tryingwrite

Jack Wilson wasn’t planning to doom the city. He just wanted to make rent and maybe buy a better hoodie.

Then he opened a cursed file labeled “DO NOT OPEN (Lethality Rating: 9/10)”—because what’s life without a little fun? One explosion, a glowing hand tattoo, and a ramen-scented dumpster dive later, Jack is now the host of something ancient, powerful, and probably homicidal.

Now everyone wants him dead: secret guilds, rogue mages, even a talking pigeon with a grudge. Too bad Jack’s having the time of his life.

Armed with sarcasm, unstable spirit energy, and zero impulse control, Jack is about to turn the magical underworld upside down.

MANIAC HYBRID

Mid‑morning sunlight spilled through the tram‑depot skylights, glinting off the Aetherium Heart as Zara routed its gentle current into a jury‑rigged memory‑vault rig. Jack sat nearby, halo cable snaked to the crystal, watching data packets pour from his wrist into teal luminescence.

"Uploading your short‑term cache," Zara murmured. "Twenty minutes, tops."

Jack nodded, grateful for the calm—but a gnawing tension remained. Cross was still missing, and the Guild would strike back.

Patch fluttered in, dropping a scorch‑marked datapad onto the workbench. "Rescue scavengers found this near Node 7B rubble. It's Cross's personal log—encrypted, but I pecked at it."

Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Bird's getting better at hack‑n‑slash."

Jack chuckled, then tapped the screen. A single voice clip decrypted—Cross's strained whisper:

> "They don't see the wrong in their actions because they hang around people that normalize it… Marrick, the Council—no one questions the spiral. But Wilson's anomaly shows another path."

Reina folded her arms. "Cross admitting the Guild's echo‑chamber."

Jack's jaw tightened. "She built monsters, but even she notices the rot."

Zara skimmed metadata. "Clip timestamped two days before Dominus launched. She was second‑guessing."

Lyra looked at Jack. "If Cross can flip, we need her alive."

Elsewhere, inside a fortified safe‑room, Valerie Cross sat chained to a rune chair. Marrick's masked visage hovered via holo‑projector.

"Your node stunt cost us billions," Marrick hissed.

Cross's eyes burned. "Wilson is evolving beyond our projections. Your obsession will sink the city."

Marrick's mask tilted. "You'll finish what you started, Doctor. Project Excision Phase Three. Or your bloodstream meets the dampener virus."

Cross swallowed hard, guilt and fear swirling. The Council's voices echoed: They don't see the wrong in their actions because they hang around people that normalize it… She bit her lip. Maybe Jack was the only way out—for all of them.

Back in the depot, Zara projected a holo‑map. "Cross is being relocated to an old Maglev station under Guild HQ. We intercept the convoy tonight."

Reina cracked her knuckles. "Good—we rescue the scientist, crack Phase Three intel."

Lyra placed her hand on Jack's shoulder. "You're half battery, half hero. Can you fight?"

Jack flexed, feeling newfound steadiness. "Something rare with good functions," he said, tapping the pulsing Heart. "Let's break their normalization loop."

Patch cawed, approving. "Chaos train departs at midnight."

Jack's halo completed its upload; Zara unplugged the cable. Memories felt anchored, at least for now.

Jack stood, eyes steely. "Time to shake the Guild's foundations—and remind them which Wilson anomaly rewrites the rules."

Chapter 22: "Fault Lines"