"We are lost!"

"No, we are not!" Jude squinted, glancing down the row of vivid yellow buildings. “This street wasn’t that blindingly yellow before, right?” He muttered, frowning.

Lucy tilted her head, eyes scanning the tops of the buildings as if hoping for a familiar outline. “The scanner was right in front of this big glass building... like a mall or something,” she murmured, stretching on tiptoe as if that might help spot the landmark through the maze of colours.

Jude quickened his pace, glancing over his shoulder at Lucy trailing behind. “A mall’s huge. We should’ve spotted it by now.”

They rounded a corner, where the buildings abruptly shifted from glaring yellow to an odd shade of green.

Lucy let out a frustrated huff, dragging her feet. “There’s no way we walked this far last time,” she grumbled, glancing around as if hoping a landmark might magically appear.

“If this place is a real city, there’s gotta be a map somewhere… like a city guide or something,” he muttered, more to himself than to Lucy.

“Like that one?” Lucy pointed, her eyes lighting up as she spotted a glass information panel down the block.

They hurried over to the panel, but the screen stared back at them, dark and lifeless. Jude tapped it, hoping for a flicker. Nothing.

Lucy held up her walkie-talkie, her thumb hovering over the button. “Think we should ask Laz to give us a little boost?”

Jude sighed, glancing around at the endless maze of unfamiliar streets. “Yeah... unless we want to keep wandering in circles.”

Jude watched the deserted streets, a gnawing unease twisting in his stomach as he admitted, “Princess, I think we’re... we’re actually lost.” The words left a bitter taste in his mouth, an unease settling deep, gnawing and inexplicable. He couldn’t place it, but something about admitting they were lost felt like a warning.

Lucy pressed the button on her walkie-talkie. “Lazaro? Can you hear me? We’re... kinda lost. Again.” Static crackled in response, making them both wait a beat longer than they wanted.

The static buzzed before Lazaro’s voice crackled through, laced with a mocking tone, “Of course you are, Pink Princess. How’s that ‘easy peasy’ plan holding up?”

Lucy rolled her eyes, her sigh loud enough to cut through the static. “Yeah, yeah, we’re lost. There’s a map, but it’s dead. Think you could, y'know, flip the switch and give us a hand?”

Lazaro’s laugh crackled over the line, mixed with a bit of a cough. “Oh, right. Forgot how this place is like a bad acid trip through a rainbow maze. Hold tight."

Lucy groaned, glancing at the familiar buildings they’d passed three times already. “We’re literally just circling the same blocks.”

“Alright, alright—left to right, down, down, down… up, and—”

A soft buzz hummed through the air, breaking the eerie quiet around them. One by one, dim lights flickered to life, casting faint glows along the street. Then, the map in front of Lucy and Jude blinked to life, vivid colours and lines spreading across the glass. In the centre, a large house icon gleamed, labelled “The Great Bazaar.”

Lucy squinted at the map, tracing her finger along the glowing lines. "Looks like we're back on track," she said, more to herself than Jude. She raised her walkie-talkie. "Thanks, Laz. We’re good now. You can turn it off."

A faint chuckle crackled through. “Copy that,” Lazaro’s voice replied, fading into static as the map’s lights began to dim, one by one, until they were left in silence again.

A low, guttural growl rippled through the air, sending a chill down their spines. Jude and Lucy turned, moving slowly, their breaths caught in their throats.

There, looming behind them, stood an Eidolon—its figure familiar yet unmistakably altered. Its scales were different, lacking the usual ominous smoke, shimmering with an unnatural, too-real sheen. Eyes gleamed with an intensity that seemed almost… alive.

Lucy swallowed. "What... is that?"

Jude’s muscles tensed, his instincts clashing. His mind raced, trying to reconcile the unsettling sight with every encounter he’d had with Eidolons before—peaceful, even helpful creatures. But this one… this one was different.

“It’s fine,” he muttered, mostly trying to convince himself. “Probably just... wandered over.” He turned his back on it, nudging Lucy to follow.

A deeper, guttural snarl erupted, harsher and filled with an unmistakable malice that made his skin crawl.

Lucy’s eyes went wide. “Jude?”

His heart pounded. “Run!”

They darted down the street, their footsteps pounding in sync, eyes scanning wildly for any possible hiding spot. The map was forgotten; every turn they took was driven by pure survival instinct.

“Guys, are you okay?” Lazaro’s voice crackled from the walkie-talkie, barely audible over their frantic breaths.

"We are being chased by a thing!" Lucy’s voice came in gasps as she fumbled to reply, “Maybe... it’s a robot?” Her words came out in a desperate rush, her breaths laboured as she tried to keep pace.

"It's switched off! That thing... can't be mecha." Lazaro said through the static crackle.

“Laz, turn that shit off! Turn that shit off!” Jude’s voice erupted through the walkie-talkie, rough and urgent.

