Magnus stood on the moon’s white, dusty surface, the vastness of space stretching endlessly behind him. In his right hand, he held a small pistol—or at least something that looked like one. Its sleek, futuristic design gave it a distinctly sci-fi feel, like something out of a movie. Suddenly, the surface beneath him cracked, and three chunks of rock shot into the air as if the moon itself had decided to hurl them away.
Magnus smirked. Raising the gun, he fired. A bright red laser streaked through the vacuum of space, hitting one of the rocks dead center. It vaporized on impact, crumbling into dust that drifted weightlessly. He quickly turned his attention to the remaining two, dispatching them with ease before twirling the gun around his finger and letting it vanish as he released the grip. For a moment, he glanced down at himself—barefoot, dressed in a simple shirt and shorts, the same outfit he’d wear lounging at home. It was still so surreal, standing there on the moon, dressed so casually, with no spacesuit or protective gear.
The quiet was broken by the sound of clapping. Magnus turned to see a familiar face, perched casually on a nearby rock.
“Not bad,” Wendy said, her tone teasing.
“Though, let’s be honest, it’s kind of cheating. I mean, you’ve got all the time in the world to aim out here.” She kicked her feet lazily, her messy black hair falling over her eyes as she gave him a playful grin.
Magnus groaned.
“Can I ever just get a ‘cool’ or ‘nice shot’ from you?”
“Not a chance.” Wendy shook her head with exaggerated finality.
“Anyway, what are we even doing on the moon?” Her gaze drifted upward, drawn to the stars scattered across the void like glittering jewels. Then it fell to Earth—a blue and white marble hanging in the darkness, half-cloaked in shadow. From here, it seemed close enough to reach out and touch, yet impossibly distant.
Magnus shrugged.
“Uh, if I remember right, it’s because my mind feels comfortable here. Right, Basker?” The moment he said the name, shadows from across the moon began to stir. Whether they came from rocks, craters, or even Magnus and Wendy themselves, the darkness seemed to come alive, slithering and coalescing into one place. Slowly, the shadows expanded and took form, becoming something solid—Basker. The creature’s body seemed to blur into the surrounding darkness, but its fiery, piercing eye burned brightly as it turned toward Magnus.
“That is correct, Master.” Wendy’s eyes widened.
“No way! You’ve got a demon dog in this world?” She hopped off her rock, taking a step closer before pausing as Basker turned to meet her gaze. The hound’s fur shifted and rippled, merging with the void around it. The intensity of its presence made her hesitate, though the playful grin on her face didn’t fade completely.
“Not a demon,” Magnus corrected.
“I don’t even know if demons exist here. Basker's a mana beast, I think. The headmistress at my magic academy sent him after me. Still not totally sure why.”
“A witch lady, huh?” Wendy tilted her head thoughtfully before smirking.
“Still way cooler than dealing with Mrs. Laren in art class. She was always making us paint depressing stuff. Or weird stuff, or both...” Magnus nodded his head in agreement. Wendy let out a quiet sigh as she sat back down, her gaze lingering on Basker. She looked torn as if she wanted to approach and pet him but couldn’t quite overcome her nerves.
“It’s weird,” she said after a pause.
“I’m still getting used to the fact that you’re living in a fantasy world now. I wish I’d come with you.” Magnus glanced at her curiously.
“So, you don’t remember anything after I disappeared back on Earth?” Wendy shook her head.
"Not really. Now that I think about it, a lot of my memories are blank," Wendy muttered, frowning slightly. It was as if the thought hadn’t bothered her until now, but once it was brought up, the blank spaces seemed to gnaw at her—if only for a moment. Then, with a shrug, she dismissed it like it didn’t deserve her attention.
"I guess I should’ve expected that," Magnus said, pacing as he rested a hand on his chin, clearly thinking aloud more than talking to her.
