I Woke Up as Nobody

My mirror showed nothing, not even me. I stood in my hab’s dim light, fingers clawing at glass, expecting a crack, a glitch, anything. Just void. My name was Kael, or it used to be. I was a hacker, slicing data for corps in Neonspire’s undergrid. Now my reflection was gone, and my slate’s ID read blank. No face, no code, no proof I existed.

I stumbled to my console, boots scuffing steel. The city hummed outside, its violet towers pulsing like a heartbeat. My logs were wiped, but one message blinked: “Find the Hollow. Claim yourself.” No sender. My pulse spiked. The Hollow was a myth, a black-market rig where identities got shredded or sold. I grabbed my coat, loaded my stunner, and hit the streets.

Neonspire’s alleys reeked of coolant and lies. Holo-ads screamed my old bounties, but no one glanced my way. I passed a vendor, her eyes skimming past me like I was air. At a scan booth, my print failed. “No record,” the bot droned. I wasn’t invisible, just erased. My gut said run, but where? I had no past to lean on, no name to call home.

The Hollow’s coords led to a sunken warehouse, its walls etched with static burns. Inside, a figure waited, hooded, beside a rig of spinning mirrors. “You’re late, Kael,” he said, voice low, familiar. I aimed my stunner. “Who sent you?” He laughed, pulling back his hood. My face stared back, sharper, older, alive. “I’m you, or what’s left. Want your name? Pay up.”

He gestured to the rig. Its mirrors flickered, showing fragments: me coding at 17, dodging enforcers, laughing with a girl whose name I’d lost. “Your life’s in there,” he said. “Give me your will, I’ll make you whole.” I saw it now. The Hollow didn’t steal faces. It traded them for choice, for freedom to be nobody. My double grinned, like he’d won.

I asked, “What’s will worth if I’m not me?” He shrugged. “What’s a name without purpose? Decide, or fade.” The mirrors spun faster, my fragments blurring. I saw the girl again, her eyes fading. I wanted her name, my fights, my scars. But his deal smelled wrong. If I gave up choice, I’d be his ghost, not Kael.

I fired. The stunner cracked his chest, but he didn’t fall. Mirrors shattered, screaming static. Pain hit, like my bones dissolved. I saw my life rewind: every hack, every loss, every choice. Not his to take. I lunged, smashed the rig’s core. Sparks flew, and my double vanished, his laugh echoing. The warehouse went dark.

I crawled out, city noise flooding back. My slate buzzed, ID flickering: Kael, no surname, just enough. A street mirror caught me, face faint but mine, scarred, real. I wasn’t whole. Chunks of my past stayed gone, maybe forever. But I had my will, my fight. The girl’s name didn’t come, but I felt her, a spark I’d chase.

Neonspire didn’t care. Bots scanned me, vendors nodded, life rolled on. I wondered if the Hollow rebuilt, if others woke empty. Didn’t matter. I’d code again, carve my mark, choose my truth. Nobody could take that, not even me. I walked, slate in pocket, city alive. What’s a face worth? Only what you make it.