Chapter Four:
"First Contact"
John's hands gripped the steering wheel, its surface impossibly smooth and cool beneath his touch, like liquid metal frozen in time. The material responded to his grip, micro-textures shifting to create perfect contact points for each finger. His parents lay dead outside, murdered protecting whatever this vehicle was, while unknown killers tried to break through the garage door. The dashboard cast his face in shifting blues and greens, holographic readouts floating at different depths, some seeming to hover just before his eyes while others appeared to extend deep into the car's framework.
"Welcome, John." The voice emerged from everywhere and nowhere, gentle as morning dew yet carrying an undertone of vast knowledge. "I am Realmweaver, the consciousness interface of the ChronoLance X5."
John's breath caught in his throat. "How do you---"
"Know your name? I know many things about you, John. Your quiet determination. Your inherent kindness despite the world's decay." Realmweaver's tone remained perfectly measured, as if they were having a pleasant chat over coffee instead of hiding from murderers. The voice seemed to shift position as it spoke, creating an impossible sense of movement within the confined space. "There is a message waiting for you. Shall I play it now?"
A crash echoed from outside. They were breaking through, each impact sending vibrations through the garage's reinforced walls.
"Message? What---my parents are dead out there! We need to---"
"Please advise, John. Time will remain suspended while the message plays. You are quite safe for the moment." The air inside the car thickened. Each breath dragged through John's lungs with strange weight, as if the atmosphere itself had slowed to match the frozen moment.
"I... fine. Play it!"
The holographic dashboard fractured into shards of light, each piece splitting apart and reassembling itself. A familiar figure took shape in the passenger seat - the woman from the store. But now her presence filled the space with an electric tension, her features carrying an impossible warmth that made John's skin prickle with unease.
"Hello, John," Gameweaver's projection smiled. "I believe it's time we had a proper introduction."
"I do hope you've enjoyed your day in my beautiful city," Gameweaver's projection said, gesturing to the frozen world beyond the windows. "I designed it especially for this moment."
John stared through the windshield, its transparent surface somehow bending light in ways that defied physics. Dust motes hung motionless in the air, caught in the ChronoLance's ambient glow. Beyond them, the garage door buckled silently inward, the metal frozen mid-warp from impacts that no longer registered in this pocket of suspended time.
"Your... city?" The words triggered something deep in his mind. Images burst through his consciousness - Harbor Pointe Food Station. The endless rain. The Dive. These weren't just memories; they were fragments of another life, slipping away even as he tried to grasp them.
"Ah, you're starting to remember." Gameweaver's smile widened, her teeth too perfect, too bright. "Though those memories aren't really necessary anymore. I thought you might enjoy being seventeen again. Don't worry - everything that makes you you is still there. All those essential experiences, feelings, lessons learned... they're just part of your subconscious now. Same John, different starting point. Much better than that dreary 2047, wouldn't you say?"
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John's head throbbed, each pulse bringing flashes of a life that felt both foreign and intimately familiar. "I don't understand. Any of this. My parents---"
"Would you like to guess my favorite thing in all the worlds?" Gameweaver leaned forward, her movement sending cascades of light through her projection. Her eyes sparked with an intensity that made John lean back against his seat. "Surprises! You see, when you're a semi-omnipotent being controlling infinite universes, paying attention to billions of players and countless NPCs, running trillions upon trillions of algorithms..." She traced patterns in the frozen air with her finger, leaving trails of light that formed complex equations before dissolving. "Well, things can get rather boring. But unexpected variables?" She clasped her hands together, the sound impossibly real despite her holographic nature. "Those are the best toys!"
The projection shifted closer, and John felt pressure in his ears, as if the air itself responded to her presence. "So here's the deal, John. I'm giving you Realmweaver. She's completely separate from me, designed to imprint on you. She'll be yours, and you'll be her Realm Runner. And here's the truly exciting part - you'll both be invisible to me. I won't know where you go or what you do. Total freedom!"
"I've equipped Realmweaver with all necessary knowledge," she continued, her form now glowing brighter with barely contained enthusiasm. "The rules are wonderfully simple. Just maintain full acceleration for 8.8 seconds to charge the jump. But remember - no letting up on the gas, or the timer resets." She winked, sending a shower of light motes spinning through the cabin. "Rather reminiscent of those old time-traveling movies, isn't it? Such a shame we only had three."
"One last thing," Gameweaver's projection flickered, her expression shifting to something more serious. "It seems there are others who would like to get their hands on Realmweaver."
Through the windshield, another impact warped the garage door's surface, the metal frozen in its slow surrender to force.
"I've programmed her with the destination for your first Realm jump. I highly recommend finding a Player named Akira. He should be able to teach you some things that could really aid you in your future adventures." Her smile turned apologetic, though the effect was undermined by the gleam in her eyes. "But unlike other Players who have a help button in their menu interface to call me for whatever they need... well, being invisible to me means that won't be an option for you. So, this is the only assistance I can offer - find Akira. If he's still alive, that is."
The projection dissolved into points of light that scattered through the frozen dust motes around them. Each spark dimmed and winked out, until only the car's ambient glow remained.
"Destination acquired," Realmweaver announced as Gameweaver's presence faded. "Please stand by while garage door opens."
The outer door inched upward while the pounding on the inner door grew heavier, metal screaming under each impact.
"The Thousand Isles is quite lovely this time of year," Realmweaver continued, her voice carrying the practiced enthusiasm of a tour guide presenting their favorite destination. "The cherry blossoms in the Eastern Kingdoms are particularly spectacular. Though I should mention the Spirit Wilds can be rather tricky to navigate without proper---"
The inner door exploded inward, fragments of metal hanging suspended for a heartbeat before gravity reclaimed them.
"Forget the door!" John yanked the shifter into reverse. The mechanism moved like silk through water, settling into position with engineered perfection. He slammed the accelerator, and the ChronoLance X5 burst backward through the remains of the garage door, metal and glass scattering wide around the vehicle's frame.
"As I was saying," Realmweaver continued serenely as John power-slid into the street, tires screaming against pavement, "the kitsune courts can be particularly territorial---"
"8.8 seconds, huh?" John threw the car into drive, the city's neon nightmare stretching empty before them. His heart hammered against his ribs as his foot hovered over the accelerator. Time seemed to pause, not from any technological intervention, but from the weight of the moment itself.
"Let me face my fears," he whispered, the words carrying the weight of both prayer and promise.
John floored it. The ChronoLance X5 launched forward, its acceleration defying known physics. Reality began to split at its edges, the air fracturing into spectrums of violet and indigo that shifted to frequencies the human eye was never meant to process. The tear widened, a perfect match for the car's silhouette as they approached at speed that bent both space and time.
They hit the rift at full acceleration. Reality sealed behind them with a thunderous crack that echoed across dimensions, leaving only empty street and scattered garage debris as evidence they'd ever existed in this realm at all.