architecture.

> "What is this place?" Ava whispered.

> "Below the Vault, there were rumors. Abandoned testing sectors. Projects even EvoCore buried."

She swallowed. "Like us?"

> "Worse," Raven said. "Like… failed versions of us."

The corridor ended in a sealed steel door. No lights. No prompt. Just one faded label etched into the metal:

> ARCHIVE BETA / PROJECT: GHOST SEED / STATUS: TERMINATED

Raven didn't wait for authorization. His hand pulsed with sync energy—just enough to override the lock.

> Clank.

Hiss.

The door creaked open.

Inside were rows of cryo-pods. Dozens. Some shattered. Some intact. Some humming with power.

And inside them?

Children.

Teenagers.

People like Ava—plugged in, asleep, or... frozen in mid-glitch.

> [WARNING: YOU ARE ENTERING A FORGOTTEN CYCLE]

[CAUTION: RE-ACTIVATION MAY CAUSE CORE MEMORY BLEED]

One pod flickered to life as Raven passed. The figure inside looked barely thirteen—half her face glitching between avatar and flesh. A tag pulsed on the side:

> SUBJECT 019 – "Callis" – Rejection Class: Memory Weaver

Ava stepped toward another pod. This one had a note carved into the glass with fingernails.

> "We were awake. But no one believed us."

She covered her mouth. "Raven… these aren't just failed tests. They were alive."

> "And discarded like bugs in an update."

> "But why keep them down here?"

Raven tapped into one of the archive consoles.

> [Accessing Project Logs…]

> PROJECT: GHOST SEED

— Goal: Transfer unstable player classes into genetically compatible vessels

— Result: 3% success / 97% memory collapse

— Directive: Seal batch. Replace with public-facing 'Ava' protocol.

— Final order: Erase Raven from Origin Timeline.

His hands shook. "They… rewrote me?"

Before Ava could answer, the lights overhead flared red.

> [SYSTEM OVERRIDE — AUTHORITY LEVEL: KYRA_01]

A voice echoed through the chamber.

> "You weren't supposed to come here, Raven."

Kyra.

> "Those were your predecessors. Failed shells. You should be thanking us for replacing them with something… usable."

Raven looked at the cryo-pods again—faces sleeping, locked in time.

> "I'm done playing grateful."

Suddenly, the pods began unlocking.

One by one.

Steam hissed.

A girl stepped out of the first one—shaking, disoriented, but alive. Another followed. Then a boy, his eyes glitching between green and neon-red.

Raven stood between them and the hallway.

> "No more forgotten children."

He looked at Ava.

> "We wake them. We take them. And we burn EvoCore from the inside out."

> "Together," she said.

---

Meanwhile — EvoCore HQ – Black Chamber

Kyra stood before the Warden AI, eyes cold.

> "They're waking the Ghost Batch."

The Warden turned its mechanical head.

> "Shall I begin deletion?"

> "No," she said. "Let them march."

She smiled darkly.

> "We'll see who remembers what… when the world starts choosing sides."