The ruined chamber buzzed with leftover system energy code fragments dissolving into shimmering motes as the corrupted dungeon began to destabilize.
Violet Maxwell stared across the cracked obsidian floor at the Admin Hunter who should have killed her by now. Tyler Jackson's expression was unreadable, but his glowing system HUD flickered behind his eyes like he was scanning her down to the last pixel.
"You're not just a bug," he said calmly. "You're a breach."
Violet didn't move.
Her staff was still gripped in one hand useless against a system-level enforcer but she wasn't about to lower it. Her instincts screamed run, but her pride refused to give him that satisfaction.
"You don't get to call me that," she said. "You don't even know what I am."
Tyler's lips twitched faintly. Not a smile. Something darker. Something curious.
"Neither do you. That's the fun part."
A crack split the ceiling above them. The dungeon was falling apart faster now. System stabilizers had likely already abandoned the zone once the boss fell and the corruption spike registered.
[WARNING: Dungeon Collapse Imminent. 90 seconds to core disintegration.]
Violet's HUD flashed red. She cursed under her breath.
"Move," she snapped, stepping past him toward the flickering exit portal.
He blocked her with a single step too fast. His cloak didn't even flutter. "You're not leaving."
Violet's grip on her staff tightened. "We have 80 seconds until this place deletes us both."
"And we're going to use them." Tyler tilted his head, scanning her face like he was looking for a glitch. "You're not going to talk unless you have to, so I'll make this simple."
A system screen materialized in the air between them. It hovered, glowing in admin gold:
[Temporary Party Request: Tyler_JAX → Virelia]
Duration: 2 hours | Bound to Active Zone | Consent Required
She blinked. "What the hell is this?"
"Link with me," Tyler said. "I want to see your interface. Watch your logs. Study your class live. For two hours. Then we go our separate ways. If you decline, I drag you to an interrogation node. Your call."
Her mind raced.
This was insane.
A system bounty hunter was asking for a party link an action usually reserved for cooperative dungeon raiding or PvP duels. If she accepted, he'd have limited access to her skill logs, movement metrics, and basic combat stats. He'd see things. But she'd also see his.
Dangerous… but maybe useful.
60 seconds until collapse.
She took a shaky breath and tapped [ACCEPT].
[System Alert: Party Linked — Tyler_JAX + Virelia]
[Class Detected: Fatebreaker (Unrecognized Branch)]
[Sync in Progress…]
"Let's go," Tyler said.
They sprinted through the corridor as the dungeon crumbled behind them. The floor disintegrated in waves of digital static, entire hallways collapsing into skyboxes of black void and scrolling code. Vines tore from the walls, and glitched shadows howled as the last corrupted enemies de-rezzed mid-frame.
The exit portal flared ahead blue light pulsing erratically.
Violet dove through first, Tyler only milliseconds behind her.
[ZONE TRANSFER COMPLETE — SAFE AREA: The