"I tried recreating the real Wendy in my dreamland using the Command Console, but it gave me an error—the laws separating reality from fantasy must’ve kicked in. So instead, I based this version on my memories, and it worked without a hitch. I guess that's why she feels so familiar..." His voice trailed off, tinged with a quiet melancholy. Wendy, too far away to overhear, sat idly, lazily playing with a rock with her feet, juggling it in the low gravity. Basker, however, had no trouble picking up on Magnus’s muttering. This wasn’t the real Wendy. She was a clone, a perfect recreation of what Magnus remembered her to be.
"Basker," Magnus said, snapping out of his thoughts and turning to the shadowy hound by his side, "how long have we been out like this?"
"Based on the mental clock you asked me to set, Master, nearly a full day has passed in the real world." Magnus didn’t respond immediately, though the answer gave him plenty to think about. Basker could wake him up if necessary, provided his body and mind were able to reconnect with one another. It wasn’t much of a limitation, given Magnus’s ability to regenerate his body from injury. But this time had been different.
With the Command Console running its Debugging Protocol, Magnus’s ability to heal had been effectively disabled. Basker couldn’t wake him, either. So, for the past day or so, he’d been effectively trapped in his own mind. The only solace was knowing that since he was still alive, then Marcos had likely gotten them to safety. Still, being stuck here wasn’t the worst fate, not when you had an entity capable of turning your dreams hyper-lucid. Magnus had spent the time playing with his imagination and eventually even conjured up this version of Wendy with the Command Console. The Debugging Protocol had been completed for a while now, and he was free to wake up.
There were, however, two reasons why he hadn’t. The first was curiosity. After discovering that the Command Console couldn’t affect reality, even within his dreamland, he’d deemed further experiments mostly pointless—there were more pressing matters to focus on in the real world. But boredom was a powerful motivator, and it had pushed him to tinker aimlessly, even without a clear goal. The second reason, though, was the real one. The Debugging Protocol had been completed, and Magnus had taken the time to read through the debugging report. Just recalling it made him sigh, defeated, as he lowered himself to sit on the moon’s surface.
Not too long after, he felt a weight pressed against his back and a chin that came to rest lazily on his shoulder. Magnus glanced sideways to find Wendy leaning against him, her face next to his.
"What’s got you sighing so much while staring at moon dirt?" She asked, tilting her head slightly. Her tone was curious, but there was a tinge of boredom—there wasn’t much to do on the moon, after all. Only Magnus could conjure things here.
"I don’t think ‘moon dirt’ is a thing," Magnus replied dryly.
"Anyway, I already told you about the snake monster I ran into?" Wendy’s expression shifted, a flicker of realization crossing her face. Though she was just a copy, Magnus couldn’t help but marvel at how real she seemed. The Command Console was far more thorough than his imagination could ever be. This Wendy didn’t just look and sound like the original; she thought, acted, and even felt like her.
"Oh, right. You did seem stressed out about that for a while after I popped up here," Wendy said, her voice softening. Her brow furrowed for a moment, circling back to her fragmented memories. But, as before, she pushed the thought aside.
"So, is this snake that big of a deal?" She asked, her tone lightening.
"Don’t you have magic now?" Magnus nodded immediately, his expression turning grave.
"It’s a huge deal. I have no idea how I’m supposed to beat something with an ability like this." His gaze dropped to the floating Command Console in front of him as he scrolled through the Debugging Protocol report.
Command Console
↑…
[Debugging Protocol]: Analysis complete.
[Debugging Protocol]: Creating glitch report…
[Debugging Protocol]: Report created successfully.
