The air in the chamber was thick with static and the faint hum of corrupted code. The glow of the newly absorbed Fragment pulsed faintly in my HUD, but it was impossible to focus on. Not with him standing there.

Guardian Oberon loomed near the far end of the cathedral-like room, towering over us like a shadow. His body crackled with faint lines of glitching code, his featureless mask staring at me, unblinking and unyielding.

[SYSTEM ALERT: GUARDIAN OBERON DETECTED][PROTOCOL: TERMINATION ACTIVE]

I felt my stomach drop. I remembered that mask, that voice. This wasn’t some random enemy—the same entity I’d encountered in the forest, the same one that had looked straight at me and decided I shouldn’t exist.

Selene’s daggers were already in her hands, and Devon’s crimson greatsword glowed ominously.

“It’s him,” I said softly, my voice trembling. “Guardian Oberon.”

Selene’s sharp amber gaze flicked to me briefly. “So, this is the infamous Guardian Mod. I’m impressed you’ve survived this thing, Kiera.”

“Barely,” I said, my shadows curling protectively around me. “And I only survived because I ran.”

Oberon’s voice reverberated through the chamber, layered and hollow.

“So, you’ve returned System anomaly to be purged. Compliance is mandatory.”

Devon growled under his breath. “It talks like a bad sci-fi villain.”

The air shifted violently, and Oberon raised one jagged, elongated arm. Energy crackled at its fingertips as countless small, flickering portals opened across the room.

From them poured Shadow Wraiths—glitching, fragmented creatures with distorted limbs and glowing, hollow eyes.

[ENEMY ENCOUNTER: SHADOW WRAITH HORDE]

* Level: 15-18

* Weakness: Light-Based Attacks

“Here they come!” Selene barked.

Devon pointed his greatsword at Oberon. “Selene and I will handle the big guy. Kiera—hold the line with Lucien!”

Before I could respond, Devon and Selene surged forward as they collided with the towering Guardian.

Lucien strummed a sharp chord on his lute, sending a pulse of protective energy around us.

[Buff Applied: Inspiring Ballad (+15% Attack, +10% Defense)]

The Shadow Wraiths were already upon us, claws outstretched and glitching shapes flickering as they moved.

I raised my dagger, Midnight Fang, and shadows erupted from my feet.

“Crippling Aura!”

The oppressive energy spread outward, slowing the nearest wraiths and weakening their attacks. Lucien took advantage, darting to the side and launching magical notes at the slowed creatures.

I slashed forward with Venom Kiss, shadows crackling with violet energy as I struck one wraith square in the chest. It dissolved into fragments of pixelated light.

[XP Gained: 200]

Lucien laughed as he strummed another chord, sending a shockwave through a cluster of wraiths. “They keep coming, my muse! Like rats from a sinking ship!”

“I’m not sure if I can keep up,” I shouted back, shadows swirling around me as I parried another wraith’s claws.

From across the chamber, Devon’s roar echoed as his greatsword slammed into Oberon’s arm, creating a shower of sparks. Selene moved with precision, her daggers slicing through corrupted tendrils that erupted from Oberon’s body.

But more wraiths were pouring in. The sheer numbers were overwhelming.

My HUD pinged loudly:

[LEVEL UP!][Level 11 Achieved]

* Skill Points +5

* Stat Points +15

* New Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Chains (Temporarily immobilize enemies in an area)

A surge of power shot through me as my shadows flared brighter. I didn’t have time to read the description—I just knew what to do.

I slammed my hand to the ground.

“Abyssal Chains!”

Dark, glowing chains erupted from the floor, wrapping around a cluster of wraiths and locking them in place. They struggled and screeched, glitching as Lucien fired piercing musical notes into their forms.

But more were still coming. Too many.

Lucien met my gaze, his eyes uncharacteristically serious. “We can’t hold them, my muse. Not like this.”

We need an escape, but how–

Suddenly, a faint shimmer flickered at the chamber's far end—a distorted portal, glitching and flickering like unstable code.

[SYSTEM ERROR CODE INITIATED: ESCAPE ROUTE GENERATED]

Lucien’s eyes widened. “There! That’s our way out!”

I turned back, my shadows flaring like wildfire, as I shouted, “Selene! Devon! The portal—NOW!”

Selene disengaged from Oberon, flipping backward and landing gracefully. Devon slammed his greatsword into the ground, creating a shockwave that pushed Oberon back a few feet before he turned and sprinted toward us.

But the wraiths weren’t letting up.

