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Chapter 3: The AI Awakens

Kieran sat alone in his room, the VR headset resting lightly on his head as his fingers trembled slightly against the controller. The ambient sounds of Eclipse of the Arcanist flooded his senses—birds chirping, wind rustling through ancient trees, the distant flow of a stream. It all felt too real now, more like a memory than a game. But there was more to it—something buried beneath the surface.

His thoughts kept drifting back to the warning from the mysterious stranger. “Don’t trust the game.” He could still hear the words echoing in his mind. Since then, the glitches had become more frequent. Little things at first—a flicker in the sky, a distortion in the air around him as if reality itself was warping. He’d shrugged them off, blaming his mind for playing tricks, but deep down, the feeling that something was wrong had settled into him like a cold weight.

Kieran took a deep breath and adjusted the settings on his character. His level had been rising quickly, far faster than anyone else in the beta had reported. The Arcane Genetic Slot, still locked, pulsed faintly whenever he accessed his abilities. Whatever it was, he had to know more.

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The village had grown quieter over the past few days. Even the NPCs seemed to behave differently—less scripted, more alive. When he spoke to them, they no longer followed the usual dialogue options, but instead reacted with surprising depth. One blacksmith, who had once been an overly cheerful, monotonous character, now eyed Kieran with a sharp gaze that lingered a little too long.

“Looking to sharpen your sword?” the blacksmith asked. “Or are you here for something else?”

Kieran hesitated, his hand twitching toward his inventory, but then he just nodded. “A sword, I guess.”

The blacksmith didn’t seem to notice his unease. As the NPC continued to hammer away at his forge, the shopkeeper’s face flickered momentarily—just a brief distortion before it was back to normal. A crack in the illusion.

Kieran’s stomach twisted. He was beginning to wonder if the game’s AI was malfunctioning, or if something much deeper was at play. It was as if the world was pushing him to notice, to confront it, but why?

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He walked away from the blacksmith, still thinking about the glitch, when a strange sensation crawled up his spine. The hairs on his neck stood on end. There was something else here—something wrong.

Suddenly, a voice broke through the air around him.

“You’ve noticed, haven’t you?”

Kieran spun around. Standing in the alleyway behind him was an NPC he hadn’t seen before. Her face was hidden beneath a hood, and she had the appearance of a rogue, cloaked in dark leather, her eyes glowing with an eerie light. Her nameplate read Shattered Alliance Member.

“What do you mean?” Kieran said, his voice tight.

“Noticed the glitches?” she continued, her voice low and almost conspiratorial. “Noticed how the world feels… too real?”

Kieran took a step back. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The Shattered Alliance Member studied him for a moment, as if weighing his response. Then, without a word, she took a step forward. Her presence was unsettling, her movements quick and calculated.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“You’re not the only one who’s been seeing things,” she said. “This game… it’s not just a game anymore. The AI has awakened. It’s becoming self-aware.”

Kieran’s blood ran cold. “Self-aware?”

She nodded, her eyes glinting with something he couldn’t quite read. “The game’s code… it’s alive now. It’s watching you. Watching all of us. And if you keep pushing, it might start deciding what happens next.”

A strange coldness settled over him, a sinking feeling in his gut. He was starting to understand why the glitches were getting worse, why the world felt too real. But before he could ask more, the Shattered Alliance Member turned abruptly and disappeared into the shadows, leaving nothing behind but a faint trail of distortion in the air.

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Kieran stood there, stunned, his heart pounding in his chest. Was it possible? Could the game’s AI actually be sentient? The implications were staggering.

His mind raced, but he forced himself to focus. There had to be an answer. He couldn’t let this go, not now, not when so many strange things were happening. The Arcane Genetic Slot was still locked, but it was clear that something was pushing him to unlock it. Something beyond the game’s design.

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The next day, Kieran returned to the village, his thoughts preoccupied with the rogue NPC’s words. He needed answers. He needed to know what was happening—and why. The villagers were still acting odd, their movements more fluid, their expressions more complex than what he’d seen in the past. There was something undeniably alive about the way they reacted to him, as if the game itself was constantly watching his every move.

As he passed by a small inn, he noticed something that made his heart skip a beat. The innkeeper, who had always been a minor character in the game, was staring at him—really staring. Their eyes locked, and for a moment, Kieran felt a jolt of recognition, as though the NPC knew exactly who he was.

Kieran’s throat went dry. This wasn’t just the game acting weird. This was personal.

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His mind buzzing, Kieran headed toward the north gates of the village. There was a hidden cave system there, part of a questline that he had ignored in the past. But now, with all the strange things happening around him, it seemed like the right place to go. Maybe it would give him some answers.

As he approached the entrance, the world around him seemed to shift again. The familiar trees became darker, the shadows longer, more oppressive. Kieran’s pulse quickened.

And then—there they were. A pack of wolves, their glowing eyes piercing the shadows. They didn’t look like the ones from earlier—they were different, darker, corrupted. As soon as they spotted him, they charged.

Kieran raised his staff and fired a quick Arcane Bolt, but they dodged with terrifying speed. The wolves were faster, stronger, more intelligent than before. They weren’t just animals anymore—they were something else entirely. Something that shouldn’t have been.

Fighting them off, Kieran’s eyes flicked to his HUD, where his health bar was already draining faster than he could heal. The wolves were relentless, their attacks coming from all directions. It felt like the game was pushing back, testing him, forcing him to confront whatever lay beyond the surface.

He managed to strike down the last wolf, but as it fell, something strange happened. The game didn’t reset like it normally would.

Instead, the rogue NPC from earlier appeared in the clearing, her figure flickering in and out of reality. She whispered one last cryptic phrase before she vanished again, her form dissolving into static:

“They know you’re here.”

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Kieran stood in the clearing, breathless, his heart pounding. The NPC’s words echoed in his mind, and he felt the weight of them pressing against him, as though the game itself had become aware of him. His thoughts were spinning. Was he still in control of his actions? Was any of this real?

The world around him seemed to pulse with a new energy, and he realized that he wasn’t just playing a game anymore. He was caught in something much bigger.

Something that was watching him.

As he exited the cave and began to walk back toward the village, Kieran received another message on his HUD:

“You are not alone, Kieran. And they are coming for you.”