Luca woke to the sound of rain gently tapping against the window and the ghostly sensation of a hand gripping his shoulder. He opened his eyes slowly, rubbing them as he noticed the room’s light was dim, almost absent. He reached over to the side of the bed, picked up his pendant, and activated the interface. It was 7 a.m. Still early. He let the pendant drop back onto his chest and lay there, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.

  Rather than reliving the fragments of his dreams—blurry images of shadows and screams—Luca chose to focus on the present. This was his third day on the island. The day before, he’d spent almost entirely in his room, except for a brief outing in the afternoon to grab some food. He didn’t remember much, to be honest. 'Exhausted' was too small a word to describe how he’d felt.

  But today, he was better.

  He sat up in bed and stretched, feeling his muscles protest slightly. His stomach chose that moment to remind him that he’d been skipping too many meals to stay in good health, so he decided to fix that right away.

  It only took him a few minutes to shower, throw on something decent, and leave his room.

  The sky was clear, a blue almost identical to the sea, and the breeze carried the fresh scent of wet leaves and a hint of something else—something salty and familiar.

  It was a nice day.

  Until he sat down to enjoy his Surprise Box and his pendant started vibrating just as he brought the cup of Blue Orange Water to his lips. It was a Pendulum specialty, available only to employees, and Luca was sure it was designed to slightly boost mental stability.

  He pulled the pendant out from under his shirt and frowned when he saw it was a call from the hospital. He accepted it immediately, and a small holographic image of Dr. Parker appeared in front of his eyes. After a brief greeting, the man got straight to the point, his face serious and solemn.

  “Mr. Olson, first of all, I assure you that your brother is in a stable condition at this moment.”

  At this moment. Luca swallowed, feeling a knot form in his throat. “What happened?”

  “I’m afraid I must inform you that your brother had a relapse yesterday. We did everything we could to restart his heart, and we succeeded. We avoided the worst, but…”

  Luca felt the world suddenly pull away, as if he were floating in a cold, silent void. He took a deep breath, focusing on staying present. He’s okay, he repeated to himself, clenching his jaw tightly. “But?”

  “I regret that I have to tell you this, but your brother has been in the same condition for nearly two years now, and despite all our care, we’ve seen no improvement. It doesn’t mean we’ll give up, but, Mr. Olson, you must accept the possibility that… there may not be a next rescue,” the doctor said, looking at him steadily.

  “Don’t say that,” Luca said, struggling to hold back the sudden wave of anger threatening to consume him. “Just… please, don’t give up. I know Shawn is fighting to recover.”

  Dr. Parker sighed, and for a moment, his expression softened. “Of course. We’ll continue to do everything we can for Mr. Shawn.”

  The conversation didn’t last much longer than that. When it ended, Luca felt it was impossible to continue with his breakfast. He buried his face in his hands, taking deep breaths as tears threatened to fall. Helplessness washed over him, a familiar and gut-wrenching feeling that made him feel like the same sixteen-year-old boy who couldn’t save his mother from the Others. Like the same useless older brother, unable to protect his little brother.

  This was supposed to be a new chance. In another world, yes, but similar enough for him to fool himself into thinking it was a fresh opportunity to hold onto what he’d lost. His brother Shawn… he couldn’t lose him.

  No.

  He wouldn’t allow it.

  He rubbed his face hard, letting out a slow breath.

  This wasn’t the time to give up.

  He grabbed the box of flavored water and downed it in one go, feeling a surge of energy—or maybe just determination—rush through him as he finished.

  He needed a chance to talk to…

  His bracelet vibrated suddenly, interrupting his thoughts.

  [Mithras, please report to office D33 as soon as possible.]

  Well, look at that. A “divine” coincidence? Ha. He was willing to take it.

  Luca ran into Tim right at the office door. Literally, he saw him as soon as he turned the corner of the hallway: the other man was standing by the door, arms crossed, with an expression that hovered between boredom and curiosity. It took Luca a moment to realize Tim wasn’t trying to go in. Why? The answer came when he was less than a meter away.

  “—I told you this would happen—”

  That was Michael’s voice, but it sounded strange. Luca couldn’t quite pinpoint what was off about it, but he knew he didn’t like it one bit.

  Tim glanced at him and made a subtle eye gesture toward the door, as if warning him about something. Luca grimaced, but neither of them moved.

  “—it wasn’t specified anywhere. My decision was based on the information I already knew—”

  Luca frowned. That was another voice, female, unfamiliar to him, but laced with a fury that colored every word.

  “A wrong decision, as Myra and Lono can attest.”

  “That’s not fair, Michael. Both of them messed up before I did—”

  Her words turned into a literal hiss, cut off abruptly by the sound of the door slamming open.

  A woman with wavy, wine-red hair stormed out of the office with firm steps. Her face—which could be described as strikingly beautiful in an intimidating way—was contorted with anger. Luca and Tim immediately stepped aside, and the woman brushed past them without even a glance, blind in her rage.

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  Luca was sure he wasn’t imagining the pair of appendages peeking out from her hair.

  “Come in,” Michael called from inside, his voice as flat as ever.

  Feeling like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Luca muttered a “pardon me” before entering. The first thing he noticed was the smell of burnt wood, followed by the marks on Michael’s desk. He winced, imagining the scene that had just unfolded on the other side of the door.

