For a moment—
Nothing happened.
Aarav's finger remained in the air where the screen had been, his expression unchanged.
"…That's it?" he muttered.
The room was silent.
Too silent.
Then—
The world broke.
A sharp distortion rippled through the air, like invisible glass cracking around him. The walls flickered. The ceiling twisted slightly, as if reality itself had glitched.
Aarav slowly lowered his hand.
"…Okay," he said quietly, "now something's definitely wrong."
The broken screen reappeared.
But this time—
It wasn't stable.
It flickered violently, text appearing and disappearing so fast it was hard to read.
[ E R R O R ]
[ S Y S T E M C O N F L I C T ]
[ U N A U T H O R I Z E D A C C E S S ]
The words overlapped, distorting into unreadable fragments.
The air grew heavy.
Cold.
Unnatural.
Aarav didn't step back.
He didn't panic.
Instead, he watched.
Carefully.
Because unlike others, he had nothing to lose.
"…So I wasn't supposed to press that," he said.
The screen glitched harder.
Then suddenly—
It stabilized.
Just for a second.
Enough for one line to appear clearly.
[ F O R C E R E G I S T R A T I O N . . . ]
Aarav blinked.
"…Force?"
Before he could react—
Pain hit.
A sharp, burning sensation shot through his head, like something was being pushed into his mind.
"—!"
He staggered back, grabbing the edge of the table to steady himself.
Images flashed.
Fragments.
Data.
Numbers.
Things he couldn't understand.
Not yet.
The screen flickered again.
[ R E G I S T R A T I O N F A I L E D ]
[ R E T R Y I N G . . . ]
Aarav clenched his teeth.
"…You're really persistent," he muttered.
Another surge of pain.
Stronger this time.
The room trembled slightly.
Outside, the world remained frozen—
As if time itself had been paused.
"…Why me?" he whispered.
No answer came.
Only the screen.
Only the glitch.
Then—
It changed again.
The text slowed.
Stabilized.
As if something had adjusted.
[ P A R T I A L A C C E S S G R A N T E D ]
Aarav's eyes narrowed.
"…Partial?"
A faint hum filled the room.
Soft.
But constant.
The screen shifted.
Reforming itself into something slightly more readable.
Still broken.
Still unstable.
But… usable.
[ W E L C O M E U S E R ]
The words flickered once.
Then held.
Aarav let out a slow breath.
"…So I do get something after all."
But before he could feel relieved—
The screen glitched again.
Harder than before.
As if resisting its own existence.
[ W A R N I N G ]
The word pulsed.
Repeated.
Over and over.
[ W A R N I N G ]
[ W A R N I N G ]
[ W A R N I N G ]
The room grew colder.
Darker.
And then—
For the first time—
Aarav felt it.
Not the system.
Not the screen.
Something else.
Watching.
From somewhere beyond the glitching interface.
His body went still.
"…Yeah," he said softly.
"This definitely wasn't meant to happen."
The screen flickered violently one last time.
And then—
Everything snapped back.
Sound returned.
The fan started spinning again.
The noise of the city rushed back in.
As if nothing had happened.
Aarav stood alone in his room.
Breathing normally.
Looking completely fine.
But in front of him—
The broken screen still remained.
Faint.
Glitching.
Real.
And this time—
It wasn't going away.