[GLITCH REPORT]: Codebreak-008 Debugging Report
[Type]: Abnormal Script
[Origin]: Unknown
[Status]: Active
[Analysis Findings]: Codebreak-008, herein designated as an Abnormal Script, is a script-based anomaly of unknown origin. This script has been observed to directly influence the entity that will henceforth referred to as Codebreak-008-1. Any and all abnormalities that have been detected within Codebreak-008-1's code that deviate from established norms appear to be a direct result of Codebreak-008's effects. The abnormal functionality of Codebreak-008 allows Codebrak-008-1 to temporarily null changeable states on specific sections of Codebreak-008-1's physical form. These states are subsequently treated as though they never existed. When external scripts attempt to interact with these nullified states, they trigger an Automatic Manifestation, effectively generating a replacement reaction to the lack of the state.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
[Description of Codebreak-008]: Codebreak-008 lacks any physical form or substance within the world, existing solely as a script. However, its abnormal effects on Codebreak-008-1 are detectable through a distinct scrambling effect, caused by the countless new Automatic Manifestations generated to maintain coherency when other scripts attempt to interact with the affected sections of Codebreak-008-1.
[Glitch Status]: Codebreak-008 is currently classified as "Active" and demonstrates the ability to impose or withdraw its influence on the world.
[Investigation Notes]: Codebreak-008 breaks established norms by forcing adaptive natural responses to accommodate the nullification of previously unaffected changeable states. No discernible methodical source or script has been identified to account for its behavior. Attempts to trace the lineage of the anomalous script have yielded inconclusive results. Simplified descriptions of the interactions resulting from the nullification of changeable states have been compiled and cataloged. This list will be continuously updated and is accessible via the command 'list', designation Entry#008.
[Recommendations]: Immediate containment and, if feasible, deactivation of Codebreak-008 is strongly advised. Should either prove impossible, the containment or neutralization of Codebreak-008-1 is recommended as a secondary measure.
[END OF REPORT]
Users:Magnus_Wright:\>
Reading the report for the first time had been overwhelming. Out of all the glitches Magnus had encountered, this one was by far the most intricate. Even with his coding knowledge, it had taken longer than he cared to admit to decipher what Codebreak-008 actually was. When he finally figured it out, the absurdity of its ability almost made him laugh. It was ludicrous—unbelievably so. Magnus had a strong hunch that even the Knockout Brick, one of the most powerful glitches he had come across, would be useless against that snake. At best, it might work once before becoming useless.
Taking another look at the report, Magnus inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly, letting the weight of it settle. With a swipe, he closed the Command Console, its black, two-dimensional screen vanishing from view.
"Well, I guess I’ve stalled here long enough. Even if I can’t figure out a solution yet, I need to tell Mia and the others what they’re dealing with." As he stood, Wendy, who had been leaning against his back, slid off and landed unceremoniously on the ground with a soft thud.
"Rude..." She muttered, making no effort to get up as she stayed sprawled out on the surface. Magnus glanced down at her, a complicated expression crossing his face.
"So, where are you going?" Wendy asked, tilting her head as she watched him.
"You’ve been having this whole one-sided conversation with yourself."
Magnus responded to her with a small smile—warm but tinged with sadness.
"It was good seeing you again, Wendy. Even if it was only for a little while... and only in my dreams." Wendy blinked in confusion, her mouth opening to speak, but whatever she was about to say never reached him. The dreamland dissolved into darkness, and Magnus opened his eyes to the dim glow of daylight filtering through a nearby window.
The light stung, and he reflexively shielded his face with a hand. A moment later, the sound of footsteps approached, and the brightness faded as someone pulled the curtains shut. Now able to open his eyes fully, Magnus surveyed his surroundings.
He was lying in a bed—not particularly comfortable, but soreness wasn’t something he felt anymore, so he didn’t mind. The room itself was modest and circular, its walls built from rough stone bricks and its floor made of sanded wooden planks. His gaze eventually settled on the window. Leaning against the wall next to it, arms folded, was Marcos, watching him intently. For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Magnus smirked.
"You know, I think this is the second time one of you three has had to carry me unconscious and the second time I’ve woken up in bed later."
"Try not to make it a habit," Marcos replied dryly.
After a pause, he added, "Though you recovered faster this time. We thought you’d be out for a while."
