The cavern trembled beneath Erevan's boots, jagged rocks vibrating like strings under an invisible hand. The projection before them stepped forward, and reality itself seemed to shiver. Blue veins of light on the cavern walls flickered violently, echoing every twitch of the projection's glitching limbs.
The crawlers they had fought clawed at the chamber's edges but refused to step forward, bowing low as if paying homage to the creature that had emerged. Erevan's stomach churned, and his hands itched to summon a sheep—but he knew better. This wasn't the kind of enemy you could just blow up.
"You're seeing this too, right?" Erevan's voice cracked, a mix of disbelief and fear.
Kaelith didn't lower her bow. Her stance was tight, unwavering, but her eyes betrayed her tension. "It's looking at you," she said.
Erevan's heart skipped. The projection's gaze burned, empty and infinite, yet somehow personal—as if it could pierce the very edges of his mind. Its form shifted constantly: knight, shadow, stream of glowing numbers, then something vaguely humanoid. When it raised its hand, the cavern walls screamed as veins of red light spread from the ceiling to the floor.
[System Alert: Stability Critical]
[Local Stability: 42%]
"Uh…" Erevan took a cautious step back, voice tight. "So… what's the plan? Please tell me you actually have one."
"Don't die." Kaelith's tone was flat, almost cruel. She loosed an arrow anyway.
The projectile struck the projection squarely in the chest. For a fleeting second, it staggered. Then the arrow dissolved into static, blinking back into Kaelith's quiver as if reality itself rejected it.
"Okay, that's cheating," Erevan muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Seriously, who codes this kind of thing?"
The projection slammed its hand down, and jagged shards of stone erupted like teeth from the cavern floor, forcing him to dive aside. Dust and fragments stung his face.
[HP -12%]
Erevan gritted his teeth, coughing. "Fine! Sheep it is."
He summoned one, heart hammering. The countdown blipped in his vision:
3… 2… 1…
The explosion went off, but the projection merely recoiled for a moment—then unleashed a backlash of static that threw him backward, all his muscles screaming.
[System Malfunction: Power Reflection Triggered]
[HP -20%]
"I swear, this system hates me," Erevan groaned, wiping sweat and dust from his face.
Kaelith was already on the move, firing arrows that warped unpredictably—sticking in the ceiling, floating midair, and sometimes hitting a crawler outside the chamber. Each missful shot made her hiss in frustration.
"It's not vulnerable to normal attacks," she said finally.
"No kidding," Erevan muttered under his breath, glaring at the flickering silhouette of the projection.
The projection's voice cut through the chaos, a warped distortion that reverberated against the cavern walls:
"…sys…tem…user…res…onance…"
The words curled like ice through Erevan's spine. His system menu sputtered, blinking out all familiar skills. Sheep summons vanished, replaced with glowing red options that made him gulp.
[Temporary Skill Unlocked: Anomaly Surge]
[Effect: Channel unstable fragment energy. Outcome unpredictable.]
"That doesn't sound remotely safe," Erevan muttered, his pulse racing.
Kaelith shot him a sharp glance. "Do it. Now."
"I… you didn't even explain what it does!" he protested.
"Do it before it kills us both!"
The projection raised both arms, static crawling across its body. The ceiling groaned as loose stones rattled. Erevan's vision split, duplicating Kaelith dozens of times, her afterimages twitching in impossible frames. His hands tingled with raw energy, heat flooding through him like molten metal.
[Anomaly Surge Activated]
A beam of unstable energy erupted from his palms, tearing through the chamber and slamming into the projection. For a heartbeat, it shattered into hundreds of fragments, then reformed, staggering.
[Enemy Integrity -12%]
Erevan dropped to one knee, chest heaving, smoke curling from his skin. "That… was terrifying."
The projection roared, claws forming from glitching code. Kaelith yanked him upright just as jagged shards gouged the stone floor where he'd knelt.
"You can hurt it," Kaelith hissed. "Do it again!"
"I can barely stand!" Erevan growled, teeth clenched.
The projection lurched forward, the air thick with unstable corruption. Erevan's health ticked down even without contact.
[HP -5% per second in Anomaly Field]
Erevan's vision blurred, the cavern spinning with every pulse of unstable energy. His lungs burned, and sweat stung his eyes, but the projection was relentless, advancing in flickering bursts like reality itself refused to hold it in one place.
