The horizon stretched out like a broken painting, shards of reality glittering in faint glitch-light. In the distance, the Obelisk of Echoes rose, a jagged black silhouette at first, almost like a smear of ink against the sky. But with every step forward, it seemed to grow taller, taller than the mountains, taller than the clouds themselves. The stone shimmered unnaturally, as if each surface were a shard of fractured mirror, reflecting places that didn't exist—or shouldn't exist.
Riven squinted, trying to focus on one shard. For half a heartbeat, he swore he saw his own bedroom reflected there: the unmade bed, the pile of dirty clothes, the dusty monitor still frozen on a paused game. Then the reflection flickered, swallowed by the endless fractured plains again.
"Okay," Riven muttered, his voice low and trembling with disbelief, "definitely not haunted. Not at all."
Kaelith's steps slowed beside him. She didn't speak at first, her bow held ready, but her hand trembled just slightly—not from fear exactly, but from the weight of the air. Every breath felt hollow, as if the world itself were pulling the life from her lungs. "The air… it's wrong here," she whispered, almost to herself. "Every inhale tastes… empty."
Sir Quacksalot, the penguin in the wizard hat, waddled ahead unfazed, quacking at intervals that echoed with too-perfect timing, almost as if the Obelisk itself was mocking them, repeating each sound with uncanny precision.
Riven shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to ignore the pounding of his own heart. Curiosity was his worst trait, and it was about to betray him. "So… what exactly does an Obelisk of Echoes do?" he asked, forcing a lightness he didn't feel. "Aside from providing premium nightmare fuel?"
Kaelith's voice softened, though her sharp gaze didn't waver. "Some say it records every soul that has touched this world. Others… believe it's a wound. A scar left where realities collided."
"Cool. Love that. Great tourism pitch. Zero stars. Would not recommend." Riven gritted his teeth, trying not to glance too often at the fractured mirrors along the Obelisk's surface. Every step made the black stone loom taller, and every reflection warped reality a little more.
As they neared the base, the sheer scale of the monolith pressed down on them. Etched runes crawled across the stone like living code, rearranging themselves when Riven tried to focus. Blinking rapidly, he realized they weren't runes at all—they were lines of shifting code, scrolling endlessly, refusing to form anything coherent.
The system pinged, breaking the silence. "WARNING. Major Anomaly Detected. Proximity Alert. Initiating Obelisk Protocols…"
Riven groaned. "Oh, great. Protocols. Always a good sign."
The ground beneath their boots trembled. A section of the Obelisk's surface split open like a jagged wound of black light, forming an entrance. Shadows spilled from within, dark and impossible. Kaelith instinctively drew an arrow. "It… invites us," she murmured.
Riven's stomach twisted. "I'd rather be invited to a tavern. Preferably one with ale. And a comfy chair."
Despite his protests, he stepped forward first. Curiosity, stubborn as ever, had him in its grip. The closer he moved, the heavier the air felt, thick like old static buzzing against the skin, prickling his hair and settling in his chest.
Inside, the Obelisk was far worse than the outside had promised. The walls pulsed with shifting patterns of static, alive and flickering, bending light like broken glass. Every step echoed unnaturally—not just the sound, but multiple echoes of themselves walking, whispering, breathing. Riven stole sideways glances and caught flashes of himself: one taller, one older, one armored, one faceless. Each version lingered for less than a heartbeat, then blinked out, leaving only the oppressive darkness.
Kaelith stiffened but pressed forward. Her voice was low, cautious. "Don't stare too long. The echoes… they notice."
Riven blinked, trying to mask his rising panic. "The echoes notice? Like… actively?"
Before Kaelith could answer, the system chimed once more:
[Quest Stage Two: Obelisk of Echoes]
Objective: Activate the Core Node
Reward: Rare Skill, 3,000 EXP
Warning: Core Node Stability – 12%
Riven's stomach did a slow, miserable tumble. "Yeah, that's not ominous at all."
The chamber ahead was a cathedral of static. A massive sphere of fractured crystal hovered at its center, pulsing with glitch-light. Streams of data flowed into it like veins, feeding the core with the remnants of every echo, every memory, every soul that had passed this way. The air vibrated, thick enough to make Riven's skin crawl, buzzing in his teeth and behind his eyes.
Kaelith's eyes widened, her usual composure breaking for the first time in days. "This isn't the work of elves or men. This… feels older. Wrong. Deeply wrong."
Riven rubbed his arms, shivering despite the lack of cold. "Feels like… sticking my tongue into a broken socket. Painful, and probably illegal."
Sir Quacksalot waddled forward boldly, pecking the crystal. Immediately, the chamber quaked. A low hum surged through the floor.
"Quacksalot!" Riven yelped. "You absolute menace!"
The penguin sneezed, puffing a frozen cloud of ice that coated the chamber in sparkling frost. Kaelith grabbed Riven's arm, yanking him back as shards of code rained down like splintering glass. "It's destabilizing!"
Riven's HUD flickered violently: HP, MP, and all stats glitched to unreadable numbers. Everything wavered, as if the world itself were about to snap.
A voice cut through the static—layered, ancient, almost musical, but out of sync. "You should not be here."
Riven froze, his sarcastic veneer slipping. "Okay… new fun horror element. Got it. Great. Fantastic. Love it."
From the crystal, shadows began to emerge—dozens, hundreds, faces forming, warping, each distinct yet flickering in and out of reality. Some wept silently. Some screamed without sound. Some were unnervingly calm, staring through him with hollow eyes.
