The Concrete Forest grew darker as Null moved deeper.
The sky above was frozen mid-glitch, stuck between a violet dusk and pixel-static. A broken sun hung sideways in the clouds. And the only sounds were Null's footsteps and the occasional whisper of corrupted wind.
Other than that there is nothing.
Complete silence.
Even the air stopped moving.
---
> [Codex Alert]
*Zone Signature: "Thread lock Field" Detected
Threat Level: Unknown
Thread Access: Severed
Editing Disabled
User Status: Fully Exposed*
---
The Codex flickered and died.
"What?" Null tapped the interface. Nothing. It was gone. Not just off deleted.
"No, no, no don't you dare crash now!"
His voice echoed too clearly.
That's when he realized…
He wasn't alone.
---
The trees parted.
And from the fog came a figure, tall and quiet, wearing a black cloak stitched with glowing threads. Its face was wrapped in cracked glass like a broken mask, with tiny data streams flowing through the cracks.
In its hands was a needle made of pure white light, attached to a spool of impossible thread.
> [???? Detected]
*Identification: Denied
Title: The Thread walker
Class: Thread lord
Alignment: Neutral-Hostile
Power: System-Level*
---
The being raised its hand.
"This zone was not meant to be walked by errors."
Its voice was smooth, like silk cutting bone.
Null took a step back. "You look like a final boss. And I'm going to fight you now."
The Thread walker flicked its needle. Reality twitched.
Null stumbled as gravity reversed for a moment. His legs buckled. His breath turned to code.
He was going to be unwritten.
---
Then something inside him ignited.
The Codex, dead seconds ago, roared back to life, red lightning flashing across Null's veins.
> [ Emergency Protocol Breach]
*Fragmented Line of Code (x1) Activated
Mutation Triggered: Root Access Override*
---
The world slowed.
Time bent like rubber.
Null's right eye turned completely red, and through it, he saw the Threads of Silence—thousands of invisible strings keeping him from moving, speaking, breathing.
But now? He could see them.
And he could do what he did best:
Break them.
---
Null lifted a hand, fingers trembling from the force pushing against him.
> [Thread lock_Field: Enabled]
[False]
[Edit Executed.]
SNAP.
A thousand invisible threads shattered around him. The Codex burned like a second sun.
The Thread walker's head twitched. "That edit should not be possible."
Null wiped blood from his nose and grinned. "Yeah? Well I'm not supposed to be possible either."
---
The Thread walker lifted its needle.
Null lifted his hand.
Both moved at once.
The clash didn't make a sound.
Instead, the silence cracked.
And the Thread walker… stepped back.
"Interesting," it whispered. "You are no longer Rootless."
It vanished fading between glitches and left behind a single floating string.
Null caught it.
> [Thread Acquired: Name – Ascension Seed]
*Description: "The first key to the true system."
Status: Dormant.
Compatible User: Null.*
---
Null stared at the thread in his hand.
The silence faded.
The Codex hummed.
And somewhere, far above in a realm not yet named a system god stirred.
---