The Prototype Shard pulsed in Erevan's hand like a living heartbeat, erratic and unpredictable. Its colors shifted constantly—blue, then red, then a sickly static white—as if it couldn't decide on its true form. Holding it was like cradling a fragment of reality that wanted to escape his grasp, alive yet somehow… wrong. The energy throbbed through his palm, tingling up his arm, making his nerves buzz as though every tiny hair on his body had suddenly gained sentience.
Kaelith's eyes never left it. Her bow was at the ready, fingers tight against the string, shoulders tense. "That shard… it's not just loot. I can feel it," she warned, voice sharp. "It's dangerous."
"Yeah, join the club," Erevan muttered, spinning the shard between his fingers. "Every shiny thing I've picked up so far either blows up, screams, or summons eldritch poultry. Honestly, this one's an upgrade in the chaos department."
The shard pulsed again, almost like it was laughing at him. Simultaneously, his system window flickered violently, alerts cascading across his vision.
[System Notice: Anomaly Detected]
[Prototype Shard attempting to interface…]
[Warning: This action may corrupt stability]
[Proceed? Y/N]
Erevan groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, here we go again. Another 'may or may not kill me' prompt. Just my luck."
Kaelith's gaze sharpened, her bow lowered slightly but her voice carrying steel. "Don't even think about it, Erevan."
"Come on," he said, smirking despite the tension knotting his stomach. "What's the worst that happens? I explode? I already survived that once."
He hesitated, thumb hovering over the YES prompt. This time, the warning wasn't a joke; it throbbed with a very real threat.
Sir Quacksalot flapped furiously onto his head, quacking in protest—or encouragement—puffing up against the shard's pulsing glow.
Kaelith's voice cut through the tension like a knife. "Erevan. Look around you."
He did, and his stomach dropped. The forest was no longer just crooked—it was unstable. Trees bent at impossible angles, rivers ran upward into the sky before dribbling back down like melted paint, and the air shimmered like fractured glass, vibrating with every pulse of the shard. Shadows of themselves flickered in and out of reality, as though the world itself was a failing hologram.
Kaelith's voice softened, though it carried weight and urgency. "This world is collapsing faster than we thought. If that shard accelerates it…"
The ground trembled beneath them. Before either could speak, a new system alert blared across Erevan's vision:
[World Event Triggered: Shard Resonance]
[Nearby Entities Corrupted: 3]
From the warped treeline emerged three figures. Players—or what had once been players. Their armor shimmered like cracked glass, faces twisted in frozen expressions, movements jagged and unnatural, like puppets on broken strings. Their eyes burned with static, vacant and cold.
Kaelith cursed under her breath. "Corrupted."
The lead one opened its mouth. Instead of words, streams of raw code spewed out like black smoke curling in the wind.
Erevan's stomach sank. "Okay. Talking is off the table. Fantastic. We're communicating through corrupted binary now. Perfect."
The corrupted charged. Kaelith's bow hummed, arrows glowing with digital fire, slicing cleanly through the glitching forms—but the entities barely slowed. They reassembled in flashes of glitch-light, their shapes snapping back together with a sickening pop, like broken toys reset by a cruel child.
Erevan exhaled sharply. "Guess we're doing this the hard way." He tossed the Prototype Shard into the air, letting its pulse sync with the beat of his racing heart.
[Ability Echo Activated]
A surge of energy coursed through him. His new trait, the Echo, connected to the corrupted entities' movements. He flickered unpredictably, slipping between frames of reality, his body phasing in and out as if the world couldn't decide where he belonged. His fist shot out, connecting with the first corrupted's chest—not with brute force, but by syncing with its glitch. The player's body exploded into polygons, scattering like shards of broken glass across the forest floor.
Erevan staggered, blinking. "Whoa. Okay. That was… new. And kind of awesome."
[Echo Effect: Unstable. Random Mutation Triggered.]
Pain shot up his arm as his hand warped, momentarily sprouting a second spectral limb before snapping back. "And there's the downside," he muttered, teeth gritting. Every pulse of the shard seemed to pull more of the corrupted world into him, threatening to overwrite his very existence.
The second corrupted leapt with jagged precision, blade raised. Erevan ducked instinctively—but his vision split, fracturing into two possibilities: one where he dodged right, another where he ducked left. His body wavered, suspended between two realities for a fraction of a heartbeat.
[System Glitch: Echo Timeline Fracture]
Outcome: Randomized.
Blinking, Erevan found himself behind the corrupted figure, which swung its blade through empty air. A grin split his face. "I could get used to this."
Kaelith dispatched the last corrupted with a clean shot to the head, but her jaw was tight, eyes flicking nervously to the pulsing shard. "That shard is bleeding into you. You can feel it, don't you?"