Kaelith's breath caught. "These… these are souls."
The chorus spoke again, overlapping layers of voices in every frequency: "Fragments. Lost data. The discarded remain."
And then, the first massive figure began to form—its body a fusion of fragmented armor, glitching weapons, and a broken helm where no face should be.
The Echo Warden had awakened.
The Echo Warden towered over them, a jagged silhouette of fragmented armor and corrupted steel. Its broken helm gave nothing away—no eyes, no expression—only a static-filled void. When it roared, the sound was like shredded files being thrown into a furnace, vibrating in Riven's chest and making his teeth rattle.
Riven staggered backward, fists clenched. "Nope. Absolutely not." Every instinct screamed to run, but the fractured chamber offered nowhere to go. The walls themselves pulsed in response to the Warden, echoing with shards of distorted code.
Kaelith's bow was raised, arrows notched with precision honed by countless battles. "We cannot run. If the Obelisk collapses, the plains go with it," she said, voice steady but tight with tension.
Riven groaned audibly. "Why is it always world-ending stakes with us? Couldn't we just get a normal quest? You know, like… find a lost cat? Help an old lady cross a glitchy road? No? Just catastrophic, dimension-threatening anomalies?"
The Warden charged. Its half-sword, half-scythe smashed the floor with an ear-splitting crack. The ground bent, chunks of the chamber disappearing into a void of raw static. Riven dove sideways, narrowly avoiding a jagged fragment of broken geometry that spat sparks where it collided with the floor.
Kaelith loosed arrow after arrow, each striking true but barely slowing the Warden's relentless advance. Its form shimmered, regenerating instantly from the streams of glitch-light feeding it.
Riven clenched his teeth. "Alright, glitch-boy. Two can play broken." He raised his hand, praying the system wouldn't betray him again. A shimmer appeared in his palm as the system spit out a new skill.
[Skill Generated: ERROR_SUMMON.exe]
Effect: Randomized Companion Call
Duration: 30 seconds
Riven stared, half horrified, half exasperated. "Oh god. Not again."
From the corrupted air stepped… a chicken. Not just any chicken, but one wearing a tiny knight's helm.
"…Seriously?" Riven groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
The chicken squawked valiantly and immediately charged the Warden. On impact, it exploded in a burst of holy light, sending shards of static scattering across the chamber.
[Damage Dealt: 1,242 Critical!]
Riven blinked, jaw slack. "Okay, I take it back! Chicken MVP!"
Kaelith took advantage of the opening, firing an arrow straight into the cracked helm of the Warden. The figure staggered, glitching violently. Sparks of fragmented code showered the chamber.
Riven lunged, fists glowing with a borrowed energy from the corrupted space around him. His Strength spiked at the perfect moment, and his punch collided with the Warden's chest.
[Damage Dealt: 3,110 Overload!]
The Warden convulsed, its massive frame shuddering as light spilled from the core of its fractured body. Then, with a sound like shattering glass combined with a corrupted file deletion, it collapsed into a pile of static fragments.
The crystal sphere at the Obelisk's core dimmed slightly, stabilizing from the chaos, though it still hummed with eerie energy.
[Quest Stage Two Complete]
Reward: Rare Skill – Glitch Step
EXP +3,000
[Skill Acquired: Glitch Step]
Effect: Allows the user to step through corrupted space, teleporting short distances. Warning: May cause unpredictable results.
Riven wiped sweat from his brow, laughing despite the tension. "Now that's what I'm talking about."
Kaelith lowered her bow, her gaze lingering on the crystal with a weighty frown. "This place… it's wrong, Riven. I fear we've only awakened something worse."
The chorus of voices returned one last time, faint now, fading but leaving a chilling message that wrapped around their minds like cold tendrils:
"The system lies. The key must not be gathered. Beware… the Patch."
Riven froze, the words sinking in. He patted Sir Quacksalot on the head. "You hear that, Quacksalot? Beware the Patch. Whatever the heck that means."
The penguin quacked, tilting its hat jauntily, entirely unbothered. Riven couldn't help but grin, the ridiculousness of his tiny armored ally piercing the tension like a beacon of absurdity.
Yet, deep down, dread coiled in his gut. This wasn't just another bug, another glitch, another "temporary anomaly." This… this was intentional. Someone—or something—was hiding the truth.
And the Obelisk of Echoes had just peeled back a corner of it.
Riven's hand lingered on the crystal shards floating near him, lines of code spinning like whispered secrets. His mind raced, connecting fragments, patterns, warnings. Somewhere, in the heart of this broken system, someone—or something—was watching. Waiting.
Kaelith's voice cut through his spiraling thoughts. "We should move. The Obelisk's energy… it's unstable. Staying here longer than necessary is… unwise."
Riven nodded, reluctantly tearing his gaze away from the flickering shards. "Right. Moving… but I'm keeping Quacksalot. You can't take him away. That's non-negotiable."
Kaelith gave a tight-lipped smile, muttering something under her breath that could've been a prayer, or maybe a curse.
As they stepped away from the Obelisk, the whispers faded into a low hum, the chamber dimmed, and the fractured plains outside steadied, at least for now. But Riven knew the echoes of this place, the warnings of the Patch, and the hidden truths of the system… they weren't done with him yet.
Because in this broken world, anomalies weren't mistakes—they were targets.
And Riven Arclight had just marked himself as one.