The city of Neo-Lagos never slept.
It breathed in circuits and sang in algorithms, pulsing through skyrail veins and pixelated halos of holograms. Neon light bathed the skyline in hues of electric prophecy. Down in Zone 4, forgotten wires hissed lullabies to the rats, and shuttered code-vaults whispered to those brave—or foolish—enough to listen.
Eka Olani was born of that whisper.
Not to power or privilege, but to rhythm—the rhythm of survival. A runner. A rogue. A name that flickered on encrypted black-net boards. Tonight, she wasn’t just another shadow slicing through the city’s underlayer. Tonight, she was chasing a ghost.
Her mother.
Tightening her cobalt hood, Eka ducked through steam-fogged corridors and collapsed scaffolds, her holo-pad buzzing as it synced with the coordinates only she could see—ones left for her ten years ago. Olani K’Ari, once one of Neo-Lagos’ greatest code architects, had vanished after the “Shroud Collapse.” Official records called it an accident. Whispers beneath the servers told a different story: that she'd found something dangerous. Something no one should have written.
An algorithm that could rewrite destiny.
They called it the Algorithm of Fate.
Now, Eka stood before a rust-streaked shaft beneath an abandoned subway station. Her pulse matched the rhythm of old city hums. One deep breath—and she dropped down.
The world changed.
The chamber below was octagonal, its walls pulsing with radiant glyphs that scrolled and rewrote themselves in real time. It wasn’t just code—it was living language. Her pad blinked once. Then died.
No signal. No escape.
A hum rose like a heartbeat awakening.
Then light gathered in the center of the room, congealing into a projection that looked too detailed to be digital. A woman’s face—firm jawline, eyes alive with burden and brilliance.
Olani K’Ari. Her mother.
“You found the Vault,” the figure said, layered in fragments of static. “You found me.”
Eka’s knees buckled. “I… don’t understand—”
“You don’t need to,” her mother interrupted softly. “You will. You are the Keeper now. The Algorithm is yours. Its threads respond to your decisions, your breath, your defiance.”
The glyphs shifted—one final phrase restructured itself beneath her feet, encircling her in binary light.
GENETIC BINDING COMPLETE.
The power hit like thunder.
It surged through her chest, through her spine, through her very thoughts. Her eyes glazed with spirals of unfolding futures—splinters of paths not yet taken, choices not yet made. She saw a fire in the financial district. A child crying at a train station. A war council forming beneath the sea. All probabilities. All waiting for her to alter them.
The projection dimmed. But her mother’s voice sharpened.
“They will come. The Guardians. The Architects. Even your friends. Some will want to use you. Others will want to erase you. Run, Eka. Find the Mapmaker. He guards the Nexus—where threads converge.”
Then the light vanished.
But the air behind her had already changed.
A siren pinged inside her dead pad, the screen rebooting with a single flashing alert:
ALGORITHM DETECTED. SUBJECT: EKA OLANI. THREAT CLASS: OMEGA-9. EXTERMINATE.
“Shit.”
She turned. And ran.
Out of the vault. Into chaos.
Up rusted ladders. Over shattered skybridges. Her boots scraped across glass and memory. Drones swarmed above like digital wasps. The city that once ignored her now watched her.
A route unfolded in her mind—three paths forward. One led to death. One to capture. One to something… unknown.
She chose the unknown.
Atop a flickering magrail, she leapt onto a rolling maintenance board, sparks screaming behind her. Neon buildings blurred by. The city lights formed numbers now—hidden codes beneath advertisements, secrets etched in shadow.
And then—static in her comms.
A voice, smooth and patient.
“The Nexus awaits. The Mapmaker sees you.”
Not a drone. Not synthetic.
Someone knew she was coming.
She tightened her grip on the board and looked back—at the drones slicing through the smog, at the sky cracking with thunder.
She wasn’t running anymore.
She was the Algorithm now.
And Neo-Lagos had just changed forever.
But power didn’t come with answers. Not yet.
And far below the chaos of flickering lights and shrieking drones, a presence waited. Watching. Mapping every step she took.
In the forgotten corners of the city—he already knew she was coming.
YOU ARE READING
Eka Oloni: Keeper of the Algorithm of Fate
Science FictionIn the neon-washed city of Neo-Lagos, the future isn't guessed-it's calculated. When street-runner Eka Olani stumbles into a vault buried deep beneath the city, she inherits a power that should not exist: the Algorithm of Fate-a sentient system capa...
