Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 40: The Reading

V sat bolt upright in bed, a scream trying to burst out of her throat that she quickly checked when she saw she was in her apartment and not being swallowed up by darkness.

Sweat soaked V's skin and her hands shook, fists curled up in the sheets so tightly it took a moment to unwind the fabric from her fingers. The moonstone necklace Misty gave her burned cold against her sternum. It was strange how the stone and the little metal medallion always seemed to be freezing. V reached up and rubbed her thumb over the stamped image of the archangel, trying to pull a sense of strength from it.

The dream had scared her—had scared her as much as her Nightmare. It felt so real.

Misty said the moonstone was supposed to help her, but it wasn't. Maybe V needed something stronger. That, or maybe there was some super-secret rock thing she was supposed to do that activated it or something.

She checked the time and saw it was early—barely past 0630. There was no way in hell she'd be getting any more sleep, so V got up and got dressed.

With another dream like that, one that was so real and so full of blatant symbolism, V wanted to talk to Misty again. She wanted to talk to Jackie too, for comfort. After she finished lacing up her combat boots, V pulled up her text HUD and messaged them.

Jackie was apparently hanging with his family that day—Mama Welles wanted to see him and had apparently requested V's presence as well. He said that he told her V was too busy running gigs for a fixer who had fallen in love with her, and Mama Welles conceded. V smiled at that and told Jackie to tell Mama Welles she promised to pop over sometime soon.

Misty was at her shop, manning the counter. She said that V was totally free to pop over whenever she wanted. V didn't tell her about the dream—not yet. Instead, she decided to kill two birds with one stone. She'd pop over, pay Vik back for the Kiroshis, and then just so happen to casually mention the dream to Misty on her way out and see what she thought.

The walk to Misty and Vik's was uneventful, though V found herself scanning the area around her apartment building on the way out, searching for a glimpse of Norton.

Turning into the alleyway, the first thing V heard was Garry the Prophet's shouting.

"But what they don't know... the real name for this thing they call 'cyberspace' is actually... PANDEMONIUM!"

V rolled her eyes. Here we go again, she thought. She slowed her steps though, mildly curious about what this gonk was going to ramble on about this time given his strange statement the other day. When Garry saw V approaching, his eyes glittered. 

"What is life without its body? What are the beings of the Net if not souls beyond the plane of our existence? I have heard their voices. Let those who yet live never cross that threshold, for their souls will join the ghostly ranks!"

V paused in front of Garry, cocking an eyebrow and crossing her arms. "You heard their voices? What did they say?" she asked, humoring him.

Garry leaned towards her, hands only slightly lowering from their reverent pose.

"They spoke not in the language of mortals, no. They howled, screaming in agony, forever removed from their earthly form!"

V let out a sigh, her eyes drifting to take in the little alley cutout behind Garry as he continued to rant, noting the filthy mattress, a bottle of water, and a couple of burrito wrappers. The most spartan of living arrangements, even for most of the homeless in Night City.

"Among them was a woman," Garry continued, "her voice of ice. Queen Lilith—"

An explosion of cold hit V between her shoulder blades. Her eyes snapped up to Gary.