Lucien and I ran for the portal, my shadows slicing through anything in our way. But then—

A bolt of corrupted energy shot aimed directly at me. My eyes widened. I wouldn’t be able to dodge this, but unexpectedly, a hard shove shouldered into me.

Lucien’s body slammed into mine, knocking me to the side just as the bolt struck him square in the chest.

Time slowed.

He staggered back, his lute slipping from his fingers and clattering onto the ground. His body began to flicker, lines of glitching code spreading from the wound outward.

“Lucien!” I screamed, scrambling to catch him.

His fading form smiled as he looked up at me. His body glitched in my grasp.

“Do not mourn for me, my muse, but if you must shed a tear… only one. Stories must end, but a song… a song lives on.”

He reached out and brushed a trembling hand against my cheek. Then, his form shattered into glowing fragments, drifting upward and disappearing into the darkness.

His lute lay silent on the floor before it too disappeared.

“No…” My voice cracked. “No, no, no!”

Devon’s hand grabbed my arm, yanking me toward the portal.

“Kiera, we have to MOVE!”

Selene’s amber eyes glistened briefly, but she turned and ran ahead, her form disappearing into the flickering glitch portal.

Devon dragged me with him as the portal began to collapse.

We dove through as it snapped shut behind us with a sharp, metallic crack.

We tumbled into a narrow, unstable corridor of fractured binary code and jagged, glitching textures. The air crackled, heavy with static.

I collapsed onto my hands and knees, clutching my dagger so tightly my knuckles turned white.

Lucien was gone.

The ache in my chest felt unbearable. A hollow space was carved into my ribs where his laughter used to be.

Devon stood nearby, breathing hard, his armored shoulders slumped. Selene knelt beside me, her hand resting gently on my shoulder.

“We keep moving, Kiera,” Selene said softly, her voice steady despite the weight of grief in her amber eyes. “We keep moving… for him.”

I swallowed hard, tears slipping down my cheeks as I nodded.

Together, we walked deeper into the glitched passageway, the shadows curling protectively at my feet.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The glitched corridor eventually spat us into an open expanse—a pocket of relative stability in a world unraveling at the seams. The air here was still heavy with static, but the corrupted flickers of binary distortion were fewer, and the oppressive pressure of Guardian Oberon’s presence had faded into distant echoes.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

We stood in what looked like an abandoned temple courtyard. Broken pillars rose like skeletal fingers toward a hazy gray sky, and fragmented code patches hovered mid-air, frozen like fireflies trapped in amber. The only sound was the faint crackle of static and our ragged breathing.

I staggered forward, clutching my dagger. The shadows around my feet had dimmed, flickering weakly like a dying ember.

Devon unslung his greatsword and drove it into the cracked stone ground, leaning heavily against the hilt. His crimson armor was scratched and battered, and the glowing runes were dim.

Selene stood a few feet away, silent and still. Her amber eyes were fixed on me, unreadable but intense.

For a long moment, none of us spoke. The weight of Lucien’s absence hung heavy in the silence, a hollow ache that none of us knew how to fill.

Finally, Selene moved.

“Devon, scout the perimeter. Make sure we’re secure.”

Devon’s head snapped up. “What? Alone? I’m not leaving you two—”

“Devon,” Selene said, her voice firm but not unkind. “We need a moment to breathe. Just… check the area. Please.”

Devon hesitated, his gaze flickering between Selene and me. His lips pressed into a tight line, but he nodded.

“Fine. Don’t go wandering off without me.”

He hefted his greatsword back onto his shoulder and walked away, disappearing behind a crumbling stone archway.

The quiet settled again as Selene approached me, her steps slow and deliberate. She stopped just a foot away, her sharp, amber eyes softening slightly as she studied me. I couldn’t meet her gaze. My fingers curled tightly around the dagger’s hilt, my knuckles white.

“I couldn’t save him,” I said, my voice breaking on the last word. “I froze, Selene. I let him—”

“Stop,” she said softly but firmly, reaching out and placing a hand over mine. Her fingers were warm and steady, anchoring me in place.

“You didn’t let anything happen, Kiera,” she continued. “Lucien made his choice. He chose you. And in this world… sometimes, that’s the only choice we get to make.”

The lump in my throat threatened to choke me, and the tears I’d been holding back spilled over.

“He didn’t even hesitate,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “He just… he stepped in front of me. And now he’s—he’s just gone. I know he was just a program in the game, and I shouldn’t be crying over an AI, but…but…”

I couldn’t hold in the tears. No matter how hard I tried to push them back in. Lucien had asked me one thing: not to mourn and cry for him, but I couldn’t even honor that much.

