Isabelle walked into the tall, arched entrance of the labyrinth that was the system options gui. She took one step inside and stopped, her eyes widening as she stared ahead. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that the hedges around her were growing taller by the second, their branches stretching outwards to reach her. The sky above her darkened, as if night had fallen already. In the distance, Isabelle saw other people moving in similar directions. Some were walking, some were running. They all seemed to be heading deeper into the maze of hedges surrounding them.

And Isabelle was going too.

As she tried to focus on these people, these figures, they became blurry and uncertain, as if they were but made of shadows. Isabelle felt the urge to turn around, to run away. But she found she couldn't. Instead, she started moving forward, as fast as she dared, and began to see more hedges appear. More appeared the further she stepped. Isabelle swallowed, and breathed heavily. She wondered where she was now. Was she even inside the gui anymore? Had she gone somewhere else, somehow? And if she did, where was she exactly?

“You look a little lost. Would you like some help?”

Isabelle gasped and looked down. There was a little caterpillar perched on a hedge leaf smiling up at her with a humongous, toothy grin and wide, bubbly eyes.

“You look a little lost. Would you like some help?”

Its eyebrow waggled in impatience, or was it impunity?

"I'm fine." Isabella said, "Just... looking for the mana use option."

The caterpillar shrugged, and its eyebrows flew off, spinning through the air, until they landed back on the same leaf. Its smile widened even wider.

"Well, I hope you find what you're looking for," the caterpillar said, and then it winked and blinked out of existence.

A moment later, Isabelle was alone again, except for the endless maze of hedges surrounding her. She turned around and started moving backwards. Maybe she would come across another path, or maybe there really wasn't anywhere else to go.

Or perhaps... Isabelle frowned.

What if there was an exit here? An actual door? If there was, then maybe she could just leave, wouldn't she?

She didn't have time to think much longer. As she moved farther along, she heard the sounds of screaming in the distance. Isabelle slowed her pace, wondering if someone was fighting in the maze.

Then she saw it.

There was a hole in the hedges ahead of her, which was growing larger by the second. At first, Isabelle thought that it was a natural crack in the hedges, but when she got closer, she could tell it was man-made. Someone had created it intentionally. That was odd enough, but then she noticed the figure lying face down in front of it, blood trickling from its head.

It was a person, and not very old. He was wearing robes, and he had his arms outstretched. His body was bent in half, as if he'd been pushed over and smashed against the ground. Isabelle recognized him.

Isabelle froze.

“Tahsi? Tahsi Senior? What are you doing in my system options gui?” Isabelle asked with a stutter.

Was he dead?

No, that wasn't possible. Right?

But why would he be lying here, if he was still alive?

And what the hell was he doing in Isabelle’s system? That didn’t even make sense!

Isabelle walked up to Tahsi’s body and gasped. There was a huge, gaping hole in his forehead. The blood pouring out of it was not normal blood. It was made of small ones, zeroes, and every once and a while an odd two or so. Isabelle touched Tahsi's arm.

He was cold. Cold and stiff. Dead.

She pulled her hand back.

Oh no. This was bad. Really bad. Isabelle felt a lump rise in her throat. She couldn't believe this was happening. Not to Tahsi. No. She shook her head. This wasn't right. She had to do something.

"Are you okay?"

Isabelle spun around. A girl stood behind her. She was beautiful, almost ethereal, but Isabelle had never seen her before. She wore long, flowing red hair, and bright blue eyes. Her skin glowed in the light.

"Who are you?" Isabelle demanded.

"My name is Celine. You don't know me, but I am your friend, Isabelle."

Isabelle stared at the girl for several seconds. Then she laughed. "Friends? I hardly know you!"

Celine smiled. "Yes. Yes you do. We've met many times before. When we were kids. Remember? Your father took us all to see the circus. The one where they let loose the lions? And we sat together, and ate ice cream..."

Isabelle's laughter stopped. What was this figment of her past life, her life before Beaubinte, doing in her system options gui? “That can't be true. I was seven years old. You were ten. How could I remember meeting you when I barely knew who I was? And if any of that is true, what the hell are you doing here?!”

"Because you are special, Isabelle."

"Special? I'm nothing special." Isabelle smirked a little. Of course she thought she was special, and she was super powerful with a system to boot, but for some reason she felt somewhat disarmed and insecure.

Celine stepped forward and put a finger to Isabelle's lips. "You're wrong. Very wrong. You may not realize it yet, but you are. But you need to learn more about yourself, first. About what makes you different. Why people don’t like you. What it means to be you."

"I already know everything there is to know about myself. Now, please get out of my system options gui!"

Celine sighed. "Don't worry. Everything will work itself out. Just wait patiently, and everything will turn out fine. In fact," Celine said, taking Isabelle's hand, "come with me. Let's go somewhere else."

As soon as she did, Isabelle found herself standing on top of a mountain, looking across a vast desert. She turned back to see Celine smiling, walking away into the horizon. Isabelle ran after her.

