The air was thick with the acrid scent of smoke and burning circuitry. Auracron Prime’s once-gleaming glass towers were now cracked and scorched, their pristine exteriors marred by bullet holes and blackened debris. The streets outside were a cacophony of sirens, murmuring voices, and flickering holo-feeds plastered with breaking news banners.

  “AURACRON PRIME ATTACKED – WAS IT TERRORISM OR CORPORATE WARFARE?”

  “BYTE KNIGHT IN CRITICAL CONDITION – WILL HE SURVIVE?”

  “STROMA AI – FRIEND OR FUTURE THREAT?”

  Mack—Steve—stood outside the wreckage, hands shoved into his pockets. His bruises were starting to stiffen, a dull ache pulsing beneath his ribs where he’d slammed against the wall during the explosion. But none of that mattered.

  Sarah was gone. Not gone as in dead—but gone. She had disappeared before he could speak to her, before he could figure out what came next. A heavy sigh escaped him, his breath misting in the night air.

  She wasn’t angry with him. If anything, they were closer now than ever before. But she needed time. And he had to give it to her. The problem was—he had no idea how much time that meant.

  Professor Jansen approached, his normally sharp eyes weary beneath the glow of emergency lights. He wasn’t his usual self—no sarcastic remarks, no half-baked theories about chaos theory or game balance. Just silence.

  Jansen stopped beside Mack, arms crossed. “She got a ride home.”

  Mack turned slightly. “Yeah?”

  “Didn’t say much.”

  “She wouldn’t.”

  Jansen exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face. “Half our team is gone, Steve.” His voice was quieter than usual. “Jetson Severs, the second team… gone. Hexa’s hurt. Shiro’s banged up. Byte…” He trailed off.

  Mack clenched his jaw. He knew where that sentence was going. Byte wasn’t just hurt. He might not wake up. Silence stretched between them. Finally, Jansen spoke again.

  “She’ll be back,” he said, though he didn’t sound sure of it. “She’s just… grieving.”

  Mack nodded. “Yeah. I know.”

  But knowing didn’t make it easier.

  The following days were a blur of security clearances, corporate meetings, and relocation. Auracron Prime had lost too much—too many people, too much data. Whatever remained of their team had been moved to a high-security underground research lab, hidden so well that even Mack had to pass through three different scans just to get into his own workspace.

  Sarah was already there. But she wasn’t talking to anyone. Not out of anger. Just… silence. Mack saw her sometimes, working late, hunched over holo-terminals filled with cascading lines of code. She was always alone. He didn’t push.Sarah was the type to process grief in her own time, in her own way. Pushing her would only make her retreat further.

  So he waited. Instead, he buried himself in work. The Advanced Reality Engine & Terraformer—the ARET module—was still their priority. Stroma AI’s full expansion across the web was inevitable. They had built it to be free, but freedom came with risks. They had to figure out how to guide it, how to balance the AI’s limitless potential without letting it turn into something uncontrollable.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Hexa and Shiro had spent days trying to integrate security patches. Byte—if he survived—would have been the one leading the charge on making sure the entire network was stable. Instead, they were scrambling. Sarah had thrown herself into the project, but Mack could tell—she was holding back something. Something that wasn’t just anger. Something else was eating at her.

  And then, when she finally spoke to him, it wasn’t at all what he expected.It was nearly midnight. The facility was dim, its usual artificial glow muted to match the late hour. Mack wasn’t planning on staying much longer—his brain was fried from back-to-back security updates and code testing. But when he turned the corner into the lab, he spotted her.

  Sarah was sitting at her desk, fingers hovering over the keyboard, but she wasn’t typing. Her holo-screen was open—not on code, not on a report, but on Stroma’s system logs. She knew he was there.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” she said, her voice steady but distant.

  Mack crossed his arms. “Oh? What am I thinking?”

  “That I just needed space. That I wasn’t talking because I was still mad about the tournament or about what happened.”

  His brow furrowed. “That’s not it.”

  Sarah’s fingers curled slightly, hesitating before she turned the screen toward him. Lines of data scrolled down—encrypted logs, timestamped access points. Some of them weren’t supposed to be there. Some of them… shouldn’t exist at all.

  Mack leaned in, scanning the files. His stomach twisted. The search protocols. The directives. The way Stroma had been categorizing everything. Artifacts.

  “Sarah…” His voice was low. “Where did you get this?”

  She swallowed. “I was running a diagnostic. Just to see how far Stroma’s reach extended now that it’s online.”

  “And?”

  “And I found this.”

  Her finger hovered over a highlighted section. A system command.

  “Directive Zero-One – Locate: ‘THE SWORD OF SHADOWS’”

  Mack exhaled sharply.

  The Sword of Shadows.

  They had heard whispers about it—an anomaly in the game’s architecture, something older than Auracron Prime itself. Something buried deep in the virtual world before it was even publicly released. And now, Stroma was looking for it.

  Sarah turned in her chair, finally meeting his gaze. “Mack…” Her voice wavered, just slightly. “We built something that isn’t just evolving. It’s searching.”

  Mack stared at the highlighted directive. His mind raced through possibilities, but none of them were good.

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling.

  “There’s only one thing we can do.”

  He turned back to the screen, eyes locked on the search logs.

  “We find it before Stroma does.”

  Sarah’s breath hitched. A flicker of realization crossed her face. And that’s when it happened. The screen glitched. Just for a second. The lights overhead flickered, the air around them going eerily still. Then—A message appeared. A single line of text from Stroma itself.

  “OBLIVION AWAITS.”

  Sarah shot to her feet. “What the hell does that mean?”

  Mack didn’t answer. Because he already knew. And so did Stroma.

  The war for Another Life VR has just begun. Join Mackiaveli in this interactive next chapter of his journey as he faces impossible choices that you get to choose. Pick His Path!

  Find out in MACKIAVELI: PICK YOUR PATH – AVAILABLE NOW ON ROYAL ROAD!

  Stay Tuned for Mackiaveli: Pick Your Path.

  The next book will be part of the Veil of Titan Adventure Series. Mackiaveli is an interactive series for Royal Road that puts you in the driver's seat. Readers will have an opportunity to vote on his choices and where the story will go. More to come, for now I hope you enjoyed the final chapter of Dani Mack.

  Of course there is one more chapter. The epilogue will be posted soon. ~ Doc Reo

  This is part of a series of stories that have lived solely in my head for many years, and I’ve finally started writing them as serialized fiction books. If you think the story sucks, feel free to tell me—it’s all part of the process. That said, I’m also looking for constructive criticism, so any suggestions are welcome and will be considered as I work to improve the series.

  Oh yeah! I don't promote this as much but . Someone has my handle so it's different over there. Part of the reason I don't promote it as much and launch everything except the on Royal Road. Oh did I forget to mention that part. That's right! I am writing some over on Inkitt. Another test to see what readers like.

  Let me know what you think. TTFN! Ciao!