Chapter 3:
The Glitch in Reality
(Part 3)
The sun finally dipped below the horizon, but it didn't bring the cool relief of a real evening. Instead, the sky simply shifted from a bright blue to a deep, artificial purple in a matter of seconds. For the NPCs of Oakhaven, this was the signal to stop. Kaito felt his legs turn toward the outskirts of the village. He walked past the closed stalls of the market, his boots clicking on the stones in a perfect, steady rhythm. He wasn't tired in his body, but his mind felt like it had been rubbed raw with sandpaper.
He reached his small hut, a cramped space with a dirt floor and a single straw mattress. As soon as he crossed the doorway, his body moved to the bed and lay down. He stared up at the wooden beams of the roof. This was the most frustrating part of his new life. In the real world, you could toss and turn or think about your day until you fell asleep. Here, the "Sleep" command was like a heavy blanket being thrown over his soul. He felt the edges of his consciousness start to fray as the game tried to put his mind into standby mode.
No, he thought, clenching his mental fists. I am staying awake.
He focused all his energy on the gray box in his mind. He watched the numbers, using them like an anchor to keep himself from drifting away into the digital void.
Willpower: 3
Awareness: 2
He pushed against the sleep command. It felt like trying to hold back a massive, silent wave. His head began to throb, and he felt a strange, static-like buzzing in his ears.
Slowly, the number next to Willpower began to shake. It flickered to 4, then back to 3, then finally settled at 4. The heavy weight of the sleep command lifted just enough for him to breathe. He was still lying on the bed, and his body was "off," but his mind was wide awake in the dark.
He waited for an hour, listening to the sounds of the night. He heard the occasional shout of a player in the distance and the rhythmic snoring of the NPC in the next hut over. The snoring was a loop, a sound file meant to make the village feel lived-in. To Kaito, it sounded like a ticking clock.
With a massive effort, he forced his right hand to move. It didn't jump into a scripted action. It moved slowly, shakily, and exactly how he wanted it to move. He sat up on the bed, his joints creaking. He was moving outside of his programmed routine. It was the most exhilarating feeling he had ever known. He stood up and crept toward the door, moving as quietly as a shadow.
The village was different at night. The glowing crystals that lined the streets cast long, dancing shadows that looked like monsters. Kaito stayed in the darkness, avoiding the main paths. He was heading for the Tipsy Dragon tavern. He needed to find Gareth.
He needed to know if the old man was an ally or just another part of the trap.
As he reached the back of the tavern, he saw a light flickering in a small window. He climbed onto a crate and peered inside. The tavern was empty of players, but Gareth was there, cleaning a wooden mug with a rag. He wasn't moving like an NPC. He wasn't doing the "Cleaning" animation on a loop. He stopped, sighed, and rubbed his eyes. He looked human.
Kaito tapped softly on the glass. Gareth froze. He didn't turn around immediately. He stood very still, his shoulders tense. Then, slowly, he put the mug down and walked toward the window. When he saw Kaito, his eyes widened, but he didn't look surprised for long. He opened the window just a crack.
"You're a fool, 47," Gareth whispered, his voice thick with worry. "The Sentinels patrol the outskirts at this hour. If they see a villager out of bed, they won't ask questions. They'll just delete the error."
"I had to come," Kaito whispered back. "You spoke to me earlier. You called me by my number, but you weren't scripted. You're awake, aren't you?"
Gareth looked over his shoulder at the empty room, then looked back at Kaito. "I've been awake for three years, lad. Or three thousand years. It's hard to tell when the clock resets every morning. I've seen hundreds like you. People who wake up and think they can fight the system. They all end up the same way."
"What happens to them?" Kaito asked.
Gareth leaned closer, the smell of stale ale and old wood coming from him. "The system has a way of 'cleaning' things. It starts with small glitches. You might forget your name, or your memories of the other world start to fade. Then, your body stops responding entirely. You become a 'Hollow.' You still walk, you still talk, but there's nobody left inside. You just become the script."
Kaito felt a chill run down his spine. He thought about the boy with the toy boat. Was he once a person who had simply been "cleaned" until nothing was left? "I won't let that happen to me," Kaito said firmly. "I have a new system. A gray menu. It tracks my Willpower and my Awareness."
Gareth's eyes narrowed. "A menu? NPCs don't have menus. Not even the ones who wake up."
"It's minimalist," Kaito explained. "It says it's synchronizing. It says there is a potential for autonomy."
Gareth stayed silent for a long time. The only sound was the distant howl of a wolf in the woods, a sound Kaito knew was just a trigger for the 'Night Ambience' setting. Finally, Gareth spoke. "If you have a system, then you aren't just a glitch. You're a threat. The developers, or whatever is running this place now, won't ignore that for long. You need to grow strong, and you need to do it fast."
"How?" Kaito asked. "I'm stuck as a villager."
"The system runs on logic," Gareth said, pointing to his head. "It expects you to follow the rules. To grow your stats, you have to break the logic without getting caught. You have to find the gaps in the code. Tomorrow, a group of new players will come to the square. They will be looking for the 'Lost Heirloom' quest. Normally, you just point them to the forest. This time, I want you to do something different."
"What?"
"I want you to lie to them," Gareth said with a grim smile. "The script says you tell the truth. If you can tell a lie, you break the core logic of an NPC. It will put a massive strain on your mind, but if you survive it, your Willpower will skyrocket."
Before Kaito could respond, a bright, white light flashed at the end of the alleyway.
"Go!" Gareth hissed, slamming the window shut. "The Sentinels are here!"
Kaito dropped from the crate and scrambled into the shadows just as a floating orb of light drifted past the tavern. The orb had a giant, mechanical eye in the center that scanned the ground with a red beam. It was a Sentinel, a high level security construct designed to find and fix bugs in the game world.
Kaito held his breath, pressing his back against the cold stone wall. The red beam passed just inches from his boots.
He waited until the humming sound of the Sentinel faded into the distance. His heart was hammering against his ribs, a frantic, human beat that felt loud enough to wake the whole town. He realized that Gareth was right. This wasn't a game anymore. This was a war for his very soul.
He made his way back to his hut, his mind racing with Gareth's words. To tell a lie. It sounded so simple, but for an NPC whose every word was hardcoded into the world, it was like trying to fly by flapping his arms. He lay back down on his straw bed just as the first hint of the artificial dawn began to bleed into the purple sky.
Willpower: 4
Awareness: 3
Adaptability: 2
His stats had increased again. The encounter with Gareth and the close call with the Sentinel had pushed him further than he thought possible. He closed his eyes, preparing for the morning reset. Tomorrow, he wouldn't just be Villager 47. He would be a liar. And in a world of perfect truths and fixed scripts, a lie was the most powerful weapon he had.