Emotion Hunter: System Awakening.

Day of the Veil exploration:

The university district:

The university district looked different with Hunter Guild vehicles parked around it.

What had been a quiet academic area during their nighttime Veil run now buzzed with official activity.

Vehicles bearing the Guild's crossed-sword shield emblem surrounded the plaza where they'd entered the Forsaken Archive, and uniformed personnel moved between them with the efficiency of a well-organized investigation.

"Shit," Jake whispered from their observation point behind a shipping container. "That's a lot of Hunters."

Maya was already taking photos with her phone, zooming in on the equipment and personnel. "There are Three official Guild vehicles, at least eight Hunters, and some kind of scanning equipment I don't recognize."

Riven felt his stomach drop as he watched the professional operation unfolding around what should have been their training ground.

Through their connection, Marcus was radiating the same anxiety.

"They found the Veil sites," Marcus said quietly. "Both of them in fact. The Riverside District and the Archive location."

"How do you know?" Maya asked.

"Look at the equipment they're using." Marcus pointed to a device that looked like a crossbreed between a metal detector and a satellite dish. "That's dimensional residue scanning gear. That means they're mapping everywhere we've been."

The team crouched behind cover, watching as the investigation continued.

One of the Hunters....a woman with short blonde hair with a straightened posture and a tanned skin.....was directing the scanning operation while others took samples and measurements.

"Inspector Kane," one of the junior Hunters called out to her, holding up some kind of tablet. "We're getting strong system signature readings. Its definitely unregistered, possibly Class A or higher."

Class A.

Riven knew enough about Hunter classifications to understand that meant they considered him potentially dangerous.

Inspector Kane approached the junior Hunter, examining the readings on his device.

Even from a distance, her body language suggested she was taking this investigation very seriously....she almost ran to him.

"What's the Timeline?" she asked.

"There have been Multiple entries over the past two weeks. Most recent was approximately eighteen hours ago."

Eighteen hours....

Their quick run to the Forsaken Archive. They were tracking his activities with frightening precision.

"Pattern analysis suggests a two-person team initially, expanding to potential four-person operations," another Hunter reported. "It's an Unauthorized system user with at least one enhanced civilian partner."

Maya grabbed Riven's arm. "They know about Marcus. They know about all of us."

"Not all of us," Jake said. "They said 'potential' four-person operations. They're not certain about the team size yet."

Inspector Kane was speaking into a communication device. "Priority investigation done. There's an Unknown system user, with multiple unauthorized Veil entries, escalating operational complexity. Request immediate support for location and containment protocols."

Containment protocols.

That didn't sound like they were planning to offer Riven a job.

"We need to go," Marcus said urgently. "Right now!, before they expand the search area."

"Go where?" Maya asked. "If they're tracking dimensional residue, they probably know where we've been meeting, where we live, everything."

She was right.

The warehouse where they'd tested equipment, Riven's apartment, the campus locations....all of it would show traces of his system usage and Veil exposure.

"My car's parked six blocks away," Jake said. "We can at least get distance before we figure out our next move."

They retreated carefully, using shipping containers and abandoned buildings for cover as they made their way toward Jake's vehicle.

The walk felt like it took hours, every sound making them jump, every shadow might potentially be hiding Guild surveillance....so they had to be careful.

Once they were safely in Jake's car and driving away from the district, the real discussion began.

"Any options?" Riven asked, checking behind them for any signs of pursuit.

"Register voluntarily," Maya said immediately. "Present yourself to the Guild, explain your circumstances, and let's hope they're reasonable about your family situation."

"They were talking about containment protocols," Marcus pointed out. "That doesn't sound like they're in a reasonable mood."

"Option two," Jake said, focused on the road, "we disappear. Leave town, go somewhere they can't track us, figure out how to continue the mission without official interference."

"That makes us fugitives," Maya said. "And it abandons your college education, your support network, everything normal about your lives."

"Normal ended the moment I stepped into that first Veil," Riven said. "The question is whether we run now or wait for them to find us."

His phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "Mr. Duke, i am Inspector Kane, Hunter Guild Regulatory Division. We need to discuss your recent activities. Please report to Silver Town Guild Hall within 24 hours to avoid escalation of this matter."

