A throbbing emptiness greeted Kael as he opened his eyes—or thought he did. Darkness surrounded him, so complete it felt tangible, pressing against his skin like a heavy blanket. His limbs hung suspended in nothingness, weightless yet immovable, as if the laws of physics had been selectively disabled.
"Where am I?" Kael's voice cracked, hoarse and unfamiliar.
No response. Only the faint crackle of static that seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere. Then, faint words, as if whispered by the void itself:
"Subject detected... Initializing... [ERROR]."
Kael froze, his breath catching in his throat. The voice sounded mechanical yet fractured, like a machine on the verge of breaking down. A flicker of light appeared in the corner of his vision, dim and fragmented, displaying a string of garbled text:
[Welcome to CRY#%@&^—The Sy$tem. Cla—]
The light blinked out, leaving him in silence again.
"What the hell was that?" Kael muttered, his voice trembling.
Fragments of his memory surfaced. A dull, persistent ache in his chest. A flash of a room filled with books. The smell of scorched circuits. Voices—distant and judgmental.
"He failed again."
"Why bother saving him? Just let him go."
“No... wait,” Kael whispered, reaching for the voices, but they slipped away like smoke.
Abruptly, the darkness shifted. A cold wind howled through the void, and Kael was falling—hurtling downward at a terrifying speed. A scream clawed its way out of his throat as faint light bloomed below him. Shapes emerged from the chaos—a jagged, crumbling stone platform.
Impact came hard and fast. Pain exploded through his body as he hit the surface, rolling across cracked tiles. His momentum stopped against a toppled pillar.
Groaning, Kael pushed himself upright, the taste of copper on his tongue. “This... is not a dream,” he muttered.
A faint hum resonated in the distance, growing louder with every passing second.
"Welcome... Subject. Class: Edgeweaver... Designation: [GLITCH]. Proceed with caution."
The words appeared in his mind like a brand, searing and unmistakable. But before Kael could process them, another notification followed, flashing red in his vision:
"WARNING: Hostile entities detected. Prepare for combat."
From the shadows of the ruined chamber, something moved.
Kael forced himself to his feet, every muscle in his body screaming in protest. The chamber around him was dim, lit only by faint pulses of light that emanated from cracks in the jagged stone walls. The air smelled of damp earth and something metallic, almost like blood.
The room was eerily quiet, except for the faint hum he had noticed earlier. It seemed to be coming from beyond a fractured archway ahead.
"Alright," Kael muttered to himself, "first step—figure out where the hell I am. Second step—get out alive."
His mind itched with the faint memory of a game-like system interface. Concentrating, he muttered, “Status?”
A flickering window materialized in his vision.
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[PLAYER STATUS - KAEL DRAYTH]
Class: Edgeweaver
Level: 1
Health: ???
Mana: ???
Skills: Shadow Stitch (Rank I)
Attributes: [ERROR]
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The screen glitched, distorting before disappearing entirely. Kael swore under his breath. "Of course. Even the interface is broken."
The sound of his voice echoed faintly, and the chamber responded with a shudder. Dust rained from the ceiling. Kael instinctively ducked, expecting it to collapse, but the trembling subsided.
“Great. Let’s add ‘unstable architecture’ to the list.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
He stepped cautiously toward the archway, his boots crunching on loose gravel. Beyond it, the corridor stretched into darkness, with faintly glowing runes carved into the walls. They pulsed in an irregular rhythm, almost like a heartbeat.
The hum grew louder.
Kael’s hand brushed the wall, and a notification blinked in his peripheral vision:
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[Environmental Interaction: Rune Identified - Amplification Node (Degraded)]
Effect: Nearby abilities enhanced but at a cost.
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He didn’t like the sound of "cost," but at least it meant his skills might work here. Concentrating, Kael tried to recall the only skill he seemed to have.
“Shadow Stitch,” he murmured.
A ripple of energy surged through him, sharp and cold. His shadow writhed unnaturally, stretching like liquid across the floor. Threads of darkness extended outward, binding to a loose chunk of rubble. With effort, Kael pulled, and the debris shifted slightly before the threads snapped, sending him stumbling backward.
He clutched his chest, feeling a sharp pang. “Okay... not free. Good to know.”
The runes along the wall dimmed, as though reacting to his use of the skill.