"Wait! Wait!"

But Celine kept walking. Isabelle called out to her again and again, but she didn't stop. Finally, Isabelle gave up trying to catch up and watched Celine walk away until the horizon swallowed her completely.

“You look a little lost. Would you like some help?”

Isabelle gasped. She was standing in the hedge maze again, over the dead body of Tahsi. And the caterpillar was perched on a hedge leaf, looking up at her with that porcelain smile.

“Yes,” said Isabelle with a sigh. “Yes, I need help. What the hell is going on?”

The caterpillar giggled. “Okay! What do you want to know?" "Where's Tahsi?"

The caterpillar pointed down.

Isabelle looked and saw the body lying beneath her feet. “Sorry, I misspoke. Why is Tahsi in my system options gui?”

“That is not Tahsi proper,” responded the caterpillar. “When you kick a party member from your system, they sometimes leave leftover files in your system that are prone to damage and corruption. Sometimes, these files contain memories or personality traits of their original owners. If left alone, they might corrupt other files in the system. So, we have to cleanse them. It’s just part of life, and part of having a system. Don't feel bad."

Isabelle nodded, then looked down at the body again. "What happened to him?"

The caterpillar shrugged. "We'll never really know. There isn't much to go on. He died. That's all anyone knows for sure. But I think he would want you to keep moving forward."

Isabelle glanced at the sky, the to the caterpillar. "Why aren't you flying away? Shouldn't you be gone by now?"

"Well, you asked for answers, so I tried to give you some. Do you understand what I told you?"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Yeah...sort of. But I still don't understand why you're still here."

The caterpillar grinned. "You look a little lost. Would you like some help?”

"No! No, thank you. I think I'm okay. I appreciate what you did, though."

"My pleasure. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes. Could this caterpillar just not take a damn hint? "Do you mind leaving me alone?"

The caterpillar tilted its head. "Are you sure? I mean, if you wanted another answer, I'd be happy to tell you. Maybe I can help you find the truth of the matter."

"Fuck off. Go bother someone else. This is none of your business."

The caterpillar frowned. "Look. I know this doesn't make sense to you right now. But you're important, Isabelle. And I want to know if you have any questions, or if you would like some help?”

“Go to hell!” Isabelle spat. She kicked the caterpillar into the air, sending him screaming and sailing over the side of the hedge.

[-152 damage dealt]

Isabelle chuckled under her breath. The caterpillar had been getting more insistent lately. Perhaps it knew something Isabelle didn't. Or maybe it just thought she needed a friend. Whatever the reason, Isabelle was tired of being pestered.

She walked past the body of Tahsi, then turned around when she heard a twig snap behind her. She spun, reaching for her sword, only to come face to face with an enormous centipede. Its eight legs were each longer than Isabelle was tall, and she could easily imagine how many times that was in total.

“Fucking Jesus fucking Christ nailed to a fucking cross!!” spat Isabelle as she drew her sword. Her jaw shot wide open as she

noticed that the sword she wielded was not one from her inventory— instead, it was made of a translucent crystal and engraved with the text: SYSTEM OPTIONS GUI SWORDS AND OTHER ASSOCIATED WEAPONRY, INC.

“Oh, pardon me,” said the centipede in a deep, posh voice. It slithered around Isabelle and up to Tahsi’s body. Then, its head opened and unhinged into a huge mouth with gnashing teeth. It sucked Tahsi into its maw and chomped down on his corpse.

Isabelle started in horror and disgust as the beast finished its awful task. It licked its lips. and then let loose a loud, reverberating burp.

“Pardon me again,” said the centipede. “That was absolutely delish, with a nice, stale aftertaste. Usually I’m not one for such a carby meal but that hit the spot. You should try it sometime."

Isabelle felt anger flare inside her as the centipede continued to speak.

"But seriously, what are you doing here? We both know you don't belong here. You need to get out while you can. You've been spotted, girl. They're coming for you. And trust me when I say they won't be gentle. I wouldn't even begin to know where to start with you. Not yet anyway, but I will. And soon."

“They?” asked Isabelle incredulously.

“The automatic system cleaners,” responded the centipede. “They’re like me, but more powerful. They detect anomalies in the system and wipe them out.”

“Anomalies?!” Isabelle frowned and snorted. “But I’m the player! This is my system, I’m not an anomaly!!”

“Yea, well, I wouldn’t know anything about that,” said the centipede. “Anyway, I’m off to eat some people. See you later, once you’re dead and on my menu!” It crawled over the side of a hedge with a chuckle.

Isabelle's blood ran cold.

Was she really going to die inside of her own system options gui because of some bug? What kind of bullshit was that?

Why hadn't anyone told her about this before? Why hadn't she known? Had no one bothered telling her? Was this all part of some game mechanic to keep players guessing? Was there really a God, watching everything she did and laughing at her misfortune?

[Clarification: There are multiple gods watching you. They find you quite entertaining.]

