Roy jolted awake, the sting of artificial light burning his eyes. He was lying on a cold metal table, surrounded by buzzing screens and pulsating neon lights. His head throbbed with a torrent of foreign memories, like an invasive flood eroding the walls of his mind. Images of sleek code matrices, desperate chases through labyrinthine alleyways, and whispered deals in shadowy backrooms swirled together. Each memory felt as real as his own, yet none of them were truly his.


    "Cipher," a voice buzzed, mechanical and impatient. "Get up. We have less than five minutes before they find us."


    The voice broke through the chaos in his mind, sharp and commanding. Roy forced his eyes open, the blinding neon lights outside his peripheral vision sharpening into focus. He turned his head and saw a holographic projection of a young woman with sharp, angular features and eyes that glowed faint blue. Nyx. The name came to him unbidden, as if etched into the core of his consciousness. She was no stranger, but the connection between them was hazy, like the fog of a dream that slipped away the more he tried to grasp it.


    "Cipher," she repeated, her voice cutting through his confusion with a clinical tone. "Move it. We don’t have much time."


    Cipher. That name echoed too, but it wasn’t him—it was the life he’d stepped into. A fugitive, a hacker prodigy, a loner running from the corporate leviathan that controlled everything. The pieces of Cipher''s life scattered in his mind like fragments of a shattered mirror, none of them fitting perfectly with his own experiences. Memories of other lives—his business background, the weightless void of space, the pull of a black hole—mingled in an overwhelming surge of identities. He was no longer Roy, not completely. He was someone new, someone old, and neither at once.


    Roy groaned, his body heavy with confusion as he swung his legs off the table. The tight, sleek jacket he wore felt unfamiliar, but his fingers moved instinctively to zip it up. The material was like nothing he’d worn before—lightweight yet reinforced, a sleek and utilitarian design that screamed cyberpunk dystopia. As he stood, fragments of Cipher’s memories surged forward: moments of dread-filled escapes, the pulsing glow of the megacorp’s drones searching for him, and the cold isolation of a life lived in the shadows. But they weren’t his memories—not entirely. They tangled with his own, blending into a surreal collage of different realities.


    He clenched his fists, the dissonance suffocating.


    "I need… I need a second," he muttered, his voice hoarse and unfamiliar. It sounded wrong, as though the body he now inhabited was still adjusting to him.


    "You’ve had long enough," Nyx snapped, her holographic form flickering with impatience. "They’ve pinged our location. Either you move, or we both die."


    Her tone was cold, but there was an undercurrent of fear there, a deep, unspoken urgency that made Roy’s chest tighten. The world outside the hideout wasn’t waiting for him to find himself, and neither were the people chasing them.


    Roy swallowed, pushing the disorienting swell of memories back into the recesses of his mind. The fog of past lives threatened to drown him, but he couldn’t afford to linger in the past—not here, not now.


    He grabbed the data deck from the table, the sleek device fitting perfectly in his hand as if it had always belonged there. With a steadying breath, Roy followed Nyx’s flickering figure out of the hideout, the door hissing open with a mechanical whine.


    The sounds of the city hit him in a wave: hovercars whizzing by, neon signs buzzing with artificial life, and the distant chatter of a crowd lost in the rush of a cyberpunk world. Every surface gleamed under the harsh, artificial glow, the streets a blend of shadow and light. This wasn’t his world, but it was now his reality. The pulse of the city felt cold and alien, and yet there was something strangely familiar about it, like he had lived in this dystopia before but never in the way he now was.


    Nyx darted ahead, her figure slipping effortlessly through the crowd, and Roy followed, the pounding of his heart syncing with the rhythms of the city around him. It was a world of machines, codes, and secrets. And he was caught in the middle, a player in a game he didn’t fully understand. The weight of Cipher’s life pressed down on him, each step forward pulling him further from the remnants of Roy’s past life.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    “Let’s go,” Nyx called back over her shoulder, her glowing blue eyes narrowing as she scanned their surroundings. “We don’t have much time before they find us.”


    Roy nodded, his mind reeling with the clash of memories. This was no dream. This was reality, and he was about to dive headfirst into a world he had no choice but to survive.


    The alleyways of Neon Haven were a maze of steel and shadow. Roy’s heart pounded as he ducked under low-hanging pipes, his boots splashing through puddles that shimmered with oil and fluorescent runoff. Nyx’s voice echoed in his ear, guiding him through the chaos.


