The first thing I saw was the fire, crackling and warm against the coming night. Then I heard voices, quiet but urgent, mixed with this faint, chime-like sound I knew too well. Survivors. The word landed heavy in my stomach, part hope, part dread. I'd been by myself for so long, the quiet was crushing me.
I went closer, careful to stay in the shadows of the twisted trees. There were five of them, huddled around the fire, faces lit by the flames. A weird bunch, dressed in beat-up leather and scraps of cloth. But what got me was how they kept looking down, eyes darting around. Their fingers twitched like they were typing on something. The System. It was everywhere.
They were so into it, so caught up in their stats and levels. I knew that game, or at least, I used to. I stepped forward to say something, to tell them about the roots I found, and this clean spring I knew about.
They went nuts. Four heads shot up, eyes wide with raw fear. They jumped back like I'd spooked them. They looked at me like I was a disease, some kind of freak. It wasn't just fear of the unknown; it was like I was fundamentally wrong.
Void. The word fit the growing emptiness inside me. I wanted to get to my System, to show them I wasn't a mindless monster, that I understood this world. I tried to focus like always. I reached out, looking for that familiar glow of my interface.
But there was nothing.
I tried again, a bit harder. I imagined the panels, the text, the skills that made me who I was in this broken place. Still nothing. Dread filled me, worse than the coming night. I couldn't see my stats, my level, or my health. It felt like the basics of my life had been taken away, leaving me lost in a world I didn't understand.
My wrist itched where my inventory tab used to be. I reached for it, but grabbed nothing. Panic started to rise.
The survivors watched me. Their fear turned to curiosity, but they stayed away. They were still part of the System, depending on the numbers they saw. But I was cut off.
I tried to use my skills. I thought about the fighting moves and survival tricks I'd learned. I wanted them to appear, to prove what I could do. But nothing happened. It felt like I was trying to catch smoke.
"Did you see that? My Agility just ticked up another point!" a young woman exclaimed, her voice a breathy whisper.
"Mine too," a gruff man replied, his brow furrowed in concentration. "But my mana regeneration is still abysmal. This grinding is killing me."
"Just keep at it," another, older voice advised. "Focus on your core stats. Everything else follows."
The world felt different. It used to seem so real because of the System, but now it felt fake. Trees were just trees, fire was just fire. The survivors talked about their stats and skills like it was some weird language I didn't get anymore. I felt like a ghost in the System, invisible to the thing that ran everything.
I gasped and looked at my hands, thinking they'd disappear or turn see-through. But they were solid. Still, I felt disconnected, like I was watching myself from far away, controlling a body that wasn't really mine anymore.
My muscles still hurt from walking, and I was starving. Those were real feelings, not because of the System. But I couldn't see any of the details, like how I was doing. That stuff was gone.
This was worse than being alone. Being alone is just about being by yourself. This was about something deeper. I felt lost, like I didn't belong in this world anymore. How could I fight? How could I live? How could I even exist in a world that was all about numbers when I couldn't see any numbers?
I stepped back, my heart racing. The fire looked scary now, with long, dark shadows moving around. The survivors kept talking about their stats, and it made me feel crazy. They were getting better and stronger, but what was happening to me? Was I getting worse? Was I disappearing?
"Hey," I started, my voice rough from disuse. "I saw your fire. Mind if I join?"
I glanced down at my beat-up boots. The scuffs showed how far I'd gone. My homespun tunic was patched and worn. These things were real, but they didn't make me feel any better. Without the System, without my link to it, I felt empty, like a nobody. The fear in the eyes of the other survivors? I was starting to feel it, too.
What was going on? Was this a curse? A bug? Had I lost touch with the System so much that it just… deleted me? The thought made me shiver. If I had no stats, no level, did I even matter here?
I had to know what was happening. I needed to get back online, get connected again. But how? Everything I knew, everything I did, all my hopes depended on the System. Without it, I was lost.
I turned from the fire, from the scared faces of the others. The trees above were turning dark purple, and the first stars were peeking out. I walked off, not sure where I was going, but knowing I had to leave. The silence felt different now, not just empty space, but an emptiness inside me. A scary hole had opened up inside.
I reached out and touched a tree. The bark felt rough and real. I could feel the grit and the dampness. At least my senses still worked. But I didn't know how I fit in anymore. I didn't know what anything meant.
"What is that?" the young woman stammered, her hand flying to her chest.
"It… it has no interface," the gruff man breathed, his voice a choked gasp.
"No stats," the older voice added, laced with a chilling dread. "No level. It's… it's nothing."
I was like a ghost, barely there, a forgotten player in a game that didn't even notice me anymore. It made me wonder: Could I still do stuff in this world? Could I still fight? Could I even keep on living? My head spun with questions, each one making me feel colder.
I went deeper into the woods, leaving the survivors' quiet talks behind. Now, I only heard leaves crunching under my feet and my own heart beating like crazy. I was a weird thing, like a ghost in a machine, and it hit me hard: I had no clue what this meant for me. I was totally alone, not just for staying alive, but for who I even was. I was like a blank paper, waiting for something to be written on it, or maybe just erased. The dark forest seemed to take me in, and for the first time since waking up in this strange place, I felt completely lost. I couldn't see the way forward at all.
"A statless anomaly," the young woman whispered, her voice trembling. "A void in the System."
"No," I murmured, more to myself than to them.