"They have my number," he said, showing the message to the others.

"How?" Jake asked.

"System registration traces, probably. Every time I use abilities, it leaves a signature they can track back to my identity." Riven felt the weight of inevitability settling on his shoulders. "They know exactly who I am."

Marcus was staring at his own phone. "I got one too. 'Mr. Chen, your association with an unregistered system user puts you in violation of civilian protection protocols. Report for debriefing within 24 hours.'"

"Maya? Jake?" Riven asked.

They checked their phones.

Nothing yet, but that might just mean the investigation hadn't reached them.

"So what's the play?" Jake asked, pulling into a fast-food parking lot where they could talk without driving aimlessly.

Riven looked at his friends....people who'd risked their safety and their futures to help him chase an impossible dream.

Maya with her medical expertise and organizational skills, Jake with his resources and steady support, Marcus who'd shared his dangers from the beginning.

"You three don't need to report anywhere," he said finally. "This is my problem. I'm the one with the unregistered system, I'm the one who violated their protocols."

"Bullshit," Marcus said immediately. "We're a team. We face this together."

"No, he's right," Maya said, though she looked unhappy about it. "If Riven reports voluntarily and takes responsibility, it might keep the rest of us out of official trouble. He can present it as a solo operation with civilian friends who got dragged in accidentally."

"I'm not letting him face Hunter Guild interrogation alone," Jake said. "These people have more power than governments. What if they decide he's too dangerous to let walk free?"

The question hung in the air between them.

Riven knew the stories about unregistered system users who'd been forcibly recruited or simply disappeared.

The Guilds maintained order through power, and unauthorized abilities were seen as threats to that order.

"Twenty-four hours," Marcus said, reading his message again. "That gives us time to prepare, maybe gather information about this Inspector Kane and what she's really after."

"Or it gives us time to run," Jake pointed out.

Maya was already pulling up information on her phone. "Inspector Kane, Hunter Guild Regulatory Division. She specializes in system anomalies and unauthorized usage. Success rate for voluntary compliance... is seventy-three percent."

"What happens to the other twenty-seven percent?" Riven asked.

"Forced recruitment, power suppression, or classified reassignment." Maya's voice was grim. "Not great options."

Riven's system interface flickered at the edge of his vision, responding to his emotional stress.

For a moment, he considered looting his own anxiety to think more clearly, but stopped himself. He needed to feel the full weight of this decision.

"There's a third option," he said slowly. "We accelerate everything. Find a Red Veil, take bigger risks, and gain enough power that the Guild has to treat me as an asset rather than a problem."

"That's insane," Maya said. "Red Veils are designed for teams of experienced Hunters. We're not ready for that level of threat."

"But if I'm strong enough, if my abilities are valuable enough, they might be willing to negotiate rather than simply contain."

Marcus was nodding slowly. "High risk, does have high reward after all. Instead of facing them as an unauthorized civilian with basic abilities, we face them as someone with demonstrated capability and potential."

"It's still incredibly dangerous," Jake said. "If we fail, we're dead. If we succeed but not enough, we're still at their mercy."

"And if we don't try, I lose any chance of finding my family, and you all get swept up in whatever punishment they decide I deserve."

The decision felt impossible, but Riven knew they were out of time for careful planning and gradual progression. The Guild's investigation had forced their hand.

"Red Veil," he said finally. "Tonight. Wehave to find the strongest one we can access, we push our abilities to the limit, and we gain enough power to matter."

"And if it kills us?" Maya asked.

"Then at least we went down fighting for something that mattered."

Jake started the car again. "Where do we find a Red Veil?"

Riven pulled out the Veil Compass, watching its needle swing toward a new direction....further from the city center, toward the abandoned zones where stronger rifts were more likely to manifest.

"Its Northwest," he said. "About fifteen kilometers. I think it's a Rural area, probably minimal civilian presence."

"Perfect for a dangerous interdimensional expedition with a twenty-four-hour deadline," Marcus said with dark humor.

As they drove toward their potentially final mission, Riven felt the familiar mixture of terror and determination that had carried him through every Veil entry.

But now it was amplified by the knowledge that failure meant not just his own death, but the end of any hope for his family and the destruction of his friends' futures.

"I hope this works in our favor...."