Kael’s senses sharpened as a faint squelching sound echoed from the shadows ahead. A shape emerged—gelatinous and flickering, like a digital glitch given form. Its amorphous body emitted faint crackles of static, and its movements were erratic, lurching and twitching unpredictably.
"What... is that?" Kael whispered.
The creature lurched toward him, its distorted form pulsing with fragments of light. A notification appeared briefly:
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[Corrupted Slime - Level 1]
Weakness: Unknown
Threat Level: Moderate
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Kael scrambled backward, his mind racing. No weapons, no real combat experience, and a class that felt more broken than useful.
"Think, Kael. Use the environment," he muttered, his eyes darting to the crumbling walls and unstable ceiling.
The slime hissed, its form expanding as it prepared to strike.
Kael dove to the side as the corrupted slime lashed out, its misshapen form extending into a jagged pseudopod. The attack smashed into the spot where he had stood moments earlier, sending shards of stone flying.
His breath came in short gasps, adrenaline surging through him. The slime jittered and flickered, a cascade of pixelated light running through its body as it coiled to strike again.
"No weapons, no backup... just me and my shadow tricks," Kael muttered grimly. His eyes darted to a precariously hanging slab of stone overhead, held in place by a few cracked support beams.
"Time to gamble."
He activated Shadow Stitch, wincing as the energy surged through him. Threads of black shot out from his shadow, winding around the beam. The system fought him, the dark tendrils straining as though the corrupted environment resisted his control.
The slime lunged again, closing the gap between them. Kael yanked hard with the threads, and the beam cracked loudly, releasing the stone above.
The slab crashed down with a deafening roar, crushing the slime beneath it. A spray of translucent ooze and digital static exploded outward. Kael shielded his face, coughing as dust filled the air.
When the rumble subsided, he saw the creature dissolving into faint particles of light. A notification flashed in his vision:
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[Victory Achieved]
Corrupted Slime defeated.
Experience gained: 100. Level 1 → Level 2.
Reward: +1 Skill Point, Trait: Agility +2.
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Kael exhaled sharply, relief washing over him. "Barely survived that," he muttered.
But as the adrenaline faded, a cold unease settled in. The fight had felt wrong—off somehow. The slime wasn’t just a creature; it was fragmented, like something unfinished or corrupted by a greater force.
Among the remnants of the creature, something shimmered faintly. Kael approached cautiously, half-expecting the slime to reform. Instead, he found an object pulsating weakly with light.
[Item Acquired: System Fragment (Unstable)]
The notification was followed by another, far more ominous:
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WARNING: Unstable items may cause corruption. Use with caution.
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Kael frowned, turning the fragment over in his hands. It was jagged and semi-transparent, as though a piece of shattered glass had been plucked from the System itself.
Before he could inspect it further, a faint voice echoed through the chamber, layered with static.
“Kael... you must listen...”
He spun around, eyes wide. “Who’s there?”
The voice didn’t answer. Instead, it faded, leaving only the unsettling hum of the runes along the walls.
Kael’s grip tightened around the fragment. Whatever was going on, he was in the middle of it now, and this piece felt like a key to the puzzle.
Kael’s grip tightened on the glowing System Fragment as the faint hum of the runes intensified. The air grew colder, sharp and biting against his skin.
“Kael... you must listen...” The voice returned, softer now, almost pleading.
“Listen to what?” Kael demanded, his voice echoing in the chamber. “What is this place? Who are you?”
The only response was a cascade of distorted static, and then a new notification appeared in his vision:
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[Priority Quest Unlocked: Restore the Node Core]
Description: The System is destabilizing. Critical Nodes must be restored to prevent total collapse.
Objective: Reach the Node Core in this region.
Reward: Unknown.
WARNING: Progression is mandatory.
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"Mandatory?" Kael muttered, scanning the quest details. "Doesn't sound like I have a choice, does it?"
As if to punctuate the point, the chamber trembled violently. Dust rained from the ceiling, and the rune-light dimmed. A fissure split across the floor, revealing a deeper darkness below.
The voice returned, fragmented but firm. "Find... the Core. Time... runs out."
Kael clenched his fists, forcing himself to focus. The overwhelming sense of being a pawn in someone else’s game gnawed at him, but he had no other leads—and no way out.
He turned toward the darkened corridor beyond the chamber, where the hum was louder, pulsing like a heartbeat. Whatever lay ahead, he knew it wouldn’t be easy.