The moment Null pulled the thread, the world came undone.
Reality didn't crack with sound it glitched. The walls pixelated. The ceiling turned into data blocks and fragmented into the void. Time stuttered. And then everything went white.
---
> [Thread Jump Initialized...]
*Syncing…
Loading Destination: [Sector: Concrete Forest_β]
Zone Status: Unstable
Estimated Survival Chance: 5%
Tip: Good luck, bug-boy*
---
Null landed face-first in mud.
"Ugh. You'd think omniversal software could install a smoother landing protocol," he groaned, pushing himself up.
He was in a forest at least, it used to be one.
Towering trees made of cracked concrete loomed around him. Vines were replaced with steel cables. Grass blinked between real and digital patches, like it couldn't decide what material it wanted to be.
A giant rusted road sign lay half-buried in a crater nearby. The word "WELCOME" flickered on it in a dozen languages, all corrupted.
This wasn't a place people lived. It was a place people had abandoned… and the world forgot to delete.
---
> [Codex Activated]
*Environment: Concrete Forest_β
Glitch Density: HIGH
Warning: Multiple unstable threads detected
Threat Presence: Confirmed
Thread Access: Limited (Power Level: Rootless)*
---
Null's boots crunched on gravel-turned-glass as he walked. His red eyes scanned the warped landscape. Trees buzzed with static. Air shimmered with fractured code.
And then he saw it.
A figure.
Not human. But trying to be.
It wore a torn lab coat and its face looped smiling, blinking, screaming, over and over. Its limbs jittered like frames out of sync. One foot floated an inch off the ground; the other disappeared entirely every third second.
> [Entity: Echo Remnant]
*Description: Ghost code of a deleted researcher.
Status: Hostile
Quote: "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts"*
"Okay, that's enough nightmare fuel for one day," Null muttered.
The creature twitched and charged.
---
Null leapt backward, dodging as the Echo slashed with a glitching scalpel. It moved like it didn't care about gravity or physics. Just rage.
> [Thread Detected]
[Echo_Emotion: Endless Pain]
Editable Access: Yes
Action: [Cut Emotional Thread?]
Null didn't hesitate.
"Snip."
He cut the thread with a motion of his fingers.
The Echo froze mid-lunge. Its expression shifted to peace for a fraction of a second.
Then it evaporated into white noise.
---
> [Codex Update]
*You have cleared: 1x Echo Glitch
New Thread Access: Memory Line
Description: A recorded string from the deleted entity.
Do you wish to play?*
Null hesitated, then nodded.
A whisper echoed in his ears:
"We should never have created him. The Codex… it was supposed to evolve us. Not birth a god."
---
Null exhaled slowly.
"Guess I'm the reason the old world got trashed."
He didn't feel guilt. He didn't feel pride. He just felt… curious.
How broken did the world have to be… to let someone like him be born?
---
He turned and walked deeper into the Concrete Forest, hands in his pockets, eyes scanning for the next threat or thread.
Somewhere out there, someone or something was watching him.
And the Codex?
It was far from finished.
---