"It's off!" The crackle of static grew louder. “Guys, what’s going on?”

“It’s an Eidolon... or something that looks like one!” Jude’s breaths came in sharp, frantic bursts as he fought to get the words out, the dread practically seeping into each syllable.

The creature closed in, each heavy step echoing through the narrow street as if savouring the chase. Jude’s grip tightened around Lucy's arm, guiding her into a shadowed alley. He hoped for a fire escape above, a potential way out—all buildings had to have one—if only there were ladders within reach.

They looked up, and the truth hit like a punch to the gut. No stairs. No ladders. Just smooth, unscalable walls and the alley’s brick enclosure pressing in around them.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A dead end.

Jude and Lucy spun around, backs against the cold wall as the creature prowled closer. Its scales gleamed, strangely matte, without the usual eerie smoke swirling around them.

Its tail lashed side to side, a taut coil of muscle and tension, each flick sharper than the last. This wasn’t a robot’s predictable gait or the mechanical precision of the droids they’d seen before; this thing was alive, raw, and watching them with an intelligence that felt unsettlingly real.

The creature tensed, muscles coiling like a spring, eyes fixed on Lucy with a feral focus. Jude didn’t hesitate. He threw himself in front of her, arms spread wide, bracing for impact. But just as the beast lunged, it was yanked mid-air and crashed into the wall with a resounding thud. Another figure had appeared—another Eidolon, fierce and shrouded in the familiar smoky haze.

Two predators now circled each other, scales flaring and tails twitching.

Jude and Lucy pressed themselves back against the alley wall, hardly daring to breathe. There was no mistaking it—the smoky one had planted itself firmly between them and the threat.

The clear-scaled whipped its tail, striking the other across the muzzle with a crack that echoed down the alley. The smoky-scaled creature staggered, only to find itself ensnared as the smoky one’s tail coiled fiercely around its neck, pulling it down to the ground.

With a vicious intensity, the clear-scaled Eidolon slammed its opponent into the concrete—once, twice. The force of each impact shook the ground beneath Jude and Lucy’s feet, and as it tightened its hold around the neck, it seemed poised for a final, merciless blow.

The smoky Eidolon, battered but somehow invigorated, steadied itself on all fours, jaws clamping down on the tail around its neck, wrenching its opponent closer. With a powerful snap, it seized the other Eidolon’s neck and hurled it against the wall, the impact rattling the bricks.

But the tailed creature wasn’t finished; it twisted free, coiling its tail around one of the smoky Eidolon’s hind legs, yanking it off-balance and sending it sprawling across the alley. Before it could hit the ground, the tailed Eidolon launched itself in pursuit, fangs bared—until an ear-splitting howl stopped them both cold.

A white Eidolon with piercing red eyes and scales that smoked an inky black stepped into the alley, radiating a fierce, almost primal energy.

Jude’s mouth fell open, stunned—he’d never seen an Eidolon like this before, a spectral creature both beautiful and terrifying. Before he could even blink, the white Eidolon lunged at the tailed creature, moving with such speed and intensity that Jude and Lucy could barely track its movements.

The air filled with snarls and the clash of scales, the white one’s attacks relentless, each blow landing with bone-crushing force. In a final blur of motion, a spatter of red hit the ground, leaving the tailed creature slumped and motionless.

Lucy and Jude stared, wide-eyed, at the aftermath. A man lay sprawled on the ground, a dark, glistening tail twitching weakly beside him, his gut torn open, blood pooling beneath him. Across from him stood a woman, her white clothing stained with crimson, wild red hair tangled around her blood-smeared face—Teresa.

Next to her, another figure—a man with blond hair dressed in a black jumpsuit—stood breathing heavily and lay on the ground unconscious.

“Lazaro?”

The horizon dimmed to a barren stretch of fading light without stars or a moon—just a cold, naked sky. Jude’s gaze lingered, lost in the emptiness above. His fingers twitched, aching for the comfort of a cigarette, something solid to ground him after the chaos of recent days.

Everything he knew, all that felt certain, had flipped, leaving him bewildered, reeling under a sky that offered no answers.

Teresa slipped in beside him, her white attire stark against the shadowed surroundings. “Always overthinking,” she murmured, glancing at him sideways. Her eyes followed his to the barren sky. “Looking for stars, are we?”

Jude pointed vaguely upward, a hollow smile tugging at his lips. “Just realised... there’s nothing up there.”

“Wait till you disconnect,” Teresa mused, eyes fixed on the empty sky, “they say the real stars and moons are... something else.” She pulled a crumpled pack of cigarettes from her pocket, offering one to Jude with a slight smirk.

Jude took it without a word. She lit hers first, a small flicker in the darkness, then passed the lighter over. Smoke curled up as she took a long drag, her expression momentarily serious. “You breathe a word that I’m peddling counterfeit tobacco. I’ll deny it till I’m buried, and I take you with me.”

