The laptop screen didn't show a game. It showed a live feed of the cafe—a camera angle from the ceiling he hadn't noticed before. He saw himself sitting at the desk, and he saw the thing standing directly behind his chair, its hand reaching out to touch his shoulder. Elias didn't look back. He couldn't. On the screen, a final message appeared:

It was the final piece of the puzzle. He had spent all week scouring obscure forums and dodging malware pop-ups to find the first four parts of the legendary "lost" build of the game. Rumor had it this version contained levels removed for being "psychologically taxing," but Elias didn’t care about the warnings. He just wanted to see what was behind the fog gate. With a sharp ding , the progress bar turned green. "Finally," he whispered, his voice raspy.

The other four parts were the body, the screen read. Part 5 is the breath.

He right-clicked the file and hit Extract Here . The laptop’s fan began to scream, spinning at a terrifying speed. Instead of the usual extraction window, a black command prompt flickered onto the screen.

Elias frowned. The site hadn't mentioned a password. He tried "password," "1234," and "apunkagames." Each time, the screen flashed a violent red. On the fourth attempt, the prompt changed.

Elias paused. This wasn't a standard crack. He typed the only thing that felt right: Nothing.