The first thing Magnus saw was everything around him collapsing. Whether it was himself, Marcos, or the space surrounding him, it all seemed to fold in at once, merging together into an all-encompassing void.
And then—he didn’t see at all.
Instead, the first thing he felt—or at least thought he felt—was the sensation of falling. But there was no rush of wind against his skin. In fact, he couldn’t even feel his body. It was more like the unsettling awareness of being unbalanced, untethered.
"I don't feel right..." He muttered to himself, trying to get his bearings. He was still descending, deeper into the darkness, sinking further into nothingness. At the same time, he felt strangely disconnected. No—disjointed was a better word. Parts of his consciousness were present—he was sure of that—but other parts were completely silent. And there was nothing more unsettling than realizing that parts of your own mind had gone dark.
Even his memories felt fragmented.
"Do I even have emotions right now? I'm not scared or panicked. Even the fear of being cut off from Basker is gone. Is something happening to my mind?" He couldn’t figure it out. No—that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t that his emotions were gone. They were still there, just diminished. Shrunken down so much they barely registered, not enough to cloud his thoughts. Maybe that was why he could think so clearly, even in a situation where nothing made sense.
"What’s the last thing I remember? The Nullfang... it started spazzing out. Its glitch was causing errors, right? So did reality break down or something? Is this what Monlam and his teacher were warning me about?" Any thoughts Magnus had about his situation came to an abrupt halt the moment the sensation of falling stopped. If before it had felt like tumbling through the void, now it was more like sinking—slowly, deliberately. But more importantly, the darkness around him had vanished, replaced by something he couldn't even begin to describe.
Yet, his instincts whispered to him. They told him that what he was witnessing wasn’t just something—it was everything. The foundation, the bottom, the highest echelon of the fundamental. It wasn’t quite right to call it a space, though maybe it was. It felt vast yet minuscule, infinite yet finite, and somehow, countless other things in between.
He wasn’t seeing it, not with his eyes. It wasn’t a sight so much as a presence, flowing around him, through him. And it felt familiar.
"This is just like when I'm in the dreamland with Basker. Now that I think about it… I haven’t been able to think to myself this whole time either." As similar as they seemed on the surface, there were clear differences between reality and his dreamland. One of them was that in his dreamland, internal thoughts didn’t exist. After all, his mental form already resided inside his mind—how could he have inner thoughts when he was the source of them?
The second difference was that he had never truly looked at anything there. Even though his mental form resembled his physical body, he could simply know what lay beyond a rock without needing to check. It was all in his head—why wouldn’t he be omniscient there?
That was exactly what it felt like now. Except this time, he couldn't comprehend whatever he was being shown, even if he knew it was there.
"Could this be... source code?" The thought felt almost too absurd to consider, but the moment the words left him, everything changed.
This place had already defied geometry, but now it shifted in ways that made even less sense. Some shapes had no form, only shadows, and reflections that folded in on themselves. Everything felt interconnected, yet the way it flickered and reconstructed itself made that impossible. Every instant, everything was different from before—what had been one thing a second ago had already undergone countless transformations into something else.
And all Magnus could do was feel, absorb, and sink.
Where was he sinking?
What was he sinking into?
He had no idea.
"If this really is the source code, how did I get here? Is this some kind of different realm? Did the Nullfang’s glitch teleport me? I suppose that’s not too hard to believe if it broke reality in the area around it... but if that’s the case, then Mia and the others should be here too. Though even if they are, finding them in this would be impossible." With nothing else to do, Magnus kept speaking—thinking out loud, letting his words bounce off each other, trying to make sense of the chaos surrounding him. The swirling, ever-shifting patterns around him felt more real than the world he had once known.
He tried summoning the Command Console. Nothing happened. Either he couldn’t access it in whatever state he was in, or it simply wasn’t responding to him. After a couple of more failed attempts, he eventually changed his focus to trying to understand the space around him. But even that was met by a dead in as it quickly became obvious that comprehension was impossible. Instead, he realized something—something he already knew, but never truly thought about.
The Command Console had always been a tool, an interface to manipulate source code. The endless lines of code it outputted every time he executed a command. He had once believed that was source code—an abstract, structured language.
But now he understood.
The Command Console had only been simplifying it. Summarizing it.
The true nature of source code—if that was indeed what he was witnessing—was far greater than anything he and Basker had ever theorized. It wasn't something that could be captured in a prompt or contained within a neatly displayed script.
It was vast, unknowable.
"I wonder if time exists here? Probably not. Even if it does, I doubt it has any meaning." Either way, he had no idea how to get himself out of this. No way to return to normal.