Jude gave a half-smirk. “I'm not doing that to the only dealer I know.”

Teresa eyed him, amusement softening her usual sharpness. “I'm surprised. With that baby face? You don’t look like you’ve touched a cigarette in years.”

He chuckled, smoke slipping from his lips. “Quit the day I met my wife.”

The moment faded, and his tone grew more serious. “How’s Lazaro?”

Teresa leaned back, exhaling. “Pretty banged up. Give him a couple of nights with some sleep and painkillers; he’ll pull through. But, believe me, his so-called abilities? They’re as brutal as they look.”

"And the other… friend?”

Teresa’s gaze didn’t waver from the empty sky. “That, baby boy? Not a friend. You'll get the hang of spotting the difference soon enough.”

He glanced at her, his brow furrowed. “How?”

She took a slow drag, eyes tracing something only she could see above. “You’ll know,” she said finally, “when they’re not speaking a word you could fathom to understand.”

Teresa took a long drag, exhaled, then dropped the cigarette and ground it under her heel with a slight twist. "A whole lot of nothing.”

Jude shifted. “So… it’s not just rogue droids or robots we’re dealing with here? There are… real enemies?”

Her lips curved into a thin, almost pitying smile as she met his gaze. "Oh, real as it gets."

Teresa flipped the lighter open and closed, the small metal snap filling the quiet as she hesitated. Her eyes shifted, focusing somewhere beyond the empty sky. "Paris is always negotiating with them," she said finally, her tone laced with something darker. "But a lot of them don’t even recognise him as their leader. They think he’s gone soft, weak, bewitched by a human.”

She glanced at Jude as if testing his reaction. “They won’t listen. They ignore our rules… but that’s not what keeps me up at night.” The lighter clicked shut her fingers still on it, frozen mid-thought as she seemed to weigh her next words carefully.

Jude caught the slight edge in her laugh, more bitter than amused. "What is it?" he asked.

Teresa’s fingers stilled on the lighter. “They aren’t supposed to be here,” she muttered, half to herself. “They shouldn't be able to step into the simulation at all. Something’s cracked, something broke and—this time—it’s not because of me.” She let out a short, humourless chuckle.

Jude crushed the cigarette between his fingers, then stooped to grab Teresa’s discarded butt, leaving no trace behind. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Teresa’s gaze flickered, a glint of amusement shadowed by something darker. “Think of me as a… Trojan horse. I’m wired into every system here—the good, the bad, and everything in between.”

She smirked. “They guard me like a queen for a reason. One wrong move, and I could wipe out the entire SiC in a heartbeat.”

He straightened, her words sinking in, “So… how did you get into the hospital then? I remember you there.”

Teresa's grin twisted with a hint of mischief. "Please, I'm invisible when I want to be. Ninja-level stealth. Have you looked at me? I'm invisible!"

Jude snorted at the sarcasm, shaking his head. "So, basically an unwilling hacker?"

Her smirk deepened. "Unwilling? I know exactly what I'm doing. Just got a bit of a temper, and that doesn’t sit right with Len.” She flicked her gaze to his hand, still clutching the crushed cigarettes. “She might look sweet, but she’s the ultimate control freak. She scares me.”

Teresa raised an eyebrow, a chuckle escaping her lips. “What’s with holding onto that? Scared to leave evidence?”

Jude glanced down at the crushed cigarette butts in his hand. “Look around—this place is spotless. No litter, no stench, and you can actually breathe. Not about to be the guy who messes that up for a cigarette. Outside is already so... damaged.”

A flicker of something crossed her face, almost like approval. “Ah, now I see it,” she said, almost to herself. “Paris has good taste. You really are a Saint.”

Jude shifted, uneasy. "What does that mean?"

Teresa glanced at him, a spark of amusement in her eyes. "Kid, you get one last question tonight. I’m fresh out of Neural Epipens here."

He hesitated before asking, "How’s… the other guy?"

Her expression didn’t soften. "Gone," she said, matter-of-fact. "I took care of him. You saw it."

Jude’s stomach twisted as the realisation hit him—Eidolons weren’t just monsters; they were people. Humans and Friends.

His voice barely a whisper, he managed, “Are we… are we going to… eat him?”

Teresa's gaze didn’t waver. “No,” she replied with a grim certainty. “We’ll skin him. A new suit will be ready for a Saint.”

Jude’s mouth went dry. The words "skin him" and "suit" echoed in his mind, settling in with a weight he hadn’t anticipated. He turned to Teresa, his eyes wide, his stomach churning, the question slipping out before he could hold it back. “What…Saint?”

A smirk danced on Teresa’s lips, casual and unbothered. “You, Saint of James. If you are one of us, you'll need a suit.”

image [https://i.imgur.com/TciIgdx.png]