The wind whispered through the forest — though it wasn't wind anymore. It sounded like static waves, echoing softly between trees made of translucent glass.
Each leaf shimmered with faint holographic light. Data veins pulsed beneath their surfaces, glowing blue with every breeze. When Liam brushed his fingers against one, it flickered, leaving behind a faint trail of code that dissolved into the air.
He took a slow breath, his chest rising and falling with effort. The world smelled faintly metallic, mixed with ozone. It felt real, yet… not.
[System Log: Location — Sector One: Reconstructed Environment.]
[Stability — 72%. Timeflow — Variable.]
Liam glanced around cautiously. The silence here wasn't peaceful — it was waiting.
He remembered the fight — the reflection, the collapse, the blinding light. The memory burned like static in his mind.
He muttered under his breath, "Where the hell am I now?"
As if in answer, a faint echo rippled through the forest — the distant sound of footsteps.
He turned sharply, blade ready.
From between the crystal trees, three figures emerged — all human. Real faces, real breath, not digital projections. But their eyes… flickered faintly, like the world around them.
The first was a woman with silver hair tied back in a rough braid, wearing scavenged armor marked with glowing blue lines. She carried a pulse rifle that looked hand-built from salvaged parts.
Behind her stood a boy, maybe sixteen, in a tattered hoodie and fingerless gloves, holding a small device that projected faint blue screens in the air.
And last — an older man with cybernetic eyes, scanning Liam silently like he was analyzing a machine.
The silver-haired woman raised her weapon but didn't aim it. "You're not from our group," she said carefully. "State your code."
Liam frowned. "My what?"
Her finger tensed on the trigger.
The older man's mechanical eye glowed red for a second, then dimmed. "He's clean," he said, his voice low and mechanical. "No corruption detected."
The woman lowered her weapon slightly, eyes narrowing. "Who are you?"
"Liam," he said. "And… I don't know how I got here."
The boy snorted softly. "That makes four of us."
The woman gave the kid a warning look. Then to Liam: "Sector One isn't safe. Come with us if you want to survive."
Before he could respond, the forest trembled.
A deep vibration rolled beneath the ground — not from footsteps, but from data distortion. The trees around them began to flicker, leaves turning to fragmented pixels before repairing themselves.
[Alert: Local Anomaly Detected. Classification — Unknown Entity.]
The boy cursed. "Not again!"
"Move!" the woman ordered.
They sprinted through the forest, glass trees reflecting their motion in warped light. Behind them, the air itself cracked — a digital tear splitting open, leaking crimson light.
Something stepped through it.
It wasn't a creature. It was data, twisted into a shape that resembled a human, but incomplete — parts of it were missing, flickering, glitching. Its eyes were empty sockets filled with black static.
The woman stopped, turned, and fired. Energy blasts tore through the creature — but instead of falling, it absorbed the damage, its body glowing brighter.
"It's feeding on data!" the boy shouted.
Liam clenched his jaw, summoning his blade. "Then we stop giving it any."
He dashed forward before anyone could stop him. The creature lunged, its arm stretching unnaturally long, but Liam ducked under it and slashed. His sword tore through the creature's torso — it screamed, a sound like broken frequencies — but its form began to rebuild.
[Warning: Entity Reconstructing. Adaptive Algorithm Detected.]
"Damn it," he muttered. "You're just like him…"
The woman yelled, "Fall back!"
But Liam didn't. Instead, he closed his eyes, remembering the energy from before — the chaotic surge that let him overpower his reflection.
He focused on that same distortion. His vision glitched. Blue code veins spread across his arms.
[Accessing Anomaly Energy…]
[Synchronization Risk: 78%.]
He ignored the warning. The world around him blurred as he swung his blade once more — this time, the strike rippled like lightning, cutting through the creature's chest and core simultaneously.
For a moment, time froze.
Then — explosion.
The creature shattered into data shards that scattered through the air like glowing dust.
Silence.
Liam fell to one knee, panting, his vision flickering. The System's voice rang faintly in his head:
[Adaptive Sync Expanded.]
[You have acquired new skill: "Echo Slash."]
The silver-haired woman approached slowly, lowering her rifle. "That was… reckless," she said flatly, "but effective."
Liam smirked weakly. "You're welcome."
The boy laughed. "Okay, I like this guy."
The older man was still watching him closely, mechanical eyes scanning his aura. "You used corrupted energy," he said. "How are you not destabilized?"
"I don't know," Liam admitted, standing. "I think the System wants me alive."
The woman exchanged a glance with her team. "The System doesn't want anything," she said. "It's dead."
Liam's blood ran cold. "What did you say?"
The boy tapped his device, showing a holographic projection — a map of fractured sectors. Entire regions blinked red with warnings.
"The Core went offline weeks ago," he said. "There's no central AI anymore. Everything's running on backup protocols. Reality's been rebuilding itself—badly."
Liam stared at the projection, heart pounding. "That's impossible. I just fought the Core."
The older man's gaze hardened. "Then maybe you're the reason it's gone."
Before Liam could reply, the forest shimmered again — this time, softer. The broken air healed, but a faint light descended from above.
A holographic figure appeared — not one of the System's usual interfaces, but something human-shaped.
It was a woman in white, her face serene but expression blank, eyes glowing faint gold.
[Protocol Message: Phase Two – Humanity Override.]
[Objective: Restore or Replace.]
The woman's image flickered. Her voice came in fragments.
"Evolution… requires balance… Error… must… choose…"
Then she vanished.
The group stood frozen in stunned silence.
"Who was that?" the boy whispered.
Liam exhaled slowly. "The System."
The silver-haired woman shook her head. "No. That wasn't the System… that was what's left of it."
The forest quieted again. For a moment, everything was still — the calm before another inevitable glitch.
Liam sheathed his sword, looking at the others. "You said this is Sector One. What's beyond it?"
The older man's metallic eyes flickered. "Sector Two. We call it The Divide. No one comes back from there."
Liam smirked faintly. "Then that's where I'm going."
The woman frowned. "You'd walk into corruption without a plan?"
He turned toward the distant horizon — where the fractured sun flickered between light and shadow, and the outlines of a crumbling city floated in the air like memories.
"I already walked into death," he said quietly. "This can't be worse."
He took his first step forward — and with it, the System pulsed again.
[Quest Updated: The Divide — Enter the Fracture.]
[Warning: Anomaly Signature Detected. Tracking Enabled.]
Somewhere deep in the glitched sky, eyes opened — cold, digital, and familiar.
The reflection wasn't gone.
It was watching.
End of Chapter 4