That meant he would likely just keep sinking—deeper and deeper into the strings of information that made up reality. Or until something ended him.
Either one.
"If that's the case, I guess it's a good thing I can't feel anything right now... or I'd be losing my mind." That's what he said, but the accepting tone in his voice didn’t mean he was okay with it. Not really. He knew that if he had to stay like this forever if he remained trapped in this fundamental state for eternity, he would break.
With or without emotions, with or without fear, it would happen eventually.
But it wasn’t like he had an alternative.
Not unless someone—or something—pulled him out.
[Master?]
The sound of Basker’s voice sent a jolt of surprise through the faint remnants of emotion still lingering in Magnus.
"Basker? Is that you?"
[Yes, Master. I’ve succeeded in devouring the Nullfang’s mind and am currently in the process of fully assimilating it. However, I’m having trouble returning to your mind.]
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"It's good to hear your voice. But, yeah that makes sense. I don’t know exactly what happened, but the Nullfang went crazy when you entered its mind. It started using its glitch so rapidly that I think an error occurred. I’m not sure what it did, but everything started breaking. Me, Mia, Gerald, and Marcos—we couldn’t escape. I think we were teleported. And if you can’t return to my mind, it’s probably because parts of it are... missing or something."
Basker went silent for a moment, processing Magnus’s words before responding.
[I see. Well, I find it highly unlikely that you were teleported. Given the limited range of our connection, it’s more probable that you’ve shifted somehow. If I had to guess, whatever happened to you and the others—especially to your minds—caused a disconnect. Similar to what occurs to the mind when a person dies. It seems even the Command Console’s protections were overruled in this case. However, with the number of loops it runs in your mind, even if the Command Console couldn’t stop the effect entirely, it at least prevented your mind from going completely dark.]
"Huh. That would explain a lot." It was a calm response—probably the only kind he could manage without his emotions and faced with the fact that, if not for the Command Console, he’d be dead right now or at least, the mental equivalent.
A brief silence passed before Magnus spoke again.
"In any case, I’m not exactly sure where I ‘shifted’ to, but I’m fairly certain I’m at the source code level… somehow. And I can’t get back on my own. Do you have any ideas?"
[Yes. Master, you said this happened as a result of the Null State Glitch being used repeatedly?]
"That’s right. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like."
[In that case, once I fully assimilate its mind, its rapid use of the Null State Glitch will likely stop as well. If the source of the error vanishes, the error itself may be corrected automatically.]
Given what they knew about the malleable and adaptive nature of source code—and by extension, reality—there was no doubt that it would automatically correct an error once its source was eliminated.
But that raised another, far more worrisome issue.
"Yeah… but just because the error is fixed doesn’t mean everything will go back to normal. What if instead of fixing things, me and the others just get deleted or something ?"
[I’m afraid there are no guarantees, Master. If you wish, I can attempt to let the Null State Glitch continue operating even after assimilation. However, I cannot think of any other viable way to bring you back.]
In other words, he could either take the risk and hope for the best or leave things as they were. The latter was the only option guaranteed to keep him alive—not just him, but also Mia, Gerald, and Marcos if they were here as well. Any other choice would turn their survival into a coin toss.
But at the same time, he had to ask himself, would this even be living?
Even with Basker around to talk to, this existence would become hellish sooner or later. He couldn’t even access the Command Console, so it wasn’t like he could turn off the loops let his mind slip into a death-like silence the way Mia and the others likely had.
He would be stuck.
Awake.
Aware.
While time passed—however long that might be.
After a few minutes of contemplation, Magnus finally asked, “How long will it take for you to finish assimilating the Nullfang’s mind?”
[Minutes at most.]
There was a brief pause before Magnus spoke again.
“If your assumption is right, and our minds did shut down into a death-like state when we shifted into this place... then in the end, this decision only really affects me, right? Mia and the others won't really be affected since I’m the only one who can still think.”
[Indeed.]
"I’m probably going to freak out about this when I get my emotions back... Alright, do it." His voice was steady, almost unnervingly so, with no hesitation.
[Right away.]
As Basker fell silent, Magnus was once again left alone with the fragmented remains of his mind.
"I wonder what it would be like to be deleted? It probably won’t feel like anything. Just instant nothing." The morbid thought slipped out before he even realized it, but his attention soon drifted back to the ever-shifting chaos surrounding him.
This place—the raw foundation of reality itself.
And yet, despite being confronted with the very source code of existence, there was nothing he could do with it. Even when he focused, trying to see through it, to understand it, it simply passed through the active parts of his mind. He couldn't even tell if he was retaining anything with the state of his mind. It was like water slipping through his fingers, no matter how tightly he tried to hold on.
