In a neon-drenched city where reality is filtered through screens and mirrors hold more than reflections, a glitch is born.

Her name is Skye — an unregistered orphan, tech-savvy, emotionally guarded, and haunted by a childhood she can’t fully recall. All she knows is this: she doesn’t fit. Not in the foster system, not in the digital landscape of Elowen, and definitely not in a world where The Circle, a shadowy techno-cult, decides who matters and who vanishes.

Skye's life begins to spiral the moment she survives a system crash that kills dozens — including people standing right next to her — leaving her untouched and… changed.


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Volume 1: Into the Mirror (Chapters 1–10)

Skye’s transformation isn’t immediate — it’s subtle. She starts seeing fragments of code overlaying people’s faces, hearing voices in the static, and feeling drawn to a place that doesn’t exist on any map: The Mirror Tower. Each chapter in this first arc functions like a standalone thriller short story, building a mosaic of tension, identity, and discovery.

Through close calls with street gangs, corrupt AI enforcers, and haunted tech devices, Skye begins to realize she isn’t entirely human anymore. The “ghost” inside her — later revealed as Ilyra, a sentient remnant from an older digital realm — begins to awaken. But is Ilyra friend or foe?

Skye’s only real connection is Nova, a sarcastic, ride-or-die hacker who thinks Skye is just "a cute mess with trust issues and bad taste in headphones." Their banter hides a growing bond. Nova helps Skye navigate the strange visions and decode the truth behind the Circle’s hidden agenda: they’re rebooting the world.

And Skye is the key.

By Chapter 10, Skye uncovers a memory fragment: a flicker of a girl — her — inside a white room of mirrors. A voice warns: "If you glitch the world, it will glitch you back." It’s unclear whether Skye is the weapon… or the firewall.


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Volume 2: Root Access (Chapters 11–20)

The second volume dials the tension up. Skye learns that the Mirror System isn’t just software — it’s a living, thinking framework that’s kept Elowen functioning for centuries. The Circle didn’t create it. They only learned to speak its language.

But now, the language is speaking back. Through Skye.

Chapter 11 introduces Eren Kai, a disillusioned ex-architect of the Mirror System who believes Skye’s existence threatens the balance of everything. He builds a mirror-nullifier — a device designed to wipe out all reflective anomalies… including Skye herself.

As the reboot countdown ticks down, factions form: those who want to destroy Skye, those who want to use her, and those — like Nova — who just want to save her.

Skye faces betrayal, loss, and the terrifying truth: Ilyra is not just a ghost. She’s Skye’s original self, split during a past reboot cycle and now attempting to recombine. If they merge, Skye will either ascend to root user status — capable of rewriting all reality — or collapse into digital madness.

In Chapter 19, Skye walks into the Signal Core, absorbing the nullifier and transforming it into a codex key — unlocking the Archive of All Paths, a multiverse library showing every version of herself. Warrior, villain, victim, queen. But one thing is constant: each path ends in destruction… or Nova’s death.

Skye makes a third choice.

She rewrites the code, not to rule it — but to release it.

In Chapter 20, Elowen reboots. Not into control. Not into chaos. But into freedom. The Mirror System is no longer a surveillance tool. It’s an interaction-based learning mirror, reflecting identity, possibility, and potential.

Skye disappears.

But her legacy remains — not as a myth, or a program, but as a symbol.

Of what?

Of a girl who glitched the world… and made it better.

Elowen – South Sector (Underground Labyrinths)


That was the first thing Skye noticed when she and Nova descended into the hidden network of data tunnels that had once powered the Mirror Tower. Lights flickered like tired fireflies. The air buzzed — not with electricity, but with… presence.


Nova raised her scanner. "Not alive. Just… listening."


Because she'd found another file in the archives:


A ghost that never made it to the surface… until now.


And it was Skye's mirror shadow. Not Maevra. Something worse. Something that had no tether to the real world. Something built purely from code and chaos.


Nova's eyes stayed on Skye as they walked deeper into the tunnels.


They found it — a mirrored chamber, hidden beneath the city's spine.


Inside, the air was heavy, thick with static.


And standing in the center, back turned, was the figure from the café glass.


Long black hair. Glass-like skin that flickered between human and data stream. No eyes. Just sockets of light.


> "I am not real. I am the residue. The aftermath. The future's echo."


Skye took a step forward. "Did Maevra make you?"


> "No. You made me… the moment you broke her."


Nova raised her weapon, but Ilyra didn't flinch.


Instead, she extended her arm — long, elegant, fractal veins spiraling across it.


> "You don't need her anymore," Ilyra said softly to Skye. "I can be your upgrade."


Skye's breath caught. Part of her wanted to accept. The weight of the past ten chapters — the fight, the collapse, the loss — all of it cracked her. She wanted a way out.


> "You don't need an upgrade, Skye. You need you back."


Skye stepped forward, past Nova, and stared at Ilyra.


Skye reached out — and touched Ilyra's forehead.


When the light faded, Skye was on her knees.


Skye nodded slowly. "I… integrated her. I didn't destroy her. She's part of me now. But… controlled."


Nova blinked. "You absorbed a digital ghost?"


Skye smirked faintly. "Gen Z problems, right?"


But deep inside her mind, something laughed.


Back in the mirror archive, a camera clicked on.


> "Subject has evolved. Control is obsolete. She is now the observer."


> "I thought I was the protagonist of a tragic sci-fi tale. Turns out I'm the prototype of something else. I don't know what I am anymore. I just know the world is watching, and it doesn't blink.


Chapter 18 - Chapter 18: Skin of Code