    "Left here. No, your other left!"


    "I’m trying!" Roy barked back, skidding around a corner. Behind him, the whine of drones grew louder. The corporate enforcers weren’t far behind. He clutched the data deck tightly, its cold surface grounding him in the moment. Cipher’s instincts kicked in as his fingers danced across the deck, sending false signals to the pursuing drones. For a moment, the whine softened, but the reprieve was brief. The drones were too persistent.


    "Almost there!" Nyx urged, her tone tighter than before.


    He darted into a crumbling building, its walls dripping with condensation, and slid to a halt. His breath came in ragged gasps as he leaned against a wall, trying to steady himself. The sound of distant engines and mechanical whirs mixed with the pounding of his own heart. Nyx’s projection flickered beside him, her expression unimpressed.


    "That’s the sloppiest evasion I’ve ever seen. Are you sure you’re okay?"


    Roy wiped his face with his sleeve, sweat mixing with the grime of the city. "No," he admitted, rubbing his temples. "But I’ll manage."


    Her sharp eyes softened slightly, though her holographic form remained steady. "You''re still processing everything. It’ll take time to adjust."


    Would it, though? He wasn’t so sure. Every life he’d lived seemed to stack on top of the other, a precarious tower of identities threatening to collapse. He’d learned to negotiate deals with highschoolers in his first life, navigate the void of space in his second, and now, he was expected to outsmart corporate overlords as a master hacker. But no amount of skill could prepare him for the crushing weight of failure that lingered from each death. Each mistake in this new life was like a scar, an echo of everything he’d lost before.


    Before he could respond, a new figure emerged from the shadows. The sharp click of heels echoed through the hollow space before she stepped forward. A woman in a crimson trench coat and dark boots. Her auburn hair fell neatly over her shoulders, framing a face that seemed both calculating and fierce. Her piercing gaze locked onto Roy with a mix of curiosity and caution.


    "You must be Cipher," she said, her tone sharp but laced with underlying warmth. "I’m Kira. Let’s just say we’re in the same business."


    Roy blinked, trying to parse her words as they swirled in his mind. Kira’s presence was commanding, her every move deliberate and assured. She reminded him of someone—calculated, logical, yet unexpectedly compassionate. As her words sank in, Cipher’s memories filled in the gaps. Kira was a freelance operative, a hacker with a reputation for being both brilliant and unpredictable. She was also someone he’d have to trust if he wanted to survive.


    "You’re late," Nyx’s voice snapped, her hologram flickering beside Roy. "And we’re out of time."


    Kira smirked, an edge of amusement in her eyes. "Better late than dead. Follow me."


    Without waiting for a response, Kira turned and walked down the darkened corridor, her boots echoing against the concrete. Roy hesitated for a moment, the weight of the decision pressing down on him. He wasn’t sure if trusting Kira was the right move—his instincts screamed that he couldn’t afford to trust anyone in this world—but the alternative was running blind into the night with nothing but memories that weren’t even his.


    "Come on, Cipher," Nyx urged, her projection flashing impatiently. "We don’t have time to waste."


    With a resigned breath, Roy followed Kira into the labyrinthine depths of the city, the flickering neon lights overhead casting erratic shadows that seemed to shift with every step. The sense of urgency was almost overwhelming. They were on the move now, but from whom were they running? And more importantly, why?


    Kira led them down another alley, her movements fluid and confident as she turned down a hidden staircase, disappearing into the depths below. The subterranean tunnels smelled of decay, oil, and something fouler—likely the remnants of a world that had long since fallen apart. Roy glanced at Nyx, her form still flickering in his peripheral vision, her gaze fixed on him.


    "Do you trust her?" Roy muttered under his breath.


    "Trust? In this city?" Nyx’s voice was tinged with mockery. "Don’t kid yourself. Trust is a luxury no one can afford here."


    Roy clenched his jaw and followed Kira into the darkness. It was too late to turn back now. The drones were still hunting them, and every second they wasted would bring them closer to being caught.


    Kira stopped in front of a rusted metal door, her hand hovering near a terminal. She tapped a few keys, and the door groaned open, revealing a dimly lit room filled with flickering monitors and humming servers. It looked like some kind of underground command center—a safe house, maybe.