Cherreads

Chapter 29 - Chapter 29: Codebinders

System Notice – Role Mutation Detected]

New Player Class Identified: CODEBINDER

Description: Player bonded with abandoned or unstable system scripts. Capable of direct code manipulation, field edits, or system injections.

Known Codebinder: Echo-13

Status: Rogue Neutral

We found her where the Graveyard didn't fully load.

A glitched-out space near the edge of Sector Null—jagged terrain, looping wind audio, textures popping in and out like a bad memory.

Echo-13 was already waiting.

A girl in shredded system robes, one arm replaced with a glowing filament of code-threaded text. Her eyes flickered like old terminals, and her voice echoed twice when she spoke.

"Trey Laurent. Lucid Key. Flamebroken. Law-Rewriter."

"I've been watching you. Or rather—your errors."

Trinity tensed beside me. "Who the hell is this?"

"Someone who lives between the rules," Echo replied, cocking her head. "Someone you accidentally made possible."

I stepped forward. "You're a Deathless?"

She laughed.

"No. Worse. I'm what happens when a Player survives deletion and downloads the source code instead of a clean reset."

She held up her code-arm, which shimmered into shape: a scroll of raw system language, rotating around her wrist like a weaponized console.

"I am a Codebinder. I don't cast fire or thread. I rewrite reality by debugging it."

[PLAYER – ECHO-13]

Class: Codebinder (Script-Level)

Faction: Neutral | Exiled from Reaper Trials

Ability: Execute Commands – Rewrite field conditions in localized zones

Drawback: High instability, corruption risk, zero resurrection

She waved her hand. The glitched landscape shifted—sharp terrain smoothed into flat stone, the air cleared, and the corrupted fog faded. She'd stabilized the area like an architect editing a video game map live.

Trinity blinked. "You just fixed the zone."

"No," Echo said. "I convinced it that it was never broken."

She walked toward me, stopping just short of my Mark's glow.

"You changed the Game. I felt it—when the death law broke, my anchor finally returned. You made the Graveyard more… editable. Dangerous, yes, but flexible."

Orion stepped from the mist. "Why are you here?"

"Because the Death Engine is feeding on these new laws," Echo answered. "The more people resist death, the more broken threads gather—and the Engine absorbs them. It's learning."

Trey: "What does it want?"

Echo: "Nothing. That's what makes it terrifying. The Death Engine is pure logic. It doesn't kill for power. It deletes to correct imbalance. And thanks to you… it now sees your rule as a threat."

She pointed into the distance, where the fog was pulsing red.

"That's where the first Engine node is forming. It will spawn a Warden-class protocol within two cycles. If you don't crash it, it'll overwrite everyone flagged as 'resurrected'—including your Deathless."

Trinity: "How do we stop it?"

Echo: "You don't stop an Engine."

"You trick it."

"You rewrite its purpose."

NEW OBJECTIVE UNLOCKED:

"CRASH THE NODE" – Enter the Engine Zone and corrupt the Warden's logic.

Bonus: Recruit Echo-13 as field code specialist (risk: unstable).

Failure to act will trigger Death Engine Protocol Beta.

I looked at her, trying to read her glitch-marked face.

"Why help us?"

Echo's smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Because if this Game finishes what it started… I won't just die."

She turned away.

"I'll never have existed."

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