As if to prove her point, the Prototype Shard floated back into Erevan's palm, pulsing with an almost smug rhythm, echoing the beat of his own heart.
[Prototype Shard Integration: 12%]
Erevan's smile faded. "Integration? Oh no. Nope. We are not doing possession storylines today."
The forest shifted violently. Crooked trees dissolved into nothingness, replaced by endless black void, and across it, words scrawled in jagged, glitching fonts:
[Hidden Quest Unlocked: Shards of Tomorrow]
Objective: Discover the origin of the Prototype Shards.
Reward: ???
Warning: Quest is mandatory. Failure = Termination.
Kaelith's voice was ice. "Mandatory?"
Erevan laughed weakly. "Well, I always wanted job security."
The sky cracked, and through it, a massive eye blinked down, iris fractal, infinite layers spiraling inward. Its gaze pinned Erevan in place. Every muscle in his body froze; his mind screamed static and warnings, overlaid with his own heartbeat pounding like drums of doom.
Then it spoke—not aloud, but through the glitches in the air itself.
"You… are… anomaly."
Erevan's system flickered:
[System Notice: Unregistered Entity Detected]
[Observation in Progress]
Kaelith grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "Erevan. Don't look at it!"
But he couldn't. The eye was everywhere—reflected in broken tree trunks, warped rivers, even the shards of the Prototype floating around him. His stats burned across his vision, scanned, measured, judged:
Erevan Arclight – Lv. 5
HP: 240/240
MP: 180/180
Strength: 21
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 20
Luck: ERROR
The system hesitated.
[Error: Unable to quantify anomaly. Recommendation: Eradicate.]
Erevan shouted at the sky, voice raw with frustration. "Oh, come on! I haven't even done anything yet!"
The ground ruptured beneath them, jagged polygons snapping apart. From the void emerged a colossal figure—metallic, skeletal, dripping with corrupted code. Its roar wasn't sound—it was pure feedback, vibrating through his teeth and bones.
Kaelith raised her bow, fingers trembling. "That's not a monster… that's a system guardian."
The shard pulsed harder, almost urging Erevan forward.
[Prototype Shard Integration: 18%]
Erevan clenched the shard, feeling its chaotic pulse merge with his own heartbeat. He had a choice: flee and hope for survival, or gamble everything on the shard's unstable power.
"Alright," he muttered, jaw tight. "Let's see how broken I can really get."
The colossal system guardian towered over Erevan like a living nightmare. Its skeletal frame glistened with corrupted code, every joint sparking with unstable energy. The shards of Prototype energy floating around him pulsed in resonance, feeding his adrenaline and fear.
Erevan's pulse hammered in his ears. "Alright, big guy," he muttered, twirling the shard in his hand. "Let's see who glitches harder."
Kaelith's voice was tense, barely audible over the roaring feedback of the guardian. "Erevan, careful! That thing isn't just powerful—it reads you. Your moves, your reflexes… it learns faster than any player we've faced."
He gave a bitter laugh. "Perfect. A sparring partner who wants to kill me. Exactly what I needed today."
The guardian's massive hands slammed into the fractured ground, sending jagged polygons leaping into the air. Erevan felt the shockwave in his chest. Each pulse of energy made the shard vibrate violently, its colors spinning wildly: blue, red, static white, then green for a split second before correcting.
[Prototype Shard Integration: 25%]
Erevan clenched it tighter, letting the pulse sync with his heartbeat. "Come on, old friend… let's see what you can really do."
He activated his Echo trait. Every pulse of the guardian's strike was copied into his reflexes. His body blurred as he phased around the giant's swings, his fists striking at its exposed joints—not with strength, but by mimicking the guardian's own corrupted rhythm. Sparks of glitch-light flew, illuminating the fractured battlefield in harsh, flickering bursts.
The guardian staggered slightly, as if surprised by its own movements being turned against it. But it adapted instantly, swinging both massive arms, forcing Erevan to twist, duck, and glitch-step across the fragmented terrain.
Kaelith ran alongside him, firing arrows imbued with digital fire. Each shot pierced the guardian's surface, exploding in bursts of glitch-light, but the armor reformed almost instantly. "It's regenerating! Stop—don't overextend yourself!"
Erevan grinned through gritted teeth. "Relax, Kaelith! I think I'm getting the hang of this." His body shimmered, one foot phasing inside the shard itself, flickering across space as he struck the guardian's arm. Static arcs raced up his limbs, burning like liquid fire.
