DRIFTFORCE:IGNITION

They called it The Ghost Ring because those who entered didn't return.

Not because they died—though some did.But because they changed.

The track wasn't on any map. It existed beneath the veins of the old megacity, carved into the remains of a pre-flood transport loop abandoned after the Grid Collapse. No lights, no exits, just spiraling tunnels soaked in oil and legend.

No rules. No resets. Just rubber and rage.

Marcel's hands gripped the wheel.He could feel it—the shift. Like reality wasn't fixed anymore.Ayaka sat in her Spectra just behind, visor down, her neon-lit rims like burning halos.And the hooded stranger? He rolled in silently beside them, riding a machine unlike anything Marcel had ever seen—sleek, matte-black, no visible exhaust, just a soft hum that felt... alive.

"Name?" Marcel asked.

The man tilted his head. "I don't drift with names."

Great. A phantom with a car that sounded like death breathing.

Ravyn pinged the internal comm.

"Track scanned. 8 kilometers. 7 sectors. Zero margin for error.""And Marcel... it's watching us."

"Define it."

"The Ring has sensors. Organic ones. I think... the track has a mind."

Marcel shifted gears. "Perfect."

The launch flare shot up from the drone that now acted as referee.It counted down.

3... 2... 1... GO.

The tunnel howled open like a throat and swallowed them whole.

Sector 1: Descent Spiral

The cars dropped down a corkscrew so steep it felt vertical. G-force pinned them like invisible hands. Marcel feathered the e-brake and let his rear wheels kick into a perfect downward drift, skating the edge of grip. One inch off and he'd have hit the wall so hard he'd reboot in another dimension.

The stranger? He rode the wall. Literally. Tires upside-down on the curved ceiling. Anti-grav tech? Witchcraft? Marcel didn't know—just that it was fast. Too fast.

Sector 2: Needle's Eye

The tunnel narrowed to barely wider than the cars. Every micro-turn was suicide. Ayaka clipped her fender on an ancient pipe, sparks flying like fireworks. Marcel sucked in his breath and threaded through without even blinking.

"Your heartbeat just dropped to 52 BPM," Ravyn said.

"I'm not driving. I'm dreaming."

Sector 3: Mirage Sector

Lights. Shadows. Echoes. Suddenly Marcel saw his brother's car in front of him. Burnt, flipped, broken—like the crash. But it wasn't real.

Was it?

Ayaka's Spectra flickered too—her old drift crew appeared beside her. Ghosts.

"Don't look at them!" Marcel shouted through the comms.

Too late.

The stranger's car vanished ahead of them, swallowed in shadow.Only two remained.

Sector 4: Firewall Loop

The track split and lit on fire. Actual lines of fire traced the racing lines.

"Drive through it," Marcel said.

"You sure?" Ayaka barked.

"No. But I'm done slowing down for anything that's trying to scare me."

He plunged through.

Sector 5: Zero-G Stretch

Gravity died. Literally. The cars began floating mid-drift, still in motion, still spinning—but no weight. Marcel's tires lost traction. He felt the Skyline yaw to the left.

"Drift with no road," Ravyn whispered."Use inertia. Drift with your soul."

Marcel closed his eyes. Counter-steer. Pulse the brakes.Time bent around him like silk.

He floated sideways into perfection.Ayaka screamed as she slammed the Spectra into the invisible lane behind him.

Sector 6: Mirror Drive

Screens lit up. Hundreds of them—showing alternate versions of themselves. One showed Marcel dying. Another showed Ayaka's crash that ruined her championship. Another… showed Marcel winning the World Drift Syndicate title with his brother at his side.

"Keep your eyes forward!" he roared. "They're just echoes!"

They pressed through, blind to everything but the flickering pulse of the finish.

Sector 7: The Eye

A drone hovered.

No—not a drone. A camera the size of a truck.And behind it, the outline of a throne. Someone was watching.

Ayaka whispered: "This isn't a race... it's a selection."

Marcel slammed the throttle. Passed the finish. Smoke. Screams. Silence.

Then a message appeared across the wall.

SELECTED.YOU ARE NOW ELIGIBLE FOR LEVEL TWO.CODE NAME: "VANISH."

The door opened. They rolled into silence.

The stranger was waiting.

"You survived," he said. "So let me ask you, Switchblade…"He pulled off his hood.

Marcel's heart stopped.

"Do you want to know who really killed your brother?"