"Yeah, that’s thanks to my healing magic. It works even if I’m unconscious, but it got delayed because of the analyzation spell I used on that thing." Marcos’s expression sharpened as he nodded, pushing off the wall.
"That monster stopped chasing us once we got to the surface of the lake. When we returned, we put everyone on high alert, but so far, it’s been quiet."
"Well, that’s good news… assuming it’s not planning something," Magnus replied.
"That's been on my mind too," Marcos admitted his voice steady but with a slight pause that betrayed the weight of his concern.
"What happened with the spell? Does it still work if you’re unconscious?" The question lingered in the air, and Magnus could tell it wasn’t just idle curiosity. Marcos needed to know if their efforts had been worth it or if they’d failed and needed to regroup with a new plan.
"It worked. It finished recording everything while I was unconscious," Magnus confirmed, his tone serious.
"But I want everyone here before I reveal anything." Magnus adjusted himself, sitting up in bed and leaning back against the headboard. He used the pillow for support as he spoke, his voice heavy with the weight of what he’d learned. Despite the spell’s success and the vital information they now had, there was no trace of hope in his tone.
"Is it that bad?" Marcos asked plainly, locking eyes with Magnus.
"Fighting this thing might just be impossible," Magnus replied, his words blunt and final. Marcos held his gaze for a moment, a complicated expression crossing his face before he turned and left the room. The wooden door to the far right of the bed creaked as it swung open, and Magnus listened to the fading echo of boots descending the stone stairs. Left alone, Magnus took the moment to test his body. Regeneration couldn’t do much for drowning, but it had mitigated the aftermath.
Actually, wait. The magical artifice on my chest can show how my body’s changed.
Magnus’s mind raced. Up to now, he’d used the Command Console’s [Perfective Regeneration] to enhance his body’s toughness and resistance after each regeneration. But since the artifice had recorded his body’s state before entering the water and as he was drowning, it might hold the key to something more.
Maybe... if I reset the state of my respiratory system to how it was while breathing outside the water, I could figure out how to breathe underwater—or at least hold my breath indefinitely.
It was an intriguing idea. He’d need to pinpoint the exact changes and make careful edits using the Command Console, but if it worked, drowning would no longer be a concern. The thought simmered in his mind until the sound of footsteps echoed up the staircase. The first person to appear was Mia. She looked better, though still tired—understandable after their abrupt return which probably woke her up. Her expression softened when she saw Magnus awake, and she walked over to his bedside.
"Thank goodness you’re awake. When I heard Marcos brought you back unconscious, I feared the worst," she said, her voice brimming with relief.
Magnus smiled.
"Sorry for the scare. I was never that good at holding my breath."
"Mia’s just being dramatic," Gerald’s voice rang out as he entered the room, a wide grin on his face.
"You did good! Marcos told us what you two set out to do." Behind him came Marcos and Galven, the latter of which gave Magnus a friendly wave and smile. Trailing them was a younger man in armor similar to Galven’s. He nodded respectfully to Magnus before quietly taking a spot in the corner. If Magnus had to guess, that was likely Lieutenant Hazel, the one Marcos had mentioned, whose platoon guarded Larter Village.
"I’m not being dramatic," Mia snapped, glaring at Gerald.
"And don’t encourage him. He and Marcos nearly died." Her scolding shifted toward Marcos briefly before she turned her attention back to Magnus, her expression softening but her tone still stern.
"You should’ve told us when you found its lair instead of going alone. Even if you’re a Pseudo-Master level mage, that was reckless and dangerous." Magnus didn’t argue. She was right, at least from a standard perspective. Still, he didn’t regret the choice he’d made. At the time, the risk of exposing others to the glitch had been too great. Now that he knew what the glitch was, reinforcements might have been viable, but based on what he’d known then, he stood by his decision.
"Alright, Captain," Galven interjected, his voice calm.
"Maybe it’s best you save the lecture for later. Marcos said Magnus has something important to tell us all." Mia hesitated, frowning slightly before sighing and giving a small nod.