"Riven—no, Erevan! Focus!" Kaelith barked, dragging him sideways as the cavern floor buckled beneath their feet. Every step felt like wading through molten code.
The projection raised a hand, forming a swirling orb of collapsing code. Blue veins on the cavern walls flared bright red, pulsing in sync with the orb. The cavern groaned as cracks snaked across the ceiling and floor.
"Two minutes until collapse?!" Erevan shouted, staggering. Dust and pebbles rained down like static. "Who designed this place?! It's literally trying to eat us alive!"
Kaelith's bow was taut, her jaw set. "Forget the system. Just survive. Move!"
Erevan clenched his fists, feeling the heat of Anomaly Surge thrumming through him again. The projection's presence twisted his body, making him flicker across the cavern in multiple frames, like he was split between realities. His scream tore through the chamber, echoing over the roar of the glitch storm outside.
[Anomaly Surge Activated – Level 2]
Light erupted from his hands, raw and unfiltered, blasting through the projection. For a split second, the thing fragmented into dozens of smaller silhouettes, each flickering before collapsing back into the main form.
[Enemy Integrity -25%]
Erevan collapsed to one knee, choking back a cough, smoke curling from his skin. The heat felt like molten iron had replaced his blood.
"Again!" Kaelith yelled, dragging him upright. "You can finish this!"
"I can barely stand!" he wheezed. "And this thing's unstable code on steroids!"
The projection's body pulsed violently, red static spilling like blood as it lashed out. The cavern quaked; shards of rock flew in jagged arcs, narrowly missing Erevan. His health bar dwindled alarmingly fast.
[HP: 18%]
Kaelith fired another rope arrow, anchoring it to the far wall. She yanked him toward the tunnel just as the projection unleashed a collapsing sphere of raw anomaly energy. Rocks screamed and stone groaned as the chamber threatened to implode.
Erevan's mind spun. Two minutes? That's it? We're toast. Absolutely toast.
The projection's voice cut through the chaos, distorted and fragmenting:
"…res…onance…found…"
The words clung to his thoughts like venom, clawing at his sanity. The system menu flickered violently, skills and cooldowns scrambling, sheep summons blinking in and out of existence.
Erevan forced his shaking hands to glow with Anomaly Surge once more. The cavern's walls seemed to warp, stretching unnaturally as if reality itself was groaning under the pressure.
[Anomaly Surge Activated – Level 3]
Energy blasted from his palms like liquid fire, carving jagged streaks through the projection. The thing staggered violently, shards of corrupted code scattering into the collapsing cavern. Crawlers at the edges vaporized instantly.
[Enemy Integrity -50%]
Erevan fell to the ground, chest heaving, sweat and ash covering him. His limbs felt like lead, yet the projection—the fragment—was still standing, though faltering. Its form flickered erratically, shadows and code overlapping, but its glowing eyes locked on him relentlessly.
"Move!" Kaelith shouted, gripping his arm and dragging him toward the tunnel. The projection surged forward, chasing them even as the cavern collapsed around its edges.
Erevan's lungs screamed. "I… I don't suppose you've got another rope arrow?"
"Run!" Kaelith snapped.
They bolted through falling rocks and rising dust, the unstable energy of the projection tearing the chamber apart behind them. The orb of collapsing code detonated just as they leaped into the next chamber, ripping a jagged hole in the stone ceiling.
[System Alert: Cave Collapse Imminent]
[Timer: 00:30]
The projection faltered, fragments scattering into static as the cavern walls gave way. Its final, distorted roar echoed, fading as the unstable energy consumed it.
[Enemy Projection Terminated]
[Integrity Status: Fragment Contained]
[Reward: System Points +500]
Erevan tripped into the dirt outside, coughing and gasping for breath. The storm above still roared, but the projection—the fragment that had tied itself to him—was gone.
Kaelith collapsed beside him, chest heaving, sweat dripping from her brow. "You're… connected to it. That thing wasn't just a bug. It was part of you."
Erevan laughed weakly, wiping dust from his face. "Great. Just what I always wanted… an evil glitch-demon clone as my spirit animal."
But even as he chuckled, a final notification blinked onto his screen:
[System Warning: Multiple Fragments Detected in World]
[Estimated Count: 6]
Six more.
The storm overhead still raged, the timer ticking. Erevan realized, with a sinking weight, that this was only the beginning.
[Glitch Storm Duration: 38:19]