Quinn had always believed life was a game.
In the dim light of his bedroom, the glow of a monitor was the only thing keeping the night at bay. He had lived on endless loops of raids, boss fights, and strategy guides. Reality had been dull and slow, a grind without checkpoints, but inside a game there had always been a rhythm. Progress, loot, mastery. That rhythm made sense.
Reality ended the night he saw the truck. A blinding glare on a rain-slick street, the screech of tires, the weightless moment where instinct screamed jump but body lagged behind. Then, silence.
The kind of silence that makes you wonder if the game has finally logged you out.
When Quinn opened his eyes again, there was no asphalt, no hospital, no white light. He stood in a cavern filled with fractured glass floating in the air. Each shard glowed with a different light, humming with an energy that pulled at him. They looked like crystals yet felt alive, each one whispering in fragments of memory.
[System Initialization: Fragments of Eternity]
A voice, mechanical and endless, filled the void. Words etched themselves into his vision like a HUD overlay.
[Player Quinn detected. Soul integrity at 67%. Reconstructing consciousness]
Quinn laughed, though it came out broken and raw. "Of course. Of course the afterlife has a tutorial."
The shards pulsed in response. Images flickered within them. A boy in a tailored suit with eyes too sharp for his age. A hulking troll chained in an underground chamber. A fairy with mismatched eyes casting runes that burned the air. Quinn knew them. Not from life, but from the spines of books stacked on his old shelf. Artemis Fowl.
"You've got to be kidding me." He dragged a hand across his face. "I died and woke up in fanfiction."
The voice ignored him.
[Tutorial Protocol Engaged. Collect Fragments to Stabilize Host]
One shard drifted toward him, pulsing with faint golden light. His hand rose almost involuntarily, fingertips brushing against its surface. It melted into him like water drawn into thirsty soil. His veins burned as power threaded through them, alien yet familiar, like equipping a legendary item in a game.
[Fragment Acquired: Shard of Vitalis. Function: Minor Regeneration]
Quinn staggered, clutching his chest, then laughed again, this time sharper. "Alright. I get it. New world, new system. Collect shards, get stronger." He straightened, eyes narrowing. "If this is Artemis Fowl's world, I already know the stakes. Magic, conspiracies, criminal prodigies, and the LEP. If I want to survive, I'll need to be ahead of the curve."
The cavern shuddered. Cracks ran across the crystalline ground, light bleeding through like molten rivers. The tutorial wasn't waiting.
[Quest: Survive First Encounter]
[Reward: Fragment of Power]
The cavern shattered.
Quinn landed hard on stone, the world rushing into focus around him. He was in a ruined building, the smell of smoke and dust thick in the air. Shadows loomed in the corners, and then he heard it — the guttural roar that shook the walls. A troll.
He remembered it clearly from the first Artemis Fowl book, the one smuggled into Fowl Manor. Trolls were walking calamities. They could shred a squad of soldiers, and he had nothing but a fragment barely keeping his body intact.
Another roar. The troll's massive frame burst through a collapsed wall, tusks gleaming, eyes bloodshot with rage.
Quinn's instincts screamed run. Gamer instincts whispered something else: test the mechanics.
He rolled aside as the beast lunged, claws tearing chunks of stone where he had been standing. His vision flashed with the System's cold guidance.
[Tip: Direct combat inadvisable. Weak points: eyes, throat. Alternative strategy: environmental advantage]
Quinn's gaze darted around. Broken beams, shattered stone, a rusted length of rebar half-buried in rubble. His hand closed around the metal, weight awkward but serviceable.
"Fine. First quest, first boss fight." His mouth twisted into a grin. "Let's speedrun this."
The troll charged again. Quinn ducked low, shards of debris cutting his arms as he rolled under its swing. He rammed the rebar into a cracked beam overhead. The support groaned. Another strike from the troll shattered the weakened stone, sending the ceiling tumbling down.
The monster roared in pain as debris pinned its legs. Quinn didn't hesitate. He leapt forward, drove the jagged rebar upward into the exposed throat, and twisted until hot blood poured across his hands.
The troll spasmed, then collapsed with a final, shuddering breath.
[Quest Complete!]
[Reward Granted: Fragment of Power]
The shard appeared before him, pulsing crimson. Quinn pressed his palm against it, and raw strength surged through his muscles. His vision cleared, sharper, faster. He felt like he could crush stone with his bare hands.
Breathing hard, he pulled free the bloodied rebar and let it fall. The cavern had collapsed, the troll lay dead, and the System's glow lit the room with other shards, each waiting for him.
Quinn exhaled slowly, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "So that's it. Fragments for power. Tutorials with monsters. Fine. If I'm stuck in Artemis Fowl's world, then I'll do more than survive. I'll break the system before it breaks me."
He looked down at his bloodied hands. The heat of victory burned in his chest, intoxicating. He could feel the rhythm again. Not the dull grind of reality, but the rhythm of progress.
And for the first time since the truck's headlights filled his vision, Quinn felt alive.
[System Update: New Title Acquired – Shard Bearer]