Darkness. Then pain.
The last thing I remembered was the screech of tires and the blinding flash of headlights. Then glass shattering, metal twisting, and my body being hurled into nothingness.
But when my eyes snapped open, I wasn't lying on asphalt.
I was standing in the middle of a city I had never seen before.
Towers of chrome and glass stretched into the clouds, glowing with streams of green code that pulsed like veins of light. Cars hovered silently above the streets. The sky was split in half—one side a brilliant digital blue, the other a glitching void of static and darkness.
"What the hell…" I muttered.
Then, a voice spoke inside my head. Cold, synthetic, undeniable.
[User 717: Initialization complete.]
"What?!"
A glowing interface appeared before my eyes, words written in neon-blue text.
[Congratulations. You have been uploaded into The Nexus.]
[Role Assigned: PATCHER.]
[Warning: System Instability detected. Execute first Patch immediately.]
Before I could even process the words, the skyscraper across the street flickered like a broken screen. Its windows bent, its steel beams twisted into impossible shapes, and then—with a sound like a thunderclap—it exploded into a storm of glowing fragments.
People screamed. At least, they looked like people—until their faces melted into static, their bodies looping like corrupted files. Some shattered into blue shards of data. Others clawed at the air, glitching out of existence.
My heart slammed in my chest. "This isn't real. This isn't—"
[Patch Command available: /Stabilize.]
The interface pulsed. Instinctively, I raised my hand. "Stabilize!"
A surge of energy tore through me. The collapsing skyscraper froze mid-destruction. The fragments halted in the air, glowing like suspended glass. Lines of green code wrapped around them, stitching the structure back together.
Within seconds, the skyscraper stood tall again, as if nothing had happened.
My chest heaved. My palms shook. "…What did I just do?"
[System Notice: You have executed your first Patch.]
[Reward: +10 Stability Points.]
Before I could catch my breath, a shadow dropped from above.
BOOM.
The pavement cracked as a figure landed in front of me. A man—or something close to it—dressed in jagged black armor that rippled like liquid metal. His eyes glowed crimson, his face half-glitched, half-human.
"Another Patcher," he growled. His voice distorted like broken audio. "Good. That means I can take your code."
I stumbled back. "Wait, I don't even know what's happening—"
He extended his hand, and a blade formed from pure red static.
[Warning: Hostile detected.]
[Survival Priority: Eliminate threat or be deleted.]
"Deleted?!" My pulse spiked. "This is insane—"
The man lunged.
I barely dodged as his blade tore through the air, carving a glowing scar into the pavement. Sparks flew. My instincts screamed at me to run, but something inside—the System?—pushed me forward.
"Patch Command!" I shouted. "Uh—/Shield!"
A glowing wall of blue data burst in front of me. The man's blade slammed into it, sending cracks spiderwebbing across the surface.
"You're a rookie," he sneered, pressing harder. "You won't last long."
The shield shattered. I was thrown back, crashing into the ground. Pain exploded in my ribs.
[HP: 72%]
The number flashed red in my vision.
I scrambled to my feet, heart pounding. "Think, damn it. Think!"
[Available Command: /Copy Fragment.]
The words flashed. Without hesitation, I pointed at his blade. "/Copy Fragment!"
Light surged from my hand. His crimson blade flickered—and a duplicate appeared in mine, glowing blue.
His eyes widened. "Impossible. A rookie shouldn't—"
I slashed. Sparks erupted as our blades clashed, blue against red, static crackling around us. He pushed forward with monstrous strength, but I wasn't just relying on strength—I had speed. Desperation sharpened my reflexes.
Clang. Slash. Sparks lit up the air.
"You can't win," he snarled. "Every Patcher fights until only one survives. That's the rule."
"What rule?!" I spat, blocking another strike.
"The Nexus doesn't need the weak."
His blade broke through my guard, slicing across my arm. Pain seared. My vision blurred.
[HP: 41%]
I staggered back, clutching my arm. The System voice echoed again:
[Warning: Instability Spike detected.]
[Execute Patch immediately or risk Collapse.]
The world trembled. Buildings flickered like broken screens. The ground cracked, glowing with neon light. Above us, the sky split wider, revealing a void of static swallowing the horizon.
My attacker grinned. "Looks like this district is collapsing. Perfect. You'll die here, rookie."
The ground beneath me began to crumble into glowing fragments. I looked down—and saw an endless void stretching below.
"No, no, no—"
[Patch Command available: /Rebuild.]
I screamed the word. "REBUILD!"
A massive surge of energy exploded from me, tearing through the collapsing ground. Neon-blue code erupted outward, weaving like lightning. Streets rebuilt themselves, skyscrapers reformed, the very air stabilized around me.
The entire district froze.
My enemy staggered back, eyes wide. "You… you stabilized a whole sector?!"
The System pulsed again.
[Congratulations. You have executed a Major Patch.]
[Reward: +50 Stability Points. New Command Unlocked: /Trace.]
The ground solidified beneath me. The void sealed. The collapsing city stood firm.
But before I could breathe—
My attacker's body glitched. His face twisted into static. His voice broke into fragments: "You… don't… understand… The Architects… are watching…"
Then he shattered into crimson shards of data and was gone.
Silence fell.
I dropped to my knees, gasping. Sweat poured down my face. My arm throbbed. My vision flickered with System text.
[You have survived your first encounter.]
[Main Quest Unlocked: Trace the Architects.]
I stared at the glowing words, my breath shallow.
"The Architects…?"
Then the ground shook again.
In the distance, the horizon itself cracked open, spilling endless static into the sky. From the fissure, enormous shapes began to crawl out—towering figures of glitching data, with too many limbs and faces that shifted like broken screens.
The System's voice thundered in my head:
[Warning: Global Instability Level rising.]
[New Directive: Run.]
And I ran—just as the world began to collapse.