Selene’s hand moved from mine to rest gently against my cheek, tilting my head until our eyes met. Her amber gaze glistened faintly though no tears fell.

“AI or not, human or program,” she said softly, her voice carrying a weight I couldn’t fully comprehend. “death in any shape or form doesn’t get easier, Kiera. But what you can do is carry them with you. Every choice you make, every fight you survive—they’re still with you. Lucien’s still with you.”

Her thumb brushed away my tears, her expression soft yet steady.

“You’re stronger than you think,” she added. “But it’s okay to break sometimes. It’s okay to grieve.”

We just stood there for a moment—her hand on my cheek, my eyes locked with hers. There was something raw, something fragile but unspoken in that moment.

The shadows flickering faintly around my feet began to still, no longer frantic and chaotic. They pooled quietly as if calmed by her presence.

“Thank you, Selene,” I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper.

Her lips curved into a faint, bittersweet smile. “We’ll get through this, Kiera.”

She let her hand drop, stepping back slightly but still watching me with those piercing amber eyes.

The sound of armored boots on stone broke the fragile silence. Devon reappeared behind the archway, his crimson greatsword resting casually on his shoulder.

“Perimeter’s clear,” he said gruffly, his eyes flicking briefly between Selene and me. “No sign of any more wraiths or Guardian’s.”

Selene nodded and turned away, walking a few steps toward a crumbling pillar and leaning against it, her back to us.

Devon approached me, his eyes scanning my face carefully.

“You okay, Ki?” he asked, his voice softer now, lacking the bravado he usually carried.

I nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think… I think I’ll be okay.”

Devon glanced over his shoulder at Selene, his expression tightening briefly before he looked back at me.

“Good,” he said, forcing a small smile. “We need you at your best. No one else can see what you see. And whatever’s happening with these fragments… you’re at the center of it.”

I nodded again, gripping the Midnight Fang tighter. “I’m not giving up, Devon. Not after this.”

“Good girl.” Devon briefly rested his hand on top of my head, his gloved hand surprisingly gentle despite the weight of his armor. My face grew hot at his unusual caring demeanor, which was usually sarcastic and joking but now laced with something else.

He dropped his hand and walked toward one of the stone outcroppings. As he turned away, his gaze flicked briefly back to Selene.

It was subtle—his jaw tightened, and his eyes lingered on her for a moment before he looked away.

I couldn’t be sure what that meant, but he must have been worried about the state of our party. Maybe Lucien’s death hit him more than I realized.

The three of us regrouped near a faintly glowing map projection Devon had pulled up from his HUD. It displayed a tangled mess of zones and pathways, many marked with red warning symbols indicating corruption or instability.

“The next marker’s here,” I said, pointing to a glowing waypoint deep within what looked like a mountainous region. “The Obsidian Rift.”

Selene crossed her arms, studying the map. “It’s a dangerous zone, even without corruption. Monsters, rogue players, and collapsing terrain are constant threats.”

I exhaled slowly, my HUD flickering faintly as the new objective pinged softly.

[NEW OBJECTIVE: Travel to The Obsidian Rift]

“Then we’ll need to be careful,” I said. “We can’t stop now.”

Devon grinned faintly, his usual cocky bravado returning. “That’s the spirit.”

Selene smirked slightly but said nothing, her amber eyes flickering briefly to mine before looking back at the map.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

After our brief reprieve in the ruined courtyard, the air felt lighter, but Lucien’s absence still clung to me like a damp cloak. The journey ahead stretched out into uncertainty, and while the waypoint on my HUD pulsed steadily toward The Obsidian Rift, the road to get there was anything but straight.

Selene led the way, her amber eyes scanning every tree line and stone outcrop as if expecting danger at every turn. Devon walked beside me, greatsword balanced lazily over his shoulder, though his eyes stayed sharp, flicking between the horizon and me.

I stayed between them, my shadows curling faintly at my feet as if reacting to my thoughts. My HUD showed that I’d gained a few more skill points from our last encounter, but navigating my fragmented class felt like trying to read a language no one had ever spoken.

“Alright,” Devon said, breaking the silence as we approached a clearing filled with uneven rocks and faint patches of glowing moss. “We’re stopping here. This spot’s defensible, and it’s time we did some grinding.”

Selene raised an eyebrow. “You just want an excuse to swing that oversized butter knife around, don’t you?”

Devon grinned. “Guilty as charged.”

