The crown again.The cheering again.The same words drilled into my skull until I almost screamed.
This time, I didn't even wait for the king to finish.I turned my back on the stage, shoved through the crowd, and walked straight into the city.
---
The streets twisted around me.
No matter which alley I took, I always ended up back in the square.Always at the gates.Always with the same crown in my hand.
I cursed under my breath.The people didn't even look at me.They kept smiling, kept clapping, stuck in their frozen celebration.
Like dolls wound too tight.
---
Fine. If the city was a cage, I'd break through it.
I marched to the edge of the crowd, raised the sword, and swung it against the city wall.
The steel rang out. Sparks flew.
For a second, the stones flickered — like the wall itself was an image projected on glass.
And then—
I wasn't standing by the wall anymore.I was back in the square.
The crown pressed into my hands.The crowd cheering.The king bowing.
---
"Hero! Hero! Our savior has arrived!"
My breath caught in my throat.
The world hadn't just reset the wall.It had reset me.
---
I gritted my teeth. "You're not real," I muttered.Nobody flinched.
The baker smiled.The soldier shouted his line.The priestess waited with her gentle expression.
But their eyes…
For a split second, the priestess's smile trembled again.Like a crack in porcelain.
And in that trembling, I thought I saw fear.
---
I ignored it. I couldn't afford to believe these glitches meant anything.
I shoved the crown back into the king's hands and walked past him.Out of the gates.Into the forest.
---
The goblins came. Easy. Too easy.I cut them down without thinking.
Then the beast rose from the earth again.The same roar.The same claw.The same command from my companions:
"Hero! Defeat it!"
---
But this time… I didn't fight.
I ran.
---
I crashed through the trees, ignoring the script.Branches whipped my face, roots clawed at my boots.The beast roared behind me, the ground shaking with each step.
For a moment, I thought I'd done it.Broken free.
But then—
The forest folded.
The path I was running on twisted like paper being crumpled.The trees bent the wrong way, snapping into place like toys.And suddenly… I was back at the city gates.
The crown.The crowd.The king.
---
I fell to my knees.
No matter what I did — kill, die, run — the loop dragged me back.The script would always win.
---
And then I heard it.
A whisper.Faint. Broken.
It came from the crowd.I couldn't even tell who spoke.
"Don't run."
My blood went cold.
---
I spun, searching for the voice.But the people only cheered, only smiled, only played their roles.
Maybe it was another glitch.Maybe I was losing my mind.
But the words stuck in my head.
"Don't run."