Chapter 1 – The First Glitch
He dreamed of light. Not soft, warm light—but ashy, glowing, alive. It cut through the darkness like a blade. He fell endlessly into it, until it multiplied him into billions of pieces, each sent floating along the twisting branches of a cosmic tree.
Adam awoke with a start.
Adam: "Oh my… the same thing is happening. The world is glitching… again."
His room looked normal—walls, desk, chair—but something felt off. A cup on the table trembled slightly, then wobbled back into place. His heart raced. This wasn't new. Adam had seen this before. Things disappearing. Things appearing. Entire events of history rewritten. Planets erased or born from nothing.
Mars… once full of life, once home to beings unlike us… and then nothing. Just a dead, rocky planet. And everyone says it's always been like this.
He sighed, brushing his hair back as he grabbed breakfast. A slice of toast, a glass of juice. Simple, ordinary, and yet… utterly unreal.
Adam (thinking): "Three times in my entire life… three major glitches, and countless minor ones. Chairs disappearing. Tables moving. Things people claim were always there. But this… this is different. It feels… bigger."
Half an hour later, he trudged toward school. His bag felt heavy on his shoulder.
Adam (thinking): "I'm really tired of all this responsibility. School, chores… one day work, bills… I hate this life. I wish I were free. Wings… claws… electricity… to just exist without anyone caring, without anyone noticing."
He didn't notice the faint, almost imperceptible ripple coursing through him as he thought it. A seed had been planted.
Back home that afternoon, he reached for an apple. The first bite triggered it.
Information surged into his mind like an overwhelming torrent. Images, knowledge, understanding, all at once. He staggered, clutching the table.
Adam: "What… what is happening?!"
Before him, the apple tree appeared—not as a tree, but as an intricate lattice of life. Branches, leaves, veins, each cell glowing, pulsing. He zoomed in, captivated. Every leaf, every cell, every DNA strand laid bare before him.
Adam (thinking, wide-eyed): "I… I can see the entire 3D structure… every cell, every strand of DNA. Incredible… wait… can I do the same thing… with myself?"
He focused inward. His body unfolded like a hologram. Cells, tissues, bones, organs, mitochondria—each one visible. He could zoom in, zoom out, explore.
A wild thought struck him: Can I fuse my cells with the tree's cells?
Instinctively, he imagined it. Green pigments rippled through his veins. Photosynthetic cells from the tree merged with his own tissues. His organs, lungs, and muscles subtly adapted, reflecting what he had learned in biology class. The apple tree's cells integrated with his own.
Adam: "Wait… can I… can I take the parts of the tree that allow photosynthesis… and put them in me?"
Suddenly, his arm glowed green, then faded as he willed it. Organs rearranged, pigments shifted—his body had changed, yet he was still himself. He blinked, shaken.
Adam: "What the hell is happening?!"
He focused again, reversing the change. His cells returned to their human state. He exhaled, trembling, heart pounding.
Adam (thinking): That must have consumed a lot of energy… I feel… hungry. But… does this mean…? DNA manipulation… over my own body… I might… have powers…
He stared at his hands, uncertain. For the first time, the world seemed different. He wasn't just Adam, the schoolboy, the ordinary human. He was… something else. Something that could bend the very fabric of his being to his will.