Isabelle stared at the empty space where the centipede had been. A single tear trickled down her cheek and splashed onto the ground.

“You look a little lost. Would you like some help?”

Isabelle looked down at the caterpillar. “Yes. Why the hell did that centipede say my own system was going to come and kill me?”

“Oh, that’s a bug in your current system version where the player is accidentally detected as an intruder. Don’t worry, the devs are hard at work at fixing it.” The caterpillar giggled.

“So am I at risk for being attacked?” Isabelle asked.

“Yes. But don’t worry, the devs are hard at work fixing it.” The caterpillar giggled.

Isabelle rolled her eyes.

“Aha! There it is!” yelled a breathy voice.

Isabelle gasped as she turned around and saw three women running towards her from the distance, waving bloodied rapiers in the air. They were naked save for flowing red capes.

"Well, shit," said Isabelle, "that was fast."

“Halt! In the name of the Isabelle, halt!” cried a lady. “I am the Isabelle!” spat Isabelle.

“A likely story!” cried another lady.

“Kill the imposter!” cried the third lady.

Isabelle figured slaughtering these naked ladies was bad policy, seeing as they were a part of her system.

So, she turned around and looked at the three hedge pathways before her. She’d have to pick one and run.

She could hear the ladies gaining on her.

Which way would she go?

[Hedge Path #1 - Avoidance: 10% chance to avoid enemy attacks with avoidance (stm+const)]

[Hedge Path #2 - Dodge: 5% chance to evade enemy attacks by dodging (stm)]

[Hedge Path #3 - Evade: 20% chance to evade enemy attacks by evading (stm + int)]

[Which path will you take?]

Isabelle had been hoping to avoid having to encounter the enemies’ attacks at all, but clearly that wasn’t an option. So, she took hedge path #3.

The ladies screamed in rage and charged forward, their blades flashing through the air. Isabelle quickly dodged to the right and avoided most of the first woman's attack. She moved to the left to avoid the second woman's attack, only to end up caught between two foes and receive a few deep cuts across her back.

[-5 hp]

Isabelle just laughed. Five hp of damage? These ladies were chumps. With renewed confidence, she sprinted forward.

[Stamina 90%]

Isabelle weaved through the hedges at a whirlwind speed.

The ladies' blades flashed in front of her. One landed a cut across her leg. Another missed entirely. And the last grazed her shoulder.

[-17 hp]

"What?!" Isabelle shrieked in shock as the ladies rushed past her. They ran into each other headfirst and then fell to the floor, their weapons clattering on the ground.

"Wha?" Isabelle exclaimed, turning to see them lying unconscious.

She sighed and shook her head. Well, fuck 'em. She sheathed her blade. They weren't worth it.

Isabelle walked past the naked warriors and continued down her chosen hedge path.

After walking for what felt like forever, Isabelle came to a fork in the road. She stopped and took a moment to study both paths.

One led straight ahead; the other curved off to the right. Both seemed equally safe. Which way would she go?

[Do a wis+int check to decide which way to go]

It wasn’t an option this time. It was a command.

Isabelle had never heard of this sort of decision making process before. It didn't seem fair. She should be able to choose which

direction she wanted to go. This whole thing reeked of bias against her.

It was so obvious.

[Do a wis+int check to decide which way to go]

Isabelle clearly had no choice, so she thought yes.

[...]

[...]

[Pathway chosen]

The ground shook. A huge hedge sprouted up from the ground and covered the entrance to the right. Now Isabelle could only go to the left.

Isabelle grumbled under her breath, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it now. She turned and began walking to the left.

After some time, she found herself coming to another fork in the road. What would happen next? Would she continue along the same path or change course again?

It didn’t seem like the system would force her to choose with a wis+int check this time, at least.

Isabelle considered the question. Should she go left or turn right?

‘Straight’ was obviously the best answer here, as the fastest way to get anywhere was a straight line, but that unfortunately wasn’t an option. She needed to go to the left. But what if the path to the right was faster than going to the left? Then she'd go that way instead.

There was also the possibility of going down one path and then returning to the same fork later on and choosing the other path. If that happened, she might end up going down multiple branches that all

lead to the same location, so she wouldn't be able to make any real progress until she returned to this point. That would probably suck.

Then, Isabelle had an idea. Maybe she didn’t need to choose. Maybe she could go straight after all.

She unsheathed her sword and spun it in a circle. Isabelle walked toward the middle of the hedges, forward, between the two paths. And then she spun her blade faster and faster until it was cutting through the hedge!

And then Isabelle was through the hedge!

And her jaw dropped wide open from what she saw next. “Holy fucking moley,” said Isabelle. “I can’t fucking believe it.”

A large castle sat on top of a massive hill. The walls looked sturdy enough to keep out invaders. There were even towers lining the outside.

“What the fuck is this?” Isabelle asked.

“You look a little lost. Would you like some help?”

Isabelle looked down at the googley-eyed caterpillar. “Yes. You’ve got some explaining to do.”