Welcome to

Read and write stories with our community and AI

You can start a new story of your own, branch out from an existing chapter, or play through an AI generated text adventure! Subscribe to Premium for full access to all stories and much higher AI usage!

  • The Third Fever

    Chapter by barackobrahma · 01 Feb 2026
  • It was only the afternoon of the fatidic day, yet the world Daniel had known for decades had already been dismantled. What began as a terrifying neurological assault on the mountain—a blinding, white-hot agony that threatened to snap his sanity—had crystallized into a chilling, newfound clarity. The static had died down, replaced by a low, predatory hum that vibrated in the marrow of his bones.

    He could see the ports now. They were glowing, violet invitations nestled at the base of every human skull he passed, flickering like dying stars or pulsing with a rhythmic, bioluminescent hunger. They were the keys to unlock secrets he couldn't yet imagine, doorways into the wet, malleable architecture of the mind.
  • Comment
  • The sun hung low and sickly over the ridge, but Daniel didn't look up. He drove toward the small town at the base of the mountain, his stomach a hollow pit. His fridge was still empty, save for a jar of mustard and a half-rotting lemon.

    He parked outside The Rusty Nail, a dim hole-in-the-wall that smelled of pine sol and regret. He needed to think. He needed to process the fact that Blackwood Peak was now a fortress of federal SUVs and men in radiation suits. He couldn't go back to the source—not yet. If he wanted to understand his situation, he had to stop looking at the mountain and start looking at himself.

    He ordered a whiskey, neat. As he sat at the scarred wooden bar, he let his gaze drift across the other patrons. That was when he saw them.

    The world looked… porous.

    If he squinted, the people in the bar weren't just bodies. Behind their eyes, nestled at the base of their skulls, he saw the metaphysical sockets. Some were faint, flickering like dying lightbulbs in the elderly or the distracted. Others were vivid, pulsing with a soft, inviting violet glow. They were mental wall sockets, dozens of them, waiting for a connection. And Daniel could feel the "cable" coiled in the back of his own mind, heavy, hot, and hungry.

    How deep does it go? he wondered. Can I change them? Can I rewrite a person like a computer file, test the limits, and then hit 'undo'?

    He needed a subject. Not a fed, not a friend. Someone who wouldn't raise suspicious. Someone who wouldn't ask questions.

    He left the bar and crossed the street toward a shop with a neon sign depicting a crescent moon. Mara’s Tarot & Trinkets.

    When he pushing through the door, the scent of sage and stale incense hit him. Mara was behind the counter. She was in her late forties, a woman who had mastered a specific "milf" energy—her curves were draped in flowy, translucent shawls, and her eyes were painted with makeup to suggest she knew secrets the world had forgotten.

    She saw Daniel—grizzled, eyes wide and haunted—and her "business" brain kicked in. She saw a man ready to drop two, maybe three benjamins to hear that his luck was going to change. She ensnared him with a practiced, mystical smile.

    "You have a heavy aura, traveler," …
  • To continue reading 6.2K words...
No more chapters.