The stench of rust and ozone clung to Elara like a second skin, a constant companion in the metal graveyard she called home. Twisted girders clawed at a perpetually grey sky, monuments to a forgotten cataclysm. Here, amongst the skeletal remains of what was once a gleaming, technologically advanced civilization, Elara, a girl of sixteen cycles, sought sustenance and salvage. She moved with the fluid grace of a shadow, her slim frame navigating precariously balanced rubble and razor-sharp shrapnel. Her current quest: power cells – any form of archaic energy source that might still hold a charge, vital for the sputtering life support of her ailing guardian, Old Kael.
A faint, almost imperceptible hum drew her towards a collapsed data spire, its crystalline façade shattered like a geode. Most scavengers avoided these sites, whispers of residual energy spikes and phantom programs keeping them at bay. But Elara possessed a peculiar resilience to such disturbances, a faint tingling sensation being her only discomfort where others would seize or fall unconscious. It was a secret she guarded fiercely, a strange blessing in a cursed world.
Deep within the spire's core, amidst tangled conduits and sparking wires, she found it. Not a power cell, but something far more intriguing: a Shattered Core. It was a fist-sized orb of obsidian, laced with intricate, glowing blue lines that pulsed erratically, like a dying heart. One side was a jagged crater, as if something explosive had burst from within. Such relics were incredibly rare, rumored to be the remnants of the 'System' that once governed the ancients, granting them immense power and knowledge before its cataclysmic failure. Legends claimed the shards could drive men mad, or grant them impossible abilities.
As her fingers brushed the cold, smooth surface, a jolt unlike any she had ever felt coursed through her. It wasn't the usual static discharge; this was internal, searing, like liquid lightning igniting her very bones. Her vision flared white, filled with a dizzying kaleidoscope of symbols and data streams she couldn't comprehend. A guttural cry escaped her lips as she involuntarily squeezed the core.
A sharp crack echoed in the confined space, and the obsidian orb crumbled to dust, the glowing lines fading into nothingness. Elara gasped, clutching her hand, which now throbbed with an alien energy. Her head swam, filled with an inexplicable sensation of... connection. A new voice, cold and sterile, resonated not in her ears, but directly within her mind.
[ERROR. SYSTEM CORE INTEGRITY: CRITICAL.]
[FRAGMENTATION DETECTED. ATTEMPTING RECONSTRUCTION.]
[HOST BIO-SIGNATURE DETECTED. ATTEMPTING LINK.]
[LINK ESTABLISHED. HOST ADAPTATION PROTOCOL INITIATED.]
[WELCOME, GLITCH MAGE.]
Elara stumbled back, hitting the cold metal wall. Glitch Mage? What was happening? She stared at her empty hand, then down at the dust. The world around her seemed to shimmer, the lines of the ruined spire subtly shifting, as if revealing hidden patterns. A small, translucent blue rectangle flickered into existence before her eyes, floating in the air.
[STATUS]
Below it, she could vaguely make out symbols, numbers, and words like 'Level,' 'HP,' 'Mana,' and something called 'Corruption.' This was no ordinary energy surge. This was the System. Or what was left of it. And somehow, it had linked to her.