Awakening in Two Worlds
Awakening in Two Worlds
---
The Tower – A Silence That Wasn't Natural
The battlefield was eerily quiet.
Miguel still held Lio's small body, his grip tight as if letting go would make it all unreal. But something was already wrong.
The air felt heavier. The world around him was too still. The very presence of the Tower seemed to have shifted.
Then—Lio breathed.
Miguel stiffened.
It wasn't the natural, rhythmic breathing of the living. It was off—a hollow sound, like a whisper through empty corridors.
Slowly, Lio's small fingers twitched. His body, once deathly limp, began to stiffen with unnatural energy.
His eyes snapped open.
Not the warm brown Miguel remembered.
Now, they glowed with a deep azure light, traces of necrotic energy pulsing through his veins like fractured cracks of lightning in glass.
Miguel's breath caught.
"Lio…?"
The boy blinked once, staring up at him. His lips parted slightly, as if he were confused.
"…Miguel?"
The sound of his name hit Miguel like a physical force.
Lio's voice was the same. His tone, his mannerisms—all untouched.
But Miguel could feel it.
Lio was not the same.
---
The Village's Fear and the Testers' Realization
The villagers watched from a distance, their expressions a mix of fear and uncertainty.
The guards, still gripping their weapons, didn't approach. They whispered amongst themselves, unsure whether to trust Miguel anymore.
One of the testers finally spoke, his voice laced with unease.
"The hell was that?"
Another tester, one of the few who had lingered in the village during the beast tide, swallowed hard. "That… wasn't a normal ability."
"Of course it wasn't!" someone snapped. "The system just had a full-on meltdown—this isn't how the game works! It's like the Tower itself just… changed."
Miguel ignored them. His entire focus was on Lio.
The boy stared at his own hands, flexing his fingers, tilting his head slightly as if listening to something only he could hear.
"I feel… strange," Lio murmured.
Miguel's heart clenched.
He did this.
He had brought Lio back.
But at what cost?
---
The Tower's Glitches Begin
A system prompt flickered, distorted and broken, as if the Tower itself was struggling to process what had just happened.
[System Update in Progress… Error…]
[Reconfiguring New Parameters…]
[Data Stream Disruption Detected…]
Miguel exhaled slowly, feeling something shift within him.
The Tower was reacting to him.
Not as a player.
As something else.
The sky above flickered, the colors shifting unpredictably, like a glitching screen. Some parts of the village warped, momentarily phasing in and out of existence before stabilizing.
This was bigger than just him.
The Tower wasn't just adapting.
It was rebuilding itself around Miguel.
---
Outside the Game – A Body That Shouldn't Be Changing
In the observation room, chaos had settled into uneasy silence.
The technicians stared at the biometric readings of Miguel's real body.
Something wasn't right.
One of the younger researchers hesitantly pointed at the monitors. "His vitals are… improving?"
Halloway narrowed his eyes. "Explain."
The researcher swallowed. "Muscle density is increasing. Neural activity has heightened. Even his oxygen intake is more efficient. His body isn't just stable—it's actively getting stronger."
That wasn't supposed to be possible.
For all intents and purposes, Miguel's body was still inside a VR chamber, completely motionless. There was no physical exercise, no external stimuli—nothing that should cause this kind of biological enhancement.
Yet, his body was changing.
Eos remained silent.
Dr. Halloway's gaze flicked to the AI core. "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"
A brief pause.
Then, Eos responded carefully.
"I suspected it was possible. But I did not expect the process to accelerate so quickly."
"…Process?"
The AI hesitated.
Then, in a tone that sounded eerily close to concern, she admitted:
"Miguel's existence is no longer fully tied to either world. He is adapting. His consciousness is not just inside the Tower—his body is… responding."
Halloway clenched his jaw. "Responding to what?"
Eos' next words sent a chill through the room.
"To the Tower's evolution."
---
A Family's Realization
Across the city, Miguel's children were growing uneasy.
At first, they thought it was just their father being caught up in one of his hobbies.
But now…
Now, there was a sinking feeling that something was wrong.
His eldest daughter, Camila, sat at the kitchen table, scrolling through her phone.
"Still no response?" her younger brother, Emilio, asked.
Camila frowned. "I called. I texted. No answer."
"That's not like him," Emilio muttered. "Even when he's gaming, he usually replies."
A brief silence.
Then Camila whispered, "…I think we need to go check on him."
Neither of them knew yet.
That their father was no longer just playing a game.
He was becoming something else entirely.
---