  On the other hand, he was now almost certain about what that woman must have been. There were few characters who had taken that ‘path,’ so the possibilities were limited.

  Tim muttered, “What the hell…?” under his breath, taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

  “I thought you’d take a little longer,” Michael said, leaning back in his chair and crossing one leg over the other. “And I’m still missing people.”

  At that moment, someone else knocked on the door. With a gesture from Michael, three people entered: Sam, aka Liona, looking as normal as ever; a woman with short brown hair and an electric blue jacket, chewing gum nonchalantly; and a tall, stick-thin man who kept rubbing his hands against his clothes as if he were nervous.

  “Nadeene, Liona, Ladon—right on time. Here’s Nagato and Mithras,” Michael introduced them briefly. As the newcomers took their seats—someone had had the foresight to set up enough chairs, or maybe Michael just liked collecting them—the man pressed his ring against the edge of his chair.

  Luca was sure he hadn’t seen him wear that ring before, but he didn’t have time to wonder about it. A hologram spread over the desk, projecting toward them. It was a map of a forest—or at least it seemed so, given the abundance of deep green trees—with a pair of brown mountains in the center. A long, blurry red figure stretched between the forest and the mountains, roughly the size of one of them.

  “This is your next mission,” Michael began. “I’ve taken the liberty of gathering more information on this, as it’s a two-star world. Normally, none of you should be sent to one of these so soon, but we’ve had a slight hiccup.”

  Two stars. Luca frowned, but rather than feeling worried, he was intrigued. He didn’t mind the higher difficulty. In fact, it suited him. If he performed well, the chances of getting noticed would increase.

  “The red zone you see there is an alien spacecraft. The company requires you to retrieve data from the energy core located at the heart of the ship or the fuel processing equipment inside the orange zone. You’ll have only two possible Roles: miners or rangers.”

  Michael paused, thoughtful, before continuing. “The rules are simple. Don’t touch anything that looks alien, don’t let them find you, and do your best to complete the mission within the first four hours.”

  Silence fell over the room after his words.

  “Sorry, but… why is it a two-star world?” Sam asked, leaning forward. “It doesn’t seem harder than our first mission.”

  Michael didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he looked at Nadeene, the woman in the electric blue jacket. “Want to do the honors, Nadeene?”

  “Two-star worlds always end in destruction,” she replied, her voice slightly hoarse, as if she were recovering from a cold. “Finishing within the first four hours isn’t a suggestion.”

  “Exactly,” Michael confirmed, adjusting his sunglasses with a gesture that seemed almost theatrical. “The safety mechanism won’t have time to extract you if you don’t.” His gaze swept over the group, and Luca could feel the intensity of that stare, even behind the dark lenses. “Don’t get complacent. Six out of the ten people we sent didn’t come back.”

  The numbers weren’t encouraging. Less than fifty percent had returned alive.

  Luca had a feeling about what kind of Mystery this was. And if his intuition was correct, they were in serious trouble.

  “Has the safety mechanism ever failed?” Luca asked cautiously. Maybe it wasn’t the best question to ask at that moment, but he knew what could happen on this mission. He wasn’t sure if the others were aware, but it was better they knew.

  Michael didn’t say anything for a moment. The silence in the room was so thick you could’ve heard a pin drop and bounce on the floor.

  “Of course not, man,” Ladon said with a nervous chuckle, breaking the tension momentarily. “Otherwise, no one would dare participate.”

  “Since this is a mission you’re not prepared for,” Michael continued, completely ignoring Luca’s question, “you’ll have the chance to try one of the Collectors’ favorites. Everyone here is already at level one, so you’ll have access to the Junkie Box once you’re inside the Mystery.”

  Each of them processed the information in their own way. Luca hoped his teammates were smart enough to harbor at least a little suspicion. Blind trust had never helped anyone.

  “Junkie Box?” Tim asked, his skepticism palpable.

  ...Well, at least he could count on that guy to have reservations.

  “You’ll see,” Michael dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “Ah. Some of you have just reached level one. Don’t forget to assign your stat points. Don’t do it randomly. One point can make all the difference between surviving and not.”

  Luca had completely forgotten about that.

  “You can do it now. Or you can familiarize yourselves more with the map,” Michael said, gesturing toward the hologram floating over his desk. “You have thirty minutes before they come to get you. Make the most of it.”

  Without much thought, Luca opened his profile from his bracelet, knowing only he could see his stats.

  Considering his Trait and Perk, he had two options: on one hand, increasing his agility would improve his reaction speed, which was no small thing, and it also contributed to his stealth capabilities. But boosting his endurance—essentially his physical resilience and the stat most tied to his overall health—when he was about to enter a world where the chances of being chased by aliens were high didn’t seem like a bad idea either. It wasn’t like he could sit down and rest when there was a time limit, right?

  After some thought, he decided to put his point into Agility.

  Luca had his own plans, after all.

  With that done, he turned his attention back to the map. He wasn’t the only one scrutinizing it—everyone was.

  “Sorry, but what about getting the manual?” Sam asked. “I think it’d be better to have all the information possible.”

  Michael sighed. “It would indeed be the smartest move… but there’s a slight problem. The manual isn’t finished yet. Why do you think I went through the trouble of explaining everything to you?”

  Well. That was… sadly expected.

  Luca turned his attention back to the map. It would be best to memorize as much as he could.