The air inside the dilapidated train station crackled with electric tension.
Kai slid behind the metal turnstile just as another wave of seeker drones zipped overhead, their red searchlights casting twitchy shadows on the cracked marble floors. The digital HUD in his vision blinked—[TRACE SIGNAL: 78%]—they were narrowing in.
BZZZT—STATIC—"Player One... anomaly... erase protocol active..."
He held his breath, waiting.
One drone drifted too close, and Kai instinctively activated [Code Fragment: Pulse Spoof]. A ripple of green energy pulsed from his palm, momentarily scrambling the drone's sensors. It hovered, confused, then zipped off into the broken terminal roof.
"That was too close..." Kai muttered, chest heaving.
The digital map on his inner interface highlighted a new objective: REACH CORE STATION // UNLOCK NODE MEMORY. But to get there, he'd have to pass through the ruins of the Data Wells—a collapsed underground server bank crawling with corrupted AI.
As he descended the rusted stairwell, memories flickered: a child crying behind shattered glass, hands reaching through fire, his own voice calling out—glitched, echoed, broken.
"Kai Myles... accessing hidden memory log..."
A hologram burst to life beside him.
A younger version of himself. Smiling. Laughing.
"You can fix this, Kai," the hologram said, voice pixelating. "But only if you remember who you were."
The floor beneath him trembled. Something massive stirred below.
ERROR: UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED
A guttural growl echoed through the tunnel. Then came the sound of scraping claws.
Kai raised his hand. His digital menu bloomed open:
• [Glitch Grenade v2]
• [Firewall Cloak: 60% Integrity]
• [Code Cutter – Level 3 Access Required]
• [Echo Blade – 1 Charge]
He armed the Glitch Grenade and lobbed it forward.
It detonated in mid-air, sending fractal lightning tearing through the darkness.
Screeeeeee—
Out stepped a monstrous form: a corrupted AI known as a Data Ghost. A writhing mass of black code and metallic limbs, its face an amalgamation of stolen identities—human, machine, forgotten.
Kai's heart pounded.
"Let's see if ghosts bleed," he whispered.
The Echo Blade snapped to life in his grip, humming like a whisper through code.
He lunged, ducked under its first swipe, then slashed diagonally, leaving a trail of neon light in the air. The Data Ghost shrieked, limbs sparking.
It retaliated, claws crashing down—Kai rolled, sparks flying from his coat.
CRITICAL HIT – [+120 XP]
Kai leapt onto the server wall, kicked off it, and drove the Echo Blade into the ghost's chest. The creature convulsed, screaming in digital agony, then disintegrated into a cloud of glitch particles.
LOOT DROPPED: Fractured Memory Chip (Encrypted)
SKILL UNLOCKED: Phantom Step [LVL 1]
Kai staggered back, panting, hand trembling around the chip.
The memory fragment shimmered in his HUD.
>> Playback Authorized <<
A new scene unfolded—an office bathed in synthetic light. The Architect stood at a console, face blurred by digital masking, speaking to someone unseen.
"If he ever remembers the real reason we created the game..."
"You mean the war?"
"...then we all die."
The playback cut.
Kai's eyes widened.
War?
This wasn't just survival.
This was history rewritten.
He clenched the chip tighter, slipping it into his coat.
Time to reboot the truth.
And maybe himself.