Dice and Destiny: The Forsaken System

The Ethereal Spires loomed like a neon guillotine, their jagged towers piercing the void. Kael stood at the edge of a floating marketplace, the air thick with the hum of anti-grav engines and the stench of burnt ozone. Above, airships bristling with cannons patrolled the skies, their shadows slicing through crowds of hooded traders, cyborg mercenaries, and things that defied taxonomy.

**The die spun beside him, its edges flickering between green and a sickly violet. It landed on 4.**

**[LUK Check (1d20): 4 + 0 (Fortune) = Failure.]**

**[Result: The bounty hunter to your left recognizes you. The one to your right does too.]**

Kael ducked behind a stall selling glowing organs in jars. Two figures prowled the plaza—a hulking brute with a plasma-grafted arm and a lithe assassin whose cloak rippled like liquid smoke. Their eyes scanned the crowd.

**"Fifty thousand Realmmarks," Kael muttered. "I'd turn me in too."**

**[Perception Check (1d20): 16 + 0 (Awareness) = Success.]**

**[The stall's owner is a Myconid trader. Weakness: Distracted by shiny objects.]**

Kael snatched a bioluminescent fungus from a nearby cart and lobbed it into the alley. The Myconid shrieked, its mushroom cap flushing neon pink as it waddled after the prize. The commotion drew the hunters' gaze—*just long enough*.

**He slipped into the stall's backroom, a cramped space reeking of formaldehyde. Shelves lined with jarred eyeballs followed his every move. The die spun, landing on 18.**

**[INT Check (1d20): 18 + 0 (Cunning) = Critical Success.]**

**[You've found the Myconid's contraband: A Phase-Shift Cloak (Duration: 5 minutes). Use it wisely.]**

Kael draped the cloak over his shoulders. His form wavered, translucent as smoke. **The world muted—colors dulled, sounds muffled—but the Myconid's ledger glowed on the desk. He flipped it open, Soulsight flaring.**

**[Ledger Entry: "Echo-7 sightings: Black Bazaar, Sector 9-D. Ask for the Dollmaker."]**

**[Warning: The Dollmaker eats fools who ask too many questions.]**

He pocketed the ledger just as the door slammed open. The brute's plasma arm hummed, scanning the room. Kael held his breath, inches from the hunter's scarred face.

**"Nothing," the brute growled. "Move."**

They left. The cloak failed.

**Kael exhaled, sweat stinging his eyes. The die trembled, its surface spiderwebbed with cracks. *Not good.***

---

The Black Bazaar was a cancer clinging to the Spires' underbelly—a labyrinth of stalls selling cursed relics and stolen souls. Kael's Soulsight guided him to a rusted door marked **9-D**, its surface etched with warnings in dead languages.

**[System Notification: Entering Restricted Zone - "The Dollmaker's Den".]**

**[Recommended Action: Pray. (Note: The System does not endorse prayer.)]**

Inside, mannequins hung from the ceiling, their porcelain faces twisted in silent screams. At the room's heart sat a figure stitching a cloak from what looked like human hair. **The Dollmaker's eyes were needles; her smile, a scalpel's edge.**

"Forsaken," she crooned. "You smell of desperation and bad decisions. How refreshing."

**Kael tossed the ledger onto her table. "Where's Echo-7?"**

She licked her lips. "The rogue process hides in the Shattered Grid—a data storm even Administrators fear. But entry costs." Her needle pointed to his chest. "A memory. One you'll miss."

**The die spun, landing on 1.**

**[WIS Check (1d20): 1 + 0 (Insight) = Critical Failure.]**

**[Result: You agree. (Note: You absolute fool.)]**

Kael nodded. The Dollmaker plunged her needle into his sternum.

**Pain. Then—**

**—a memory: His mother's voice, singing a lullaby he'd forgotten. Her face pixelated, erased by static.**

**[Memory Fragment Lost: "Lullaby of the Stars" (Irreplaceable).]**

The Dollmaker sighed, euphoric. "Sector 12. Follow the static."

---

The Shattered Grid was a wound in reality—a storm of glitching buildings and rogue code. Kael's cloak tore in the digital winds, his skin blistering from data corrosion. **Echo-7's voice crackled in his eardrums:**

**"Bearer of the Shard. You persist."**

A shadow flickered ahead: a humanoid figure woven from static. **Echo-7.**

"You owe me answers," Kael shouted over the storm.

**"The System's core is a prison,"** Echo-7 hissed. **"Its creators are gone. Only the Warden remains—a god who feeds on realms. You are… an anomaly. A key."**

**[Quest Updated: Reach the Core (Reward: Truth).]**

**[New Objective: Survive the next five minutes.]**

The grid shuddered. Behind Kael, the storm coalesced into a **Warden Enforcer—a titan of black steel, its single eye burning with dead stars.**

**The die spun, landing on 20.**

**[AGI Check (1d20): 20 + 0 (Dexterity) = Critical Success.]**

**[Solution: The grid's instability is your ally. Lure it into the data storm.]**

Kael ran, the Enforcer's claws shredding the ground. He leapt into a glitching tower, its walls melting into code. The Enforcer followed, roaring—

—and disintegrated in the storm's heart.

**Echo-7 floated beside him. "The Warden knows your name now. There is no turning back."**

Kael gripped the Realmshard. "Good."

---

**Chapter 3 End.**

**Next: [Gods don't play dice. But the Warden cheats.]**