4: SYSTEM ALERT!

The city’s artificial dawn painted the sky with a soft lavender hue as Aria struggled to shake off the heavy remnants of her dream. The DreamLink interface blinked before her, its usual soothing blue now a harsh, insistent red. Her heart raced as she read the words: “SYSTEM ALERT: DREAM DISTURBANCE CONFIRMED. PLEASE REPORT TO DREAMHUB.”

A wave of dread swept over her. It felt as if her entire world the flawless harmony of Neo-Tokyo’s DreamLink had begun to crumble. The events of the previous night had left her feeling exposed, as though some unseen force had taken root in her mind.

Gathering her courage, Aria tapped her communicator and called Takumi. His voice crackled through instantly, a touch of relief laced with worry.

"Aria, are you alright?" he asked, a tone of urgency barely masked in his calm facade.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself. "I saw him again, Takumi. The man with the hollow eyes… he said that our peace is a cage. And the dreams he’s somehow in them, invading, tainting them."

There was a pause, the gravity of her words hanging in the silence. "You need to come to DreamHub," Takumi replied finally. "There’s something we need to show you."

Dream Hub’s towering glass facade reflected the soft, morning glow as Aria arrived, feeling small beneath its imposing structure. A sense of unease bubbled within her as she passed through the sleek, automated doors and entered the sterile lobby. She had been to DreamHub once before, but today, it felt different darker, as if the shadows clinging to her dreams had seeped into the walls.

Takumi was waiting by the entrance, his face strained. He offered her a quick nod, then gestured for her to follow.

They walked down a narrow corridor lined with screens displaying serene landscapes and positive DreamSync statistics. Each image felt like a taunt after the visions she had seen, like a shallow reassurance that all was well when something much darker lurked beneath the surface.

As they entered the monitoring room, a massive display screen showed fluctuating graphs and real-time images of users’ dream sequences. The room buzzed with activity, technicians and analysts murmuring in tense voices. Aria’s gaze drifted over the various screens, catching flashes of familiar places streets, parks, and homes all across Neo-Tokyo.

At the center of the screen was a chilling sight: scenes of twisted shadows, crumbling cities, and hollow-eyed figures drifting through the DreamLink network like ghostly invaders.

Takumi cleared his throat. “This… this is what has been happening. Whatever invades your dream is spreading faster than we anticipated. Last night, we logged over three hundred cases of similar disturbances, and this morning, the number has doubled.”

Aria felt a cold sweat break across her forehead. “So… it’s not just me?”

He shook his head. “No. Whatever is happening, it is affecting people across the network. And we do not know why.”

A technician approached them, his face pale and worried. “Sir, we found the anomaly’s origin… or rather, its first appearance,” he said, tapping on a tablet. “It seems to have started at a DreamLink tower on the outskirts of the city, near the old industrial sector. The signal appears weak there, as if… something’s distorting it.”

Takumi frowned, his eyes narrowing. “The industrial sector? That area was decommissioned years ago. There should not be any active DreamLink towers out there.”

The technician hesitated. “That is what we thought, too. But the signal suggests otherwise.”

Takumi glanced at Aria, his expression hardening. “We have a lead. I am going to investigate the area. Aria, I would like you to come with me.”

Her heart skipped a beat. Despite the fear gripping her, a surge of determination ignited within her. She needed answers and Takumi was the only one who could help her find them.

The old industrial sector lay beyond the city’s polished heart, a land of crumbling factories and skeletal remains of warehouses. The familiar hum of Neo-Tokyo’s DreamLink network faded here, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. Aria felt the weight of the silence, the absence of harmony, as if they had stepped out of the comforting embrace of the utopia and into something… wild, untamed.

“This place feels… wrong,” Aria whispered, glancing at Takumi as they approached an old, rusted tower in the distance.

Takumi nodded; his gaze fixed ahead. “This tower is an anomaly. DreamHub had long assumed the signal was dormant, but whatever has been disrupting the DreamLink… it is connected to this place.”

They moved closer, each step reverberating in the empty silence. As they reached the tower, Takumi took out a small device, pressing it against a panel on the tower’s base. The device beeped, and with a low hum, the panel slid open to reveal a hidden entryway.

The air inside was thick and stale. Faint lights flickered on as they descended a spiral staircase, illuminating walls lined with old, outdated equipment and a scattering of wires hanging like dead vines. Aria shivered, feeling as though something was watching them.

Finally, they reached a control room at the heart of the tower. In the center stood an ancient console, its screens flickering weakly. Takumi activated it, and a stream of data filled the monitors.

“What is all this?” Aria asked, eyes scanning the display.

Takumi’s brow furrowed as he analyzed the data. “It looks like… an experimental DreamSync prototype, abandoned when the current DreamLink system was developed. But it is still connected. Someone has been using this as a backdoor into the network.”

Aria’s pulse quickened. “Do you think this is where the nightmares are coming from?”

Takumi nodded grimly. “It is possible. But whoever or whatever is responsible has advanced access. They have manipulated this old system in ways that are nearly undetectable to the central DreamHub.”

Suddenly, the console flickered, and a low, distorted voice crackled through the speakers, echoing off the walls.

“Why do you seek to undo this peace?”

The voice was familiar chillingly so. Aria froze, her mind flashing back to the haunting figure in her dreams.

Takumi’s eyes widened, his hand instinctively reaching toward the console’s controls. “Who are you? What do you want?”

The voice laughed, a sound that seemed to seep into Aria’s bones. “I am the truth hidden within your dreams, the voice of the forgotten. This peace… this illusion… it must end. Humanity has grown complacent, stagnant. I am here to remind you of what lies beneath.”

The voice faded into silence, leaving only the hum of the outdated machinery.

Takumi clenched his fists. “This… whatever it is, it is trying to destabilize the entire DreamLink. If it succeeds, it could shatter everything we have built.”

Aria swallowed hard, feeling the weight of his words. “But why? Why go to such lengths to disrupt the peace?”

Takumi shook his head. “We may be dealing with a sentient anomaly, something or someone who wants to pull humanity back into chaos.”

Aria glanced at the console, feeling a strange connection to the mysterious entity. “Takumi… it’s not just trying to disrupt. It’s trying to communicate.”

He looked at her, a flicker of doubt in his eyes. “Communicate? Aria, this thing is dangerous. We cannot risk letting it gain more control.”

But Aria’s curiosity was stronger than her fear. She stepped closer to the console, pressing her hand against the cold metal.

“If you’re trying to say something… then show me,” she whispered.

The screens flickered again, and for a moment, Aria glimpsed images flashes of a world not unlike Neo-Tokyo, but ravaged by conflict, a broken landscape littered with ruins. Faces of people, terrified and alone, appeared before fading into darkness.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the vision disappeared, leaving only static.

Takumi grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back. “Enough, Aria. We need to report this to DreamHub.”

But as they ascended the staircase, a question lingered in Aria’s mind. What if the entity was not just a nightmare? What if it was a warning, an echo from a forgotten past, or perhaps a fractured future?