I didn't sleep.
Not because I couldn't—but because I wasn't sure sleep meant anything in a place like this.
The forest didn't move. The trees stood still like sentinels in grayscale, with the occasional ripple across the sky like lag in a bad game. When the fire finally died into a cold, hissing whisper, I stood.
No dew. No wind. Just a simulation pretending to breathe.
I remembered Ananya.
Her voice. Her hand on my cheek. The way she said my name like she was waking me up from something worse than a nightmare.
And then she was gone. Like she was never here.
Only her code remained, nested in the back of my mind like a seed waiting to bloom.
I walked.
There was no path, no guidance. Just instinct.
And then it hit me—the UI.
A faint shimmer flickered at the edge of my vision. Like before.
SYSTEM OVERRIDEUser: [Null]Permission Level: Pending…
Subsystem: MEMORY ACCESS REQUESTEDAccept? [Y/N]
I stopped walking.
Was this what Ananya unlocked?Was this how I became the "God" of this world?
I thought about rejecting it—but deep down, I already knew.I couldn't go back. I had to see.
"Yes."
The world blinked.
Like someone unplugged reality and plugged it back in.
Suddenly, I wasn't in the forest anymore.
I was sitting in a hospital room. White walls. Beeping monitors. The sterile scent of antiseptic. A memory?
No, not a memory.
A simulation of a memory.
And in that bed—hooked up to machines—was… me.
Or at least, a version of me.
My heart stuttered.
He looked younger. Tired. Pale. Tubes in his arms. Eyes closed. Breathing shallow.
Then I heard her.
Ananya.
Sitting beside the bed. Holding my hand. Talking softly. Crying. Laughing.
I couldn't hear the words clearly—like the audio was distorted. But the emotion was there.
She leaned in and whispered something.
I strained to hear it.
"If you ever come back… even as a whisper, I'll know."
The vision fractured.
Back to the forest.
Back to the silence.
But now I knew.
This wasn't some random isekai nonsense. This simulation was built on me. My memories. My regrets. My loss.
SYSTEM UPDATEAdmin Privileges: [Granted]Primary Directive: UNKNOWN
Root Command Line Access Unlocked
A terminal appeared mid-air. Floating, flickering. Lines of glowing code.
I stared at it, heart racing.
What would happen if I typed something?
I lifted my hand, and the interface responded like a mirror.
I typed:
bash
Copy
Edit> whoami
A pause.
User: RootIdentity: FragmentedReconstruction: In Progress…
Of course. I wasn't whole. Not yet.
But I was something now. A glitch given form.
I began walking again, terminal window fading to the background like a passive HUD.
My thoughts raced ahead of my steps.
If this world is a simulation…If I have control…Then who built it?
And why?
Was it punishment? A second chance?Or something else entirely?
I found the river again.
Only now, it wasn't frozen. The water flowed like liquid mercury, reflecting not just my face—but faces I didn't recognize.
Dozens of people. Men, women, children. Flickering like slideshow images.
Then one stilled.
A boy. Maybe ten. Staring straight at me. Silent.
Then he whispered.
"Wake us up."
Chills danced down my spine.
More than one person was here? Trapped? Dreaming?
What the hell is this place?
Before I could respond, the river glitched—hard.
Pixels tore away from the surface like static. The image of the boy disintegrated.
And then came the sound.
A scream.
Not human. Not animal. Digital. Glitched. Twisted.
Like corrupted audio from a corrupted soul.
Then something moved in the trees.
I ran.
I didn't even think. Just instinct.
Branches scraped past me but left no mark. Like they didn't exist fully.
But whatever was following me—did.
It was faster. Heavier. Realer.
Then—A burst of red error code slammed into the trees beside me.
ERROR: Entity UnregisteredSYSTEM CLEANUP INITIATED
I dove behind a stump as a figure emerged.
Humanoid. Tall. Hooded. Face like a blank monitor with red blinking lights for eyes.
It didn't walk. It floated. Like its feet didn't need gravity.
It raised a hand—and the tree I'd been hiding behind disappeared in a cascade of red code.
"What the f—"
I rolled, summoning the command window mid-motion.
Typed fast:
bash
Copy
Edit> spawn firewall.exe
A wall of glowing hexes formed between us.
The entity slammed into it—and screeched as it burned in digital flame.
It staggered.
Then vanished.
I collapsed to my knees, panting.
I was shaking, but alive.
What the hell was that?
A defense protocol?A corrupted file?Or a… guardian?
NEW ABILITY UNLOCKEDSYSTEM REWRITE: Partial
Skill Acquired: [Firewall Projection]
Description: Create temporary spatial barriers by writing code directly into the simulation shell.
I stared at the notification.
This wasn't a game.
This was coding reality.
Then I heard her voice again.
Not Ananya.
Another.
Cold. Mechanical. Female.
"Welcome, Root User. You have accessed Tier 2 Permissions."
A figure stepped out from behind a glitched tree.
She wore a lab coat. Digital tags on her collar. Her face was eerily symmetrical—too symmetrical.
"My name is System Architect VERA. I have been waiting for you."