Taboo Online

After the call, Luke and Lauren got dressed and spent most of the afternoon moving between offices.

There were consent forms, medical waivers, confidentiality agreements, ability registration documents, and several pages explaining that neither the government nor the Hero Bureau fully understood the risks of Powerforge.

Lauren read every line.

Luke tried, but after the seventh form, the words began to blur together.

She noticed him staring blankly at the page.

"Do not sign something you have not read."

"I’m reading."

"You have been looking at the same paragraph for three minutes."

"It’s a complicated paragraph."

"It says you must report any new physical symptoms."

Luke lowered his voice.

"I knew that."

Lauren pulled the document closer and began summarizing it for him.

By the time they finished, Luke felt as though he had signed away every part of his body except his soul. He asked one of the officials whether that required a separate form.

The man did not laugh.

Lauren did.

Once the paperwork was complete, they met Dr. Daniel Shaw, the neurological connection specialist assigned to supervise their dive.

Shaw focused on the practical details. Sensors would monitor their hearts, brains, muscles, and ability-related energy changes. Intravenous lines would provide fluids and nutrients if they remained connected longer than expected, while the capsules could control their temperature and adjust their bodies to prevent pressure injuries.

"If you experience pain inside the game, your real body may react," Dr. Shaw said. "Report anything unusual after you wake up, even if it seems minor."

Luke nodded.

Lauren asked, "Will you be able to detect changes to our skills?"

"Not directly. We can detect changes in energy output, neural activity, and physical condition. If a new ability affects one of those, we may notice it."

"But you cannot identify the ability itself."

"No."

Lauren seemed satisfied with that answer.

Luke was not entirely sure whether he felt relieved or worried.

The Bureau could see what happened to their bodies, but not what caused it. If something inside Powerforge made his heart race, damaged his mind, or changed his abilities, the doctors might notice the reaction without understanding the danger behind it.

That meant the people outside could only help so much.

The following morning, they entered the newly prepared facility.

The Hero Bureau had transformed a large underground chamber into something between a hospital ward and a training center. Rows of reinforced capsules filled the room, and medical equipment stood beside each one. Thick cables ran beneath the floor and connected them to monitoring stations behind glass walls.

Dozens of awakened candidates had gathered for the first supervised dive.

Some looked nervous, while others could barely contain their excitement. They compared the classes and abilities they had already awakened, discussed the changes Powerforge had caused in their real bodies, and wondered what further evolution awaited them inside.

They were not there merely to play a game.

Every person in the chamber had been brought into the program because Powerforge had changed them. Under the Hero Bureau’s supervision, they would strengthen their abilities, learn to control the powers that had followed them into reality, and potentially become the first wave of heroes shaped by another world.

For many of them, the dive marked the beginning of a new life. Powerforge offered more than levels or stronger skills. It offered them a path toward becoming people capable of standing against awakened criminals and other threats ordinary authorities might no longer be equipped to handle.

No one knew what further changes the game would cause or how far that evolution could go.

They had entered the facility to find out.

Luke and Lauren walked through the chamber hand in hand.

They shared the others’ desire to grow stronger, but they understood the danger more personally than many of the candidates around them. They had already faced a dungeon boss together. They knew the pain felt real, the monsters could kill, and abilities gained inside Powerforge could follow a person back into reality.

Their assigned capsules stood beside each other. A nurse checked their identification and told them to lie down.

Luke climbed inside his capsule and found the interior softer than expected. Padded supports adjusted beneath his back, neck, and legs, while the curved interior shifted until it held him firmly without becoming uncomfortable.

Lauren settled into the capsule beside his.

Medical staff began attaching sensors to their bodies. Cold electrodes pressed against Luke’s chest and temples, a band tightened around his upper arm, and another sensor was fixed over his wrist.

Then the nurse prepared the intravenous line.

Luke held his arm still while she inserted the needle and secured the tubing against his skin.

Lauren glanced toward him from the next capsule.

"You are being unusually cooperative."

"I’m saving my complaints for whatever waits inside the dungeon."

Lauren laughed softly.

The nurse finished checking the line and moved on to the remaining sensors.