"Fine, you're right," Mia conceded, stepping back from Magnus's bed and relaxing slightly.
"I'm guessing this has to do with the spell you used on the snake you two ran into, right?" Gerald asked.
"Marcos told us about it, but it sounded… odd." Magnus nodded, skipping the recap since it seemed Marcos had already filled them in.
"That’s right. The spell gave me a pretty detailed understanding of its abilities. It’s... hard to explain, but essentially, it can remove any states it has already experienced." His words were met with puzzled looks around the room. Scratching the back of his head, Magnus sighed.
This is going to be tricky to explain. They don’t know anything about source code...
Everyone waited patiently, sensing he was trying to find the right words. After a few moments, Magnus spoke again.
"Okay, think of it like this: when you build a campfire, you need dry wood, and you need to light it. Once the wood catches fire, you could describe its state as ‘being set on fire.’ Following me so far?"
There were nods all around.
"Now, apply that idea to the snake. It can be set on fire—it has a ‘being set on fire’ state. But after experiencing that state once, it can temporarily remove it from part of its body or even its entire body." Mia furrowed her brow, raising a hand to her lips as she processed this.
"So, you’re saying it’s resistant to anything used against it after the first time?" Magnus shook his head.
"Not resistant. It’s more than that—it’s absolute. It can’t happen. Even if you pour oil on it and light a match or use the most powerful fire elementrix spell in existence, it won’t catch fire as long as that state is nullified by its ability. The heat might kill it, but it’ll never ‘be on fire.’" The room fell quiet as they absorbed the implications. Magnus was trying to make it clear that this kind of ability went far beyond simple resistance. In the world, there were metals resistant to extreme conditions, like intense pressure, but no one would claim those metals could withstand unlimited pressure—everything had its limits.
But what if those limits were removed entirely? What if the metal itself no longer had the capacity to be affected by pressure, as though that property were erased down to its very source code? In that case, the amount of pressure wouldn’t matter—it would be irrelevant. It was like trying to kill water. Water didn’t possess the states of being alive or dead, so the concept of killing it simply didn’t apply.
This was why Magnus doubted the Knockout Brick would work on the snake more than once, even if he had it with him. The Knockout Brick worked by forcefully inducing a "knockout" state in anything it hit. However, after speaking with Monlam, Magnus learned that the brick didn’t apply this state by directly interacting with its target. Instead, it had altered reality itself when it appeared, using its nature as a glitch to forcibly impose the knockout state on everything in existence whether it made sense or not.
"Hold on a second," Marcos muttered, his brow furrowing as he recalled his encounter with the snake in the magma chamber.
"I threw one of my knives to take out its eye—it worked easily enough. But when I threw the second knife, its eye turned... fuzzy. The knife shattered on impact. Does that mean..." Magnus nodded, confirming what Marcos was piecing together.
"Exactly. It likely removed the state of ‘being stabbed’ or ‘being penetrated’ from its eye after your first attack." The revelation brought a stunned silence to the room. These were seasoned knights, experienced in countless battles, yet none of them had ever encountered such a mind-boggling ability. Even the most powerful magic couldn’t render someone completely immune or invulnerable.
"That’s why fighting this thing might be impossible," Magnus continued grimly.
"I don’t know how smart it is or how it’s controlling this ability, but if it ever nullifies the state of ‘being injured’ from itself, it would become completely invincible. And its ability to slip through the world, like when it was chasing Marcos and me? That’s probably another state it removed—maybe the state of collision or something similar." The implications hung heavy in the air. The list of states the snake could potentially erase from itself was practically endless. Although Magnus hadn’t yet reviewed the full list compiled by the Command Console, he already had a clear picture of the danger.
This thing had been allowed to grow and learn how to use its ability. That’s why it’s caused so many problems at the border and why no one has been able to stop it. If it keeps growing, keeps learning, and continues nullifying more states, then it’s only a matter of time before it becomes truly unstoppable.