Chapter 3 All Debts Must Be Paid

• Three days after his mother’ death , Kael’s apartment access code blinked red.
• “AUTHORIZATION EXPIRED.”
• He pressed his palm to the sensor again. Nothing. He stood there with a duffel bag that carried everything he owned: a blood-stained shirt, two pairs of pants, his cracked tablet, and a photo of his mother wrapped in an old scarf.
• The hallway was cold. The world didn’t pause for grief. Kael for the first time in his life had to live on the streets not having any place to go to.
• Two nights later, the Black Fang came. Kael was crossing 7th and Weller, hood up, eyes to the ground, when a black van peeled up beside him. The door slid open without a word. Two men stepped out and grabbed him by the arms like he weighed nothing.
• No struggle. Kael was done fighting in the air. Kael was dragged through the rear cargo entrance of a warehouse near Dockside Sector 11. Rust-colored walls and buzzing lights. Every step scraped his already raw knees against the concrete.
• He was dropped in the center like trash. The thud of boots echoed behind him.
• Razen Cortez didn’t speak at first. He stood by a crate in the far corner, rolling up the sleeves of his charcoal-gray dress shirt, perfectly ironed. He poured something from a bottle into a glass and swirled it. It looked like an expensive wine.
• Kael tried to push himself to one knee. His ribs screamed. His face was already swelling from the grip one of the men used to slam his head into the van wall.
• “You missed your second deadline,” Razen said finally. His voice was quiet, but it traveled. “That puts you in breach.”
• Kael coughed as he spit out blood. Razen held up a finger.
• “Don’t insult both of us by trying to explain.”
• He walked closer. Every step echoed sharp, slow. His dress shoes clicked like a clock winding down to zero.
• “You know how many people default?” he asked. “Plenty. That’s expected. Part of the math. But most of them? They pay something. Show effort. You, Kael…”
• He stopped in front of him and looked down.
• “You disappeared.”
• Kael looked up, eyes bloodshot. “My mother—”
• “Still dying,” Razen cut in. “And now you will be too. The only difference is, she’ll go with morphine. You? Not so lucky.”
• He didn’t move as he just gave a nod. The first man stepped forward and kicked Kael directly in the thigh. Hard. Deep.
• “Ah....f***!” Kael’s voice cracked as his body collapsed onto one elbow.
• It wasn’t a sharp pain, it was like something tore. He clutched at his leg instinctively, gasping very hard.
• “Pick him up,” Razen said calmly. The second man grabbed Kael by the collar and yanked him up into a kneeling position.
• The third man pulled brass knuckles from his pocket and slid them on like he was putting on gloves before dinner. “Wait,” Razen said, sipping his drink. “Start slow.”
• Kael blinked at the glint of brass“No, no, wait—!”The punch hit his cheekbone. Kael’s head snapped sideways with a wet crunch.
• “GHHK—!” A second hit followed immediately.
• “AGHH—!”And a third as blood flew from his lips. His jaw jerked out of place for a second before slamming back into alignment.
• He gagged. “Stop—stop—” but the men didn’t. Razen leaned against a crate and sipped again.
• “I told you. Sixty percent interest. Per week.”
• Another punch, this time to the gut.
• “Hhrrrgh—!” Kael convulsed and coughed violently, nearly vomiting on the floor.
• “You signed a contract. With your life. That was the price. And now you’re overdue.” The men switched places like trained butchers.
• One held Kael’s arm out and slammed his elbow with a steel pipe.
• “AAAGHH—!!” Kael screamed loud now — a hoarse, animal cry. “F***—please—!”
• “You think I enjoy this?” Razen asked. “I don’t.”
• Another swing, this one across Kael’s ribs.
• “HUUURK—ghh—!”
• Kael coughed blood, spitting it onto the floor, head lolling forward, as his mouth trembled.
• “But if I don’t make an example of you, someone else gets brave. And that’s not a risk I take.”
• Kael collapsed again. A boot found his back.
• “AHH—F***!” Another struck across his shoulder. His body rolled, limp, twitching. The only sound after that was dripping blood onto concrete.
• Razen walked up, knelt beside him. Kael could barely keep his eyes open. Everything was pain and darkness. His mouth opened but couldn’t form words.
• “Forty-eight hours, Kael,” Razen whispered. “That’s all you get. You don’t pay…”
• He smiled faintly.“...we send whatever’s left of you home in a cooler.”
• Kael coughed, voice breaking.“Y-you won’t get anything—” he rasped. “I have… nothing left to take.”
• Razen stood and straightened his cuffs. The men left first. Kael lay alone for another full minute, listening to the sound of Razen’s shoes walk away, then fade, then stop.
• “One more.” The voice came from behind.
• A sudden stomp and a brutal hit landed directly on Kael’s ribs.
• “NNGHHHH—!!” He couldn’t scream anymore. His mouth opened, but no sound came. Only breath and blood.
• Kael didn’t know how long he lay there after the last stomp. His body refused to move. Every breath came shallow, wet. His shirt clung to him like soaked paper, blood mixed with rainwater. Somewhere nearby, a cargo ship’s horn bellowed across the docks.
• He twitched. That was all he could manage at first.
• Then a hand, then an elbow. He slowly rolled onto his stomach, coughing so hard as his ribs screamed. Blood could be seen all over the ground. One eye was swollen shut. His left arm felt like it didn’t belong to him anymore.
• But he moved…..Crawled. His fingers dug into the grit as his knees were dragged over broken glass. Every inch forward took everything he had left. The alley blurred sideways in his vision. The world tilted and dimmed.
• “H-elp…” he shuttered slowly,
• “Please....anyone..” but, no one heard him.
• A cat watched from atop a trash bin, eyes reflecting the moonlight, unblinking. Kael clawed forward as he kept going.
• He reached the end of the alley a streetlamp flickered overhead and collapsed beneath it, one arm outstretched.
• The rain kept falling, his chest rose once more, then stopped.
• [CANDIDATE 6-11-2: LIFE FUNCTIONS TERM]
• [SOVEREIGN SYSTEM: HARD BOOT SEQUENCE INITIATED]
• ...Processing.
• …Respiratory Restarting…
• A silver ring on his forearm flickered to life appearing, glowing, rotating like clockwork.
• Rain hissed as it touched the heat blooming from his skin.
• His spine arched, then his mouth opened.
• And Kael screamed. He jolted upright like a corpse jolting through a defibrillator. His heart slammed against his ribs. His eyes flew open, glowing with faint gold flickers that vanished as fast as they appeared.
• He clutched at the concrete, gasping alive, but not whole.
• [SOVEREIGN SYSTEM ONLINE]
• [FUNDS LOCKED: $1,011,000,000 USD]
• [SURVIVAL CONDITION: ACCEPT TERMS]
• Kael blinked rain from his eyes. His body still hurt, but not as much. His lungs expanded. His pulse leveled.
• “Wh-what…?” he said, shivering. “Where am I? What is this?”
• But, there was no answer.
• “Is this… a dream? Am I dead?”
• [INITIAL OBJECTIVE: ENLIST IN THE SOVEREIGN PROGRAM]
• [NOTE: FREEDOM MUST BE EARNED]
• "What… what freedom? What program?”
• Kael looked at his hands as bruises still there, but less raw. His shoulder cracked back into place with a low snap. The ring on his arm pulsed softly, embedding deeper into his skin.
• “I don’t understand—! Who are you?! Why me?!”
• No reply, then there was a countdown.
• [EXTRACTION DURATION: 00:06:49]