The cavern of Raven’s Refuge was alive with activity as the faint light of dawn filtered in from somewhere above the following day. Guild members moved purposefully—adjusting equipment, sharpening weapons, and discussing strategies over glowing map projections. It was the kind of organized chaos that made it clear these people weren’t just casual players.

Selene stood near the exit of the refuge, her cloak draped casually over one shoulder, daggers sheathed but within easy reach. Her amber eyes scanned the cavern with sharp focus, occasionally landing on me. The morning chill bit at my skin despite the ornate Empress of Shadows Attire hugging my body like liquid silk. My HUD flickered faintly with error warnings, but nothing catastrophic. Yet. Lucien was tightening his lute, humming under his breath. He didn’t seem nervous—if anything, he seemed… determined.

I opened my HUD to review our current objective:

[Main Quest: Retrieve the Fragmented Binary Code]

[Location: Mistwood Expanse — Eastern Ruins]

The marker pulsed softly, drawing me like a distant beacon.

Selene approached, arms crossed.

“You ready, Kiera?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, forcing a small smile.

She studied me for a moment, her amber gaze unwavering. “Stay close. You’ve got power, but power without control is just a liability.”

I nodded. Lucien straightened and slung his lute over his back, flashing me a grin. “To adventure, my muse!”

“Let’s move,” Selene said sharply.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The Mistwood Expanse was an entirely different beast during the day. The towering trees still loomed like skeletal giants, but beams of golden light broke through the canopy, illuminating patches of moss-covered stone and vibrant wildflowers. Despite the beauty, there was an underlying tension in the air, as if the forest itself was watching us.

Selene took the lead, her movements precise and silent. Lucien trailed slightly behind me, keeping an eye on the shadows.

We reached the ruins by mid-morning. Crumbling stone archways stretched upward like skeletal fingers clawing at the sky. Vines and moss coated the stone structures, and faint wisps of fog clung to the ground.

[Entering Zone: Eastern Ruins][Recommended Level: 15+]

“Well,” Lucien said, resting one boot on a rock. “It certainly looks like a place where ancient curses and terribly ominous secrets are buried.”

Selene ignored him, scanning the ruins with sharp eyes. “That marker you’ve been following—it’s leading you here, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Right into the heart of… whatever that is.”

Selene sighed and turned to face me. “Look, Kiera. Before we head down there, you need to understand something.”

Her amber eyes locked onto mine, and for a moment, the weight of her focus made it impossible to look away.

“You’re important now—not just to me, not just to Devon, but to everyone who’s caught onto this mess. You’ve got power, but power without clarity is just chaos. The people who are watching you—who are using you—they’ll keep pushing you forward until you break.”

Lucien cleared his throat softly. “Breaking seems most… undesirable.”

Selene’s smirk flickered briefly before fading again. “Which is why I’m here. You can keep running from this, or you can face it. Either way, I’m sticking with you. But the second you hesitate, the second you freeze up… we’re both dead.”

The weight of her words pressed down on me. The fragments, the rogue developers, and the underground chaos felt so much bigger than me.

But Selene’s eyes—those intense, amber eyes—grounded me.

I took a breath and nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Selene raised her hand, signaling for us to stop.

“There’s something here,” she said softly, her amber eyes scanning the area.

Lucien stepped beside me, his lute silent for once. “Something… old,” he murmured.

Deep within the ruins, a faint, pulsing light flickered in the distance. My HUD updated.

[Objective: Investigate the Pulsing Light]

“Stick together,” Selene said firmly.

We moved carefully through the ruins, shadows shifting unnaturally along the edges of the broken walls. My footsteps felt too loud against the cracked stone floors.

Then I saw it—a floating shard of glowing binary code suspended in mid-air, rotating slowly. It pulsed with faint energy, sending ripples through the air like drops in a still pond.

[Fragment Detected: Data Shard 1/???]

My HUD flickered slightly as the binary code reacted to my presence.

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

“Is that… it?” I whispered.

“Yes,” Selene said, her voice tight. “Don’t touch it yet. These things are rarely unguarded.”

As if on cue, the ground beneath us began to tremble. Fissures spread through the cracked stone floor, and shadowy figures started emerging from the fissures. Their forms were vaguely humanoid, but their limbs were twisted and elongated, their faces featureless voids.

[Enemy Encounter: Data Wraiths]

* Level: 15

* Weakness: Light Magic

Selene drew her daggers in one fluid motion, her stance low and ready.

“Hold the line!” she barked.

Lucien unslung his lute, and I could see faint runes glowing along its edges. He strummed once, and a faint aura of protection shimmered around us.

I raised my hand, summoning shadows to swirl at my fingertips.

“Let’s do this!”

The first wraith lunged toward Selene, claws outstretched. She ducked low and sliced upward, her daggers glowing with faint blue runes. The wraith screeched and dissolved into static fragments.

Lucien’s strumming filled the air with energy, my HUD flashing a notification:

[Buff Applied: Inspiring Ballad (+10% Attack, +10% Defense)]

Two wraiths broke away and came straight for me.

“Shadow Bolt!” I shouted, sending a pulse of dark energy into one of them. It staggered back but didn’t dissolve. The second lunged at me, claws slicing across my side.

[Health: 78%]

Selene spun and skewered the wraith attacking me, her movements precise and deadly.

“Kiera, focus!” she barked.