[Echo Effect: Random Mutation Triggered]
A secondary arm of light materialized from his shoulder mid-strike, swinging with him before snapping back into place. Pain flared, but so did exhilaration. "Ow… but yes. Loving the upgrades!"
The guardian let out a noise like a thousand corrupted alerts colliding. Its head, an enormous eyeless void, scanned him again, feeding him information in raw code. Erevan felt it inside his mind, analyzing, predicting, trying to overwrite his movements.
"Okay," he muttered, teeth clenched, "guess it doesn't like being outsmarted by its own pattern."
Kaelith shouted from behind him. "Erevan! Focus on the shard! Let it help you!"
The Prototype Shard responded immediately, its glow intensifying, pulsing in tandem with Erevan's heartbeat. He felt it merge with his senses, integrating more of the system's erratic code into his body. Every strike, every dodge, every glitch-step became faster, sharper, almost instinctive.
[Prototype Shard Integration: 40%]
Erevan lunged, slamming his fist into the guardian's chest. The impact didn't break it, but the shard amplified his attack into a shockwave of corrupting light. The guardian froze for a moment, fragments of its skeletal frame flickering like a broken video file.
"Ha! Got you!" Erevan shouted, only to have the next second slam him backward as the guardian swung one colossal arm, shattering a chunk of terrain beneath him. He phased midair, barely catching his footing.
Kaelith landed beside him, face pale but determined. "You're pushing it too far! If that shard overwhelms you, we're both screwed!"
He glanced at her, half-grinning despite the chaos. "Don't worry. I'm unpredictable now, remember? Even the system can't keep up."
The guardian roared again, this time more violently. Its form shifted, growing additional arms, each covered in streaming lines of corrupted code, each swing creating shockwaves that warped the fragmented battlefield. The sky above flickered, tearing between the Prototype Forest and a void of black code.
Erevan's grip tightened on the shard. His body pulsed with raw, chaotic energy, his vision splitting into multiple timelines—glimpses of success, failure, pain, and victory overlaying each other. He could feel every possible outcome in real time, his mind swimming through them like a dancer navigating a thousand mirrors.
[Echo Timeline Fracture: Multiple Futures Activated]
He blinked and found himself already behind the guardian, fist striking a joint at a random—but perfectly effective—angle. The arm shattered, code splintering across the air like shattered glass.
Kaelith whistled, clearly impressed despite herself. "I've never seen anyone fight like that."
Erevan barely had time to respond. The shard pulsed harder, thrumming in resonance with the guardian. Every ounce of energy inside him amplified his speed, his reflexes, his strikes—but at a cost. His chest burned, his vision flickered between pain and clarity, and the world itself seemed to bend around him.
He gritted his teeth. "Cost be damned. Let's end this."
The guardian, massive and imposing, prepared a final strike, an overwhelming swing designed to crush everything beneath it. Erevan braced, feeling the shard burning in his palm, syncing with his heartbeat, screaming for release.
"Here goes nothing," he muttered, summoning every ounce of his new power.
[Prototype Shard Integration: 65%]
The shard surged violently, enveloping him in a corona of glitched light. Time itself seemed to stutter, space folding around him. Erevan lunged, phasing into the guardian, striking its core—not with strength, but with pure chaotic resonance, a pulse that shattered code, corrupted data, and burned through logic itself.
The guardian froze. Then, with a soundless explosion of fractured reality, it disintegrated, collapsing into nothing more than scattered polygons and lines of corrupted code that floated briefly before vanishing entirely.
Erevan stumbled backward, chest heaving, sweat dripping into his eyes. Kaelith rushed to him, gripping his arm, her face a mix of relief and awe. "You… you did it. I don't even know how you did it."
He laughed weakly, collapsing to his knees. "Honestly? Neither do I. But hey… it's gone. For now."
The Prototype Shard floated in his hand, pulsing calmly for the first time since he picked it up. Its glow synced perfectly with his heartbeat, a promise of power—but also a warning of instability.
[Prototype Shard Integration: 75%]
[New Trait Stability: 40%]
Erevan looked at Kaelith, grin lopsided but eyes serious. "Well, at least the system can't say I didn't try."
She shook her head, exhaling sharply. "Try all you want, Erevan. But that shard… it's not just power. It's a ticking clock. The world isn't going to wait for us to figure it out."
The sky above pulsed faintly, ripples traveling through the fabric of reality itself. The shards of broken trees and terrain slowly reformed into uneven grass and scattered rocks, the Prototype Forest vanishing entirely.
Erevan clenched the shard tighter, feeling the new power thrumming through him, chaotic and unpredictable. One thing was clear: this was only the beginning.
And somewhere, deep in the corrupted code of the system, eyes blinked open, watching, calculating, and waiting for his next move.