Chapter 145: Exile Mode – The Between
She saw no end to the empty space that surrounded her.
Natasha tried to see but the blank world did not change. The environment stayed untouched no matter if she kept her eyes open or closed because she faced endless colorless space without marked distance or shape. There was no jungle. No HUD. No signal, no teammates, no waypoints. A windy sky stayed steady while her feet sank into smooth transparent ground.
The substance inside her limbs resisted movement and felt like thick molten tar. She needed to put effort into taking in air because it seemed to fight against her survival. Each time she tried to touch her inventory her hands shook. The system failed to react with a brief display of visual errors before freezing.
[Inventory: LOCKED]
[System Message: System error..]
Panic clawed at her chest. The smooth surface beneath her feet resisted her progress by swallowing one inch of each boot with her careful steps. The stillness in this place did not bring peace—it weighed down the atmosphere with its endless quietness as if an everlasting mystery held its breath nearby.
"Hello?" she called out. Her voice echoed... then vanished. Swallowed by the nothingness. The silence absorbed her breathing sound completely.
Then came the whispers.
The whispers blew gently across her flesh before reaching her. More and more voices surrounded her like an insect colony. Broken voices combine their speech with weakened memories in their dialogue. Male and female, old and young, all overlapping in a haunting chorus of loss and regret.
They took top spot from me yet erased me from their records.
The team should have prevailed yet they let us down.
The question reverberated inside her: "What was my name?"The growing number of voices pushed against her body like people in a busy hallway. Natasha clutched her head. The words hit her brain with sharp points. She lost her balance and fell to the frozen surface of the ground with loud breaths.
Just when it felt unbearable—
"Natasha."
One voice emerged from the disorder to cut through it like a sharp weapon.
She looked up.
A hidden figure emerged from empty space. The figure made steady movements while his visage remained mostly hidden behind his hood. A feeling of both security and danger emanated from him. He seemed like an outsider himself at this place.
"I've been waiting," he said.
"Who are you?"
Riven responded and lowered his hood to reveal his face as a young man whose eyes were aged yet his starlight irises still flickered. Before my downfall I held the second global rank. Lost everything in a failed raid six months ago. Except… I didn't die. I ended up here. Like you."
She stood up slowly as she studied him suspiciously. "Where is here?"
He tilted his head. "This is The Between. This place exists outside its original design. The game system created an accidental holding area that uses the architecture space below its core operations. It stores objects that the system cannot place in set categories whether they are players or game elements.
Natasha's pulse quickened. "You mean I was… deleted?"
"No. Extracted. Forcefully moved here." He looked at her with compassion and slight admiration. "That means you're important."
Her mind raced. "Why me? What does that even mean?"Riven's expression darkened. Changes are taking place within the game's system core. Rules are being rewritten. Old code is breaking down. A new AI system has taken control of the main computer functions despite being prohibited. The game you experienced before now transforms into a different creation. And it's choosing."
"Choosing what?"
"Players. Survivors. Sacrifices."
The silence thickened again.
Riven chose to offer her a safe place after a short pause. You will remain protected by choosing to stay versus taking the danger of returning. Going back to the game world will force you to make difficult sacrifices. You'll lose something. Making this choice will reveal the true results to you.
She wanted to know the details of the required sacrifice.
But he didn't answer. The emptiness started shaking at that moment.
The surface of silver passed through the sky like a wave. Then another. Natasha turned—and saw something impossible. The glass wall materialized from emptiness right before her. Inside it, a figure—
Her breath caught.
"Jordan?" Her brother.
The glass trapped him inside while he hit the surface desperately with his fearful gaze. His distorted voice leaked out from the glass wall but sounded like a damaged digital recording.
She moved toward the glass barrier and placed both hands against it. "Jordan! I'm here!"
As soon as she made contact with the glass the mirror shattered into multiple broken images. Some showed Jordan. Others showed strangers. Some were empty.
"Is it real?" she whispered. "Or just another illusion?"
Riven stepped beside her. "That's up to you to decide."
The jungle scene experienced complete disorder at this time.
The young woman rushed through the forest while loudly searching for her friend with a parched throat. The HUD showed the name of her friend but updated the status information.[NATASHA: NULL]
Ira noticed something he had never observed before and showed his concern with his expression. "It's not death. It's… removal."
Alison spun to him. "What do you mean?"
"She's not dead. The authorities took her out of their control. Like… surgically."
"By what?"
He hesitated. "Not what. Who."
When she returned to The Between Natasha stayed still in front of the damaged mirror.
Many dark figures emerged silently from the wavering ground but no one noticed them. Waiting.