88CloudSpace

Gabriel Alvarez was born with nothing. A poor Hispanic-American kid struggling to survive the streets of New York, he died alone and starving—just another forgotten soul. But death wasn’t the end.

He awakens in Neo-Terra, a world where magic and technology have fused into a powerful System that governs society. Every person has a class, skills, and stats, their fate determined by the System’s rules. Yet Gabriel is different. Labeled Unawakened, he has no class, no abilities—until he discovers something forbidden.

He can hack the System.

What starts as a glitch quickly escalates into something much bigger. Gabriel isn’t the first to defy the System—there were others before him, people known as Deviants. Every single one of them was erased. Now, the Academy that once offered him sanctuary wants him dead. The Federation considers him a threat to world stability. And an ancient secret buried deep within the System is waiting for him to uncover it.

Armed with his unique ability to override the laws of reality, Gabriel is no longer a forgotten street rat—he’s a rogue element in a world that runs on rules.

And if the System wants him erased?

Then he’ll rewrite it.

Reborn in a World of Magic and Machines

Gabriel's stomach lurched as the grav-lock field tightened, sending their mech plummeting toward the depths of Neo-Terra. The towering skyscrapers and neon highways blurred past in streaks of light as they fell—straight into the city's Underbelly.

The Underbelly was the forgotten half of Neo-Terra, a massive subterranean zone beneath the floating city where the unwanted and discarded were left to rot. Unlike the sleek, high-tech districts above, the Underbelly was a chaotic sprawl of rusted metal, abandoned industrial sectors, and ancient, failing systems no longer connected to the Federation's pristine network.

And they were about to crash straight into it.

[WARNING: Impact Imminent!]

He yanked the controls, desperately trying to stabilize their descent. If they hit the ground at this speed, even the mech wouldn't survive.

The war skiff above them adjusted its cannons, preparing to finish them off mid-fall. The System had already calculated their trajectory—there was no escape.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes, scanning the fractured network signals still clinging to the mech's interface. Down here, the System's grip was weaker. The Underbelly wasn't fully connected to the Federation's centralized AI.

"I can break the grav-lock!" Gabriel gritted his teeth, forcing his mind into the System's coding once again.

[Override Attempt Detected.]

[Insufficient Access.]

[…Bypassing Security Protocols…]

[WARNING: ERROR IN SYSTEM ROOT DETECTED.]

Gabriel didn't know how he did it, but for a split second, the grav-lock glitched.

The mech's thrusters roared to life just as they neared the ground. Gabriel angled the descent, sending them crashing through a rusted factory roof instead of slamming into the streets below.

They skidded across the ground, metal shrieking, sparks flying. The impact sent both of them slamming forward in their seats.

For a moment, everything was still.

Aurelia groaned. "Ugh… I think I'm gonna throw up."

Gabriel exhaled, his hands still gripping the controls. They were alive. Somehow.

But the war skiff was still up there. And it wasn't leaving.

From the cockpit, Gabriel saw red searchlights sweeping the Underbelly. The Federation wouldn't dare send ground troops down here—it was too unstable, too unpredictable. But that didn't mean they were safe.

Aurelia checked the mech's diagnostics. "Well, the thrusters are fried, half the weapons are offline, and we've got about ten minutes before the power core burns out."

Their only option? Find shelter before the Federation's drones locked onto them.

And judging by the eerie red eyes watching them from the shadows of the Underbelly's ruins, they weren't alone.

Chapter 15: Falling Into the Underbelly