The clearing turned out to be an excellent hunting ground. Packs of corrupted wolves roamed the edges, glitching eyes glowing faintly in the twilight. Further off, stone golems lumbered awkwardly through the uneven terrain, their forms occasionally flickering with jagged textures.

Selene stood at the edge of the clearing, expertly spinning one of her daggers in her hand. “Alright, Kiera. Time to see what you’re made of.”

Devon stretched, rolling his shoulders before unsheathing his greatsword with a satisfying clang. “We’ll start easy—let’s focus on control and spacing. You’ve got power, Kiera, but you’re still fighting like you’re afraid of it.”

My shadows flared faintly as I nodded. “Okay. I’ll try.”

A pack of corrupted wolves emerged from the forest edge, glitching and flickering as they approached. Their teeth were jagged and pixelated, their eyes glowing like fractured code.

Selene was a blur of motion, her daggers carving through the air with surgical precision. One wolf lunged at her, and she ducked under its attack before slicing upward in a clean arc.

Devon, on the other hand, was chaos incarnate. His massive greatsword slammed into the earth, creating a shockwave that sent two wolves flying backward.

“Kiera!” Devon shouted. “Focus on one at a time. Use your crowd control!”

I gritted my teeth and activated Crippling Aura. The oppressive shadows spread outward, slowing the wolves nearest to me.

“Abyssal Chains!” I shouted, and dark chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around two wolves and locking them in place.

Selene smirked. “Nice! Now finish them!”

I lunged forward, shadows swirling around my dagger as I activated Venom Kiss, slashing one wolf across the neck. It dissolved into shards of code.

[XP Gained: 250]

The second wolf struggled against the chains, and I finished it off with a well-aimed Shadow Bolt.

[XP Gained: 300]

The wolves cleared, and the ground trembled as two lumbering stone golems approached. Their glitching forms shifted as they moved, their heavy fists cracking against the earth with every step.

“Selene, you take the left one. Kiera, stay with me.” Devon barked as he charged forward.

Selene darted left, her movements sharp and calculated as she aimed for the golem’s glowing weak points.

Devon slammed his greatsword into the ground before the right golem, creating a shockwave that staggered it backward.

“Shadow Bolt!” I shouted, launching a bolt of crackling energy at the golem’s head. The attack connected, causing a faint crack to spread across its face.

But the golem roared and swung its massive arm downward. I dove out of the way just in time, rolling to my feet with shadows swirling protectively around me.

“Timing, Kiera!” Devon called out.

“I’m trying!”

The golem raised its other arm, but before it could strike, I activated Abyssal Barrier. A swirling dome of shadows surrounded me, absorbing the brunt of the attack.

Devon’s greatsword came crashing down when the arm lifted, splitting the golem’s head clean in two.

[XP Gained: 450]

Selene rejoined us, wiping her daggers on her cloak. “Not bad, Kiera. Your instincts are getting sharper.”

My HUD pinged faintly as a soft glow enveloped me.

[LEVEL UP!][Level 12 Achieved]

* Skill Points +5

* Stat Points +15

* New Skill Unlocked: Umbral Step (Dash forward, becoming intangible briefly, bypassing enemies and attacks.)

I exhaled shakily, my shadows dimming slightly as I relaxed.

“Good work, team,” Devon said, planting his sword in the dirt. “We’re making progress, but you still hesitate, Kiera.”

Selene approached, her amber eyes focused on me. “Your powers are instinctual, Kiera. You’re trying to fight like a swordsman when you’re something… different. Learn to trust your abilities.”

I nodded, absorbing their words as my HUD flickered with the new skill icon.

Night fell over the clearing, and a small campfire crackled. Devon was sharpening his sword, the rhythmic sound of steel on whetstone filling the quiet.

Selene sat beside me on a flat rock, a faint smile on her lips as she watched the firelight dance in the reflection of her daggers.

“Not bad for a day’s work,” she said softly.

I exhaled, leaning back against the stone. “I’m trying. I feel like… like I’m still figuring out what I am now.”

Selene’s gaze softened. “You’re figuring it out, Kiera. And you’re not doing it alone.”

For a moment, we just sat there in the quiet glow of the fire. The way the light flickered across her amber eyes made my chest feel tight in a way I didn’t quite understand.

Devon glanced at us briefly, his expression unreadable as he tossed another log onto the fire.

As the fire began to die down, Devon spoke. “Tomorrow, we keep moving. The Rift isn’t far, but if we linger too long, someone—or something—will catch up to us.”

Selene nodded, her gaze sharp again. “Agreed. Rest while you can, Kiera.”

I stared into the flickering embers of the fire, shadows faintly curling at my fingertips.