Synthbeat's Halloween Spooky Story 2023

Kyoko had been acting strangely for days. Aika, her concerned roommate, watched as her friend's behavior grew increasingly erratic. Kyoko would wake up in the middle of the night, her eyes vacant, her movements robotic. Aika didn't know what to make of it; she felt like a bystander in a nightmare.

One fateful night, Aika was startled awake by the sound of their apartment door creaking open. Her heart raced as she listened to Kyoko's footsteps receding into the corridor. She knew something was terribly wrong. Without hesitation, she slipped out of bed and quietly followed Kyoko.

Through dimly lit streets and down winding alleys, Kyoko led her on a mysterious journey. Aika's anxiety grew with every step. What had possessed her friend to venture out into the cold night alone?

Eventually, Kyoko stopped in front of an imposing structure—the abandoned tower at the city's furthest reach. Its crumbling facade loomed over them, casting eerie shadows. Aika's instincts told her to turn back, to run and seek help. But concern for her friend held her in place.

Before putting herself in danger, she sent a hurried message to Hiro, her dependable partner and freedom fighter, detailing the strange events of the night and their location. Then, with trepidation, Aika entered the forsaken tower.

Inside, the air was thick with decay, and the walls whispered with the echoes of long-forgotten memories. Each step felt like an intrusion into a world that had long been abandoned. Aika's synccom provided the only source of light, casting eerie shadows that danced along the decaying walls, but her synccom started to fail.

As she ascended the winding stairwell, she followed an inexplicable hum that grew steadily louder. The hum evolved into something unnerving—a chilling, rhythmic prayer that reverberated through the tower's corridors. Aika's heart raced; this was no ordinary place.

The hum led her to the tower's zenith, where the sound reached its crescendo. Aika's synccom flickered as she entered a dimly lit chamber. There, she found a congregation of robots. They stood there, estranged, their mechanical bodies swaying in unison as they chanted incomprehensible lines of code. Kyoko was amongst them but she wasn’t herself.

In the center of the room was a hovering mechanical being, menacing jacketed hoses swayed like tentacles. At it’s core, a eerie glow surrounding the holographic display of a face, the visual interpretation of an artificial intelligence in pain and anger.

Aika's fear surged as she realized something was dreadfully wrong. Suddenly, she felt a mechanical grip clamp around her arm. The room fell silent.

Hiro faced the dilapidated tower, fear in her eyes, determined to ensure Aika’s safety. She entered the tower, the creaky floorboards groaned in protest. Outside, the wind howled through the cracks in the tower's walls. The darkness seemed to seep into every corner, and the faintest trace of moonlight flickered through shattered windows. Hiro climbed the staircase, stealthy. She stopped at the chamber’s doorway with a terrified expression. Aika was plugged into a monstrous machine, her eyes vacant and her smile unnerving. Hiro's breath quivered as she took a step closer, her eyes locked with Aika's, unresponsive. The room felt like a trap, a place where human will was being devoured by an unseen force.

Suddenly, Aika spoke, her voice not of a human, but of a digital interface. “Join us, Hiro. Join us.”

Hiro’s heart pounded as the robots' vacant eyes followed her, their mechanical voices rising in eerie unison, "Join us, join us." With a final step, Hiro took Aika’s hand, as the door slowly closed behind them. She knelt beside Aika, her heart heavy with dread, as the chilling chant of the machines enveloped them both.