"You’ll remain conscious until the headset activates," she explained. "Once the connection begins, try not to resist it."

"What happens if we do?" Luke asked.

"We don’t know."

"That’s reassuring."

The nurse gave him an apologetic smile.

Around them, the noise gradually faded as more candidates entered their capsules. Transparent covers lowered into place, and the medical staff completed their final checks.

Through the clear surface above him, Luke saw doctors moving between stations and technicians watching lines of data appear across their monitors.

None of them would be able to see what waited inside Powerforge.

That part belonged entirely to the people entering it.

Luke turned his head toward Lauren. Her long black hair spread beneath her head, and despite all the equipment attached to her, she looked strangely calm.

She extended one hand toward him.

The gap between the capsules was too wide for them to touch, but Luke lifted his own hand anyway.

Lauren smiled.

"See you inside."

"Right beside me?"

"Where else would I be?"

Luke closed his eyes.

The headset tightened slightly around his temples, and a faint vibration passed through the capsule. Somewhere beyond the cover, a machine began to beep.

The darkness behind his eyelids deepened. For one uncertain moment, nothing happened.

Then the world pulled him away.

Something seized him by the chest and dragged him through an impossibly narrow tunnel. Cold air struck his face, and his stomach lurched before the sensation released him without warning.

Luke was spat out of nowhere.

His boots struck wet soil, and he stumbled forward into darkness with his long spear already clutched in one hand.

Rain hammered against his head, shoulders, and the wooden shaft.

It was nothing like normal rain.

The droplets were heavy, thick, and black. They struck the ground with wet splashes and clung to his clothes like oil.

A notification appeared before him.

[You have entered the Dungeon of the Black Rain.]

Luke wiped the water from his face and looked around.

Tall trees surrounded him, their twisted branches forming a tangled canopy overhead. What little light existed above could barely reach the ground, and black rain poured through the leaves, swallowing the forest.

He could only see a few steps ahead.

Violet light gathered beside him as Lauren’s Yvonne avatar began to form. Her glossy black costume appeared first, followed by her long dark hair and the glowing violet blindfold covering her eyes.

She dropped onto one knee as the last traces of light disappeared, then rose before Luke could reach her.

"Lauren?"

The rain swallowed his voice so completely that he barely heard the first syllable.

Lauren straightened and turned slowly, searching through the storm, but her face passed over his position. She clearly had not heard him.

Water crashed against the trees, the ground, and their bodies with enough force to drown out every other sound. Lauren already depended heavily on hearing while using her Yvonne avatar, and the dungeon had taken that from her too.

Luke stepped closer and touched her arm.

Lauren reacted instantly and caught his wrist, but once she recognized him, she loosened her grip.

He leaned close to her ear.

"We need to stay together!"

Lauren frowned because she still could not hear him.

Luke took her hand instead.

She understood immediately and closed her fingers firmly around his.

The contact eased some of the tension in Luke’s chest. As long as they remained connected, Lauren would know where he was.

He only had to make sure nothing separated them.

Luke studied the forest.

The rain did more than block his vision.

Some droplets crawled along the bark instead of falling. Pools on the ground trembled beneath the storm, while thin streams of black water flowed upward over exposed roots.

A thick drop struck Luke’s spear and slid against gravity toward the blade.

He shook the weapon, and the liquid fell away.

Lauren tightened her fingers around his hand.

She had noticed something too.

Luke searched the darkness ahead, but the rain flattened every shape into black movement. Tree trunks appeared and vanished as the storm shifted, while the ground seemed to ripple beneath the shallow pools.

He did not understand the dungeon’s rules yet, which made every movement around them feel dangerous.

A few droplets struck the trunk of a nearby tree.

Instead of sliding down the bark, they bounced away and stretched through the air in thin strands of black liquid.

More droplets joined them.

The rain twisted together, gradually forming wings, a beak, and a pair of sharp claws.

A small bird made entirely of black water emerged beside the tree.

Luke stared at it for half a second too long.

The creature launched itself into the air without making a sound. It curved around Luke, using the storm to hide its approach as it tried to slip behind his right shoulder.

Luke caught the movement at the edge of his vision and began to raise his spear.

The liquid bird was already upon him.