No matter how many times he reached for it.
"I wonder if I'll-"
Magnus was cut off as Basker’s voice suddenly returned.
[Master, it’s done.]
He didn’t respond right away, instead focusing on the chaotic, kaleidoscopic world around him, searching for any changes beyond the constant, ever-shifting distortions. But he saw nothing.
"It looks like it didn’t-" Once again, he was interrupted—this time by himself, as the sensation of sinking stopped.
What happened next, he didn’t even get to see. It all unfolded in an instant. If his arrival in this strange realm had been marked by everything collapsing into nothing, then now, everything was unfolding from nothing just as suddenly.
In the span of a single blink, reality returned.
He felt himself falling—then landing, back first, onto soft grass. His wide eyes locked onto the blue sky above, his brain scrambling to process the rush of sensations flooding back into him. His chest rose and fell in shallow, uneven breaths. His heart pounded so hard it drowned out everything else, its relentless hammering in his ears.
Tightness clenched around his chest, almost painful, as flashes of what he had just witnessed surged through his mind—only to be drowned out by a far more immediate realization.
What- What the hell was I thinking? I could have gotten myself killed! I almost- I-
His thoughts spiraled out of control, an overwhelming flood that refused to slow. Even as he saw Marcos step into his peripheral vision, looking down at him with clear confusion, his mind barely registered it. Marcos knelt, placing a hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly. His mouth moved, forming words—words that never reached Magnus’s ears.
He couldn’t focus.
He couldn’t breathe.
His hand gripped his chest as panic seized him, his body refusing to obey.
[Master, please calm down. Just focus on where you are. You don’t need to breathe.]
Basker’s voice echoed in Magnus’s mind as the hound quickly got to work, reinstating all the usual modifications it made to his thoughts. Intrusive thoughts that pulled him away from focus—clipped. The constant mental noise—quieted. One by one, Basker made adjustments, guiding him back to stability.
Right...
Magnus’s grip on his chest loosened slightly. He shifted his gaze upward, focusing on the sun shining in the vast blue sky above. As his focus sharpened, the chaotic flood of thoughts dulled. His breathing slowed. The tension inside him faded, piece by piece.
I’m alive... I’m fine.
Repeating those words to himself, he felt his heartbeat settle. It was strange—he didn’t even need to breathe, yet in those moments of panic, he still reacted as if he did. He felt himself hyperventilating, despite it being unnecessary. Just like how sighing or taking a breath had become an ingrained habit, his body still responded to anxiety on instinct.
"Are you feeling better now?" Magnus turned his head at the voice. Marcos was sitting next to him, watching him with a steady expression, though it seemed to hide its own inner turmoil. Slowly, Magnus sat up, brushing dirt and grass from his hair before nodding.
"Yeah... Yeah, I think so. Sorry about that. I-" Marcos cut him off with a slight shake of his head.
"It's fine. Blacking out and then waking up after thinking you were about to die can do that to you." Hearing that, Magnus shifted his gaze toward where Gerald had been. He quickly spotted both him and Mia. The latter was crouched beside him, tending to his injuries while speaking to him in a low voice. Gerald’s left hand and right foot were wrapped in makeshift bandages as she performed first aid.
Beside them, a massive, smooth hole marred the ground—a vacancy that showed that the world that once occupied it seemed to have been cut out. Unlike that area, the other sections of ground that had twisted and disappeared just like Magnus and the others had returned, but that hole remained—a stark reminder of whatever had just happened.
I see... So it was just like Basker said. None of them saw what I did. They don’t even know how long they were like that. It’s like they were turned off and then on again.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Magnus turned to Marcos.
“What about the Nullfang? What happened to it?”
"Not sure," Marcos replied with a shrug before gesturing toward Mia.
"She checked the hole where everything started getting… weird. But the Nullfang’s gone. I don’t know what your spell did to its mind, but my guess is it ended up destroying itself." Magnus frowned, his gaze drifting downward as he mulled over the possibility.
Destroyed? Basker, is that true?
[No, Master.]
Huh? Then where the hell did it go? Don’t tell me the assimilation failed and it escaped or something.
[That’s not the case, I assure you. The assimilation was successful. The Nullfang is currently hiding under the world.]
Wait... what?
[I believed it would cause unnecessary complications if the Nullfang was revealed to still be alive, even if in a tamed state. So, I used the Null State Glitch—still tied to its existence—to hide it beneath the world. There’s no need to worry. From now on, it’s essentially an extension of my being and fully under my control, Master and by extension yours]