Chapter 8: Watcher of the Lobby
The Watcher descended like a judge from the sky.
Its body was white and smooth, almost ceramic, etched with thin glowing lines that pulsed like a heartbeat. It hovered above the plaza floor without wings, arms folded across its chest, faceless but far from blind. From within the helmet-like casing came a soft hum—low, rhythmic, as if the entire machine were breathing.
Zayn Arif stared up, unmoving.
[Entity Identified: WATCHER – Enforcement-Class Protocol Unit]
[Function: Intrusion Response / Memory Regulation / Entity Removal]
[Threat Level: Severe]
[Warning: Combat is not advised]
Max stepped forward slowly, weapon at the ready.
"Back," he muttered. "This thing doesn't fight fair. It *cleans.*"
Zayn's mind raced. Was it here to erase them? Or to suppress the truths the lobby was beginning to reveal?
The Watcher lowered, drifting to hover only a few meters away. Then, without warning, it spoke.
Its voice was layered—three tones overlapping, mechanical and ancient.
"Zayn Arif. Classification: Delta Thread Anomaly. Unauthorized access detected. Lobby\_0X1-ROOT is sealed. You are not permitted."
Zayn took a slow breath.
"I just want answers. Why am I here? Why me?"
The Watcher tilted its head ever so slightly.
"Origin data corrupted. Subject linked to failed synchronization protocol. Transfer to containment required."
[System Warning: You are being targeted for Extraction]
[Graveyard Protocol Disabled in Lobby Space]
[If you are defeated, you will not respawn]
Max raised his gun.
Zayn shook his head. "No. Fighting won't work."
He stepped forward.
"I accessed this place using an artifact. That means I was meant to come here. You must have logs—files—anything that shows why I was chosen."
The Watcher paused.
Its lights flickered rapidly for a second.
Then—
[System Conflict: Internal Error]
[Memory Lock Detected – Manual Override Required]
"An override," Max whispered. "You triggered a logic loop."
Zayn looked around. "Where's the override located?"
The system answered immediately.
[Override Terminal – Sector V: Archive Vault]
[Access Route: Through the Hall of Loadouts]
[Risk Assessment: High – Hostile Data Residues Detected]
The Watcher's chest opened.
A pulse of red energy began to build.
"You have one chance," Max said. "Run now or be deleted."
Zayn turned on his heel and bolted toward the archway that led deeper into the hollow lobby. Max followed, one hand tossing a blue disc onto the ground behind them.
The Watcher launched a blast.
The disc exploded into a wall of static distortion—buying them three seconds.
They sprinted down a corridor of empty shops and frozen avatars. Statues of past players lined the walls, holding weapons once used in long-forgotten seasons. Some bore names Zayn vaguely recognized—legends whispered of in fan forums and match histories.
"Hall of Loadouts," Max said. "We're close."
[Zone Entry: Loadout Hall]
[System Warning: Memory Residue Active – Unstable Constructs Ahead]
The corridor opened into a circular room filled with floating loadout terminals. Each flickered, randomly cycling through weapons, gear, and item descriptions. The air buzzed with residual energy—ghosts of thousands of customization choices lingering like fingerprints.
Then came the howls.
From the darkness, broken figures emerged.
They moved like corrupted players—twitching, half-loaded, their limbs distorted. Their skins were mismatched. Faces half-rendered. Equipment glitched.
[Hostile Detected: Fragmented Loadout Echoes]
[Behavior: Aggressive – Non-Communicative]
[Quantity: 9]
Max opened fire immediately.
Zayn drew his blade—not a special one, just the standard starter machete he'd looted earlier—but it would have to do.
He dodged a swipe from one echo and countered with a hard strike to its neck. The body flickered, collapsed into blue sparks, and dissolved.
They moved fast, but not smart.
These things weren't enemies—they were leftovers. Forgotten combinations of gear and style, rejected by players long ago, now forced into unstable bodies.
Zayn and Max fought their way across the room, reaching the far platform where an ancient terminal rested—its screen black, its power faint.
Zayn inserted the artifact chip from earlier.
The screen blinked awake.
[Manual Override Initiated]
[Memory Vault Access: GRANTED]
[Playback Sequence Beginning – Brace for Sync Feedback]
The room vanished.
And Zayn was elsewhere.
—
He stood in a sterile white chamber.
Monitors buzzed softly. Figures in lab coats moved behind glass. On a metal bed lay a body—his body. Eyes shut. Electrodes connected to a glowing helmet device.
[Date: Unknown]
[Project: Neuro-Link Integration – Volunteer Phase]
[Subject #114 – Zayn Arif]
[Status: Neural Drift Detected – Consciousness Unmoored]
A voice spoke from behind the glass.
"We lost him. Consciousness disconnected mid-simulation."
"Pull him back."
"We can't. He's inside the system. Rooted deeper than any test subject we've seen."
Another voice. Sharper. Colder.
"Then monitor him. Let's see how far he can go before the system breaks him."
Zayn tried to move.
But he was only a ghost in this memory.
A byproduct.
A remnant.
[Origin Log Complete – Progression Updated: 11%]
[New Ability Unlocked: Code Sense – Passive System Awareness]
—
The hall reformed around him.
The echoes were gone.
Max stood nearby, panting, one arm bleeding.
"What did you see?"
Zayn didn't answer right away.
He clenched his fists.
"I volunteered."
Max raised an eyebrow.
"But they didn't tell me the risk. I wasn't playing Free Fire. I was inside a full-dive test version. Something went wrong, and they left me here."
Max nodded slowly. "That's the real game, Zayn. Not about guns or kills. It's survival of identity."
Zayn looked down at his hands.
He could feel the system differently now.
He sensed the presence of nodes—doorways, barriers, coded walls he'd never noticed before.
Code Sense.
He could read the world like a map.
And he knew where the Watcher had gone.
"Back to the plaza," he said. "I'm not done."
Max looked uneasy. "It'll still be waiting."
Zayn turned, walking back the way they came.
"It wants to remove anomalies, right?"
Max followed. "Yeah."
"Then I'll show it I'm more than a mistake."
—
They stepped out of the Hall of Loadouts into the dim lobby once again.
The Watcher hovered in the center, unmoved.
"Anomaly returned. Prepare for deletion."
Zayn stepped forward.
"No. I've seen my logs. I've seen your errors. You're not a guardian—you're a failsafe stuck in an old loop."
The Watcher paused.
[Error: Unexpected Command Structure Detected]
[Override of Watcher Behavior – Permission Code: Delta]
Zayn's Code Sense pulsed.
He raised his hand and pressed into the space between them—into the logic.
The Watcher spasmed.
Its lights flickered.
And then, slowly—
It bowed.
[Watcher Behavior Modified – Anomaly Status Updated: "Catalyst"]
[System Progression: 13%]
Max stared.
"You just reprogrammed a god."
Zayn lowered his hand.
"I'm not done yet."
Because now he had access to the core.
And buried deep in the system, past the code, past the memories—
Was the exit.