CHAPTER 8: THE PRICE OF TRUTH
A red countdown was flashing on the walls of the basement.
90… 89… 88…
But the system did not wait.
Suddenly, the basement ceiling exploded with a terrifying blast.
From above, not one… not two… but dozens of drones swarmed down like shadows.
The entire basement was filled with red laser lights.
A mechanical voice echoed:
"TARGET IDENTIFIED."
"EXECUTION PROTOCOL INITIATED."
"What kind of trouble is this!" Kaka roared.
He swung his old rod-like stick and destroyed one drone in mid-air.
But breaking one drone made no difference. More drones kept entering.
Aryan was wearing the Void Specs. Through them, the world looked different.
Code was running inside every drone.
Then, he saw something strange. Behind one drone, a glowing control node was visible.
A spark of hope shone in Aryan's eyes.
"Kaka! If I disable that node, all the drones will shut down!"
"Stop, Aryan!" Kaka shouted. "This could be a trap by the system!"
But Aryan didn't listen. He ran straight toward the Master Drone.
As he reached out his hand—his heart went cold.
It was a trap.
In an instant, all the drones surrounded him. Their lasers locked directly onto Aryan's chest.
"NO!"
Kaka's roar echoed through the basement.
The next moment, everything changed. Kaka pushed Aryan with all his strength, throwing him behind an old machine.
And he stood himself in front of the drones.
Then—
FLASH.
A bright light filled the entire basement. The drones had fired.
When Aryan opened his eyes… his heart broke.
Kaka was standing in front of the drones. But his body was slowly breaking into digital pixels, as if the system was deleting him.
Aryan fell to his knees.
"Kaka… no…"
His voice was broken. "This is my fault…"
Kaka raised his hand with great difficulty. His hand had become blurry now. Still, he tried to touch Aryan's head.
"Don't cry… boy…" He gave a faint smile. "Raghav was right… the same fire is in your eyes…"
His voice was growing weaker. "Destroy this false world… that is your… duty…"
A loud STATIC sound occurred. And Kaka's existence vanished completely. Only his old stick remained on the ground.
For a while, Aryan just sat there silently. Tears were falling from his eyes.
Then, slowly… his crying stopped. There was no fear in his eyes anymore. Only a cold fire.
He picked up the laptop. He connected the hard drive. Iris's face glowed on the screen.
"Aryan…"
Aryan said softly, "Iris… no more mercy. Show the system… what a glitch can do."
Iris's eyes lit up. "Command accepted."
In one go, she hacked the control signals of the drones. Suddenly, the drones began crashing into each other. Explosions started happening in the basement.
The countdown was running.
05… 04… 03… 02… 01…
For a moment, everything went white.
Then… silence.
When Aryan opened his eyes… the basement was gone.
He was standing in a strange forest. This place was not normal.
The trees were blue. The sky was glowing violet. It was as if reality itself had changed.
Aryan looked at the laptop. Iris's face was on the screen, but behind her, a message was blinking:
WELCOME TO SECTOR ZERO
THE CORE OF THE SIMULATION
Aryan spoke softly—
"So… all of this was just the beginning."
Iris replied, "Now, the real war begins."
And the story had now reached the deepest part of the simulation.