Gritting my teeth, I summoned my skills:

* Crippling Aura (Enemies slowed, attack power reduced)

* Abyssal Barrier (Absorb damage)

The aura spread out around me, slowing the wraiths in their tracks. Selene took advantage of the opening, cutting them down with surgical precision.

When the final wraith dissolved into static, the ruins fell silent again. My HUD flashed:

[Combat Complete]+500 XP

We regrouped near the glowing binary fragment. Selene’s daggers were still drawn, her breathing steady.

“That was too easy,” she muttered.

Lucien strummed a final note, letting the glowing aura around us fade. “It felt… wrong.”

I stepped toward the shard, my HUD pulsing with notifications.

[Fragment Interaction Detected][Retrieve Fragment? Yes / No]

Selene stepped beside me, her voice low. “This is what they want, Kiera. Whatever this code is, it’s worth risking everything for. Are you ready?”

I hesitated, staring into the flickering code. My reflection shimmered back at me in the digital glow—distorted, fractured, wrong.

I raised my hand and selected ‘Yes.’

[Fragment Retrieved: Data Shard 1/???]

[System Stability Decreased by 1%]

A faint hum echoed through the ruins, and the world's edges seemed to flicker for a brief moment.

Lucien stayed close, his eyes darting across every shadow. Selene led with her daggers drawn, her stance low and deliberate.

I kept glancing at the HUD map. Another marker was close—somewhere deep within the ruins.

“Stay sharp,” Selene said softly.

We stepped through an archway into a narrow corridor, the walls slick with moisture and faintly glowing moss. Like static mixed with a low growl, a sound echoed somewhere deeper within.

My HUD flickered briefly.

[WARNING: Environmental Anomaly Detected]

“Selene,” I whispered, “something’s wrong.”

She paused, tilting her head slightly. “I hear something, too.”

Lucien’s hand hovered over his lute. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound like it’s here to discuss philosophy.”

We stepped into an open chamber at the end of the corridor. At its center, another floating jagged binary code, glowing and flickering like a broken hologram.

[Fragment Detected: Data Shard 1/???]

But we weren’t alone.

Around the shard, three figures in dark cloaks stood motionless. Their names hovered above their heads:

* [PLAYER: ZeroByte]

* [PLAYER: Hexline]

* [PLAYER: RedShift]

Selene froze, her daggers glinting faintly in the light. “Underground operatives.”

One of the figures—ZeroByte—turned their head toward us, the faint flicker of static outlining their silhouette.

“Well, well,” he said, his voice distorted and metallic. “The glitch herself walks right into our hands.”

I stepped back instinctively, shadows curling at my feet. Lucien stayed behind me, clutching his lute tightly.

Selene stepped forward, her daggers glinting. “Stand down. You don’t want this fight.”

ZeroByte chuckled—a hollow, warped sound. “You think you can stop us? It'll soon be late. Every step you take, every move you make… we’re watching.”

RedShift cracked their knuckles, faint lines of glowing code running up their arms. He had his own cheat code. “The fragment belongs to us.”

“No,” I said, my voice trembling but firm. “You’re not getting it.”

The three operatives stepped closer, their weapons drawn and glowing with faint lines of corrupted data.

Selene’s voice was ice cold. “Kiera. Take the fragment. Now.”

I hesitated for half a heartbeat, then rushed toward the floating shard. My HUD flared:

[Fragment Interaction Detected: Retrieve Fragment? Yes / No]

“Yes!” I shouted.

The shard pulsed brightly as it was absorbed into my HUD.

[Fragment Retrieved: Data Shard 3/???]

The operatives lunged.

Selene met ZeroByte head-on, her daggers clashing with his corrupted sword in a burst of sparks. Their movements were a flurry of steel and energy, shadows dancing along the chamber walls.

Lucien strummed his lute, and a shimmering barrier flared around me:

[Fragment Retrieved: Data Shard 1/???][System Stability Decreased by 1%]

Hexline raised one hand, summoning jagged lines of glowing code that formed into floating projectiles. I countered with Abyssal Barrier, absorbing the attack in a burst of violet energy.

“Lucien!” I called out. “Keep Hexline distracted!”

He darted to the side, strumming sharp notes that pulsed through the air, throwing off Hexline’s aim.

Meanwhile, RedShift came straight for me, his form flickering with static. I raised my hand—

“Shadow Bolt!”

The crackling purple energy struck him in the chest, but he shrugged it off with a growl.

Selene shouted from across the room, “Focus, Kiera! Keep moving!”

I gritted my teeth and activated Crippling Aura. The air around me thickened with oppressive energy, slowing RedShift’s movements.

Selene finished off ZeroByte with a clean dagger strike to the chest, his form dissolving into a cascade of broken pixels.

Hexline turned to run, but Lucien’s final note sent her crashing to the floor, dissolving seconds later.

RedShift stumbled back, weakened by my aura. Selene appeared behind him in a motion blur, plunging both daggers into his back.

The chamber fell silent.

Selene wiped her daggers on her cloak. “They’ll be back. But not before they report this.”

Lucien adjusted his lute, letting out a shaky breath. “I vote we leave. Quickly.”

Selene nodded, turning to me. “You’ve got the fragment. That’s one down. But they know we’re after them now. Things are only going to get worse from here.”

I glanced at the floating quest marker in my HUD, now pointing further east.

“One down,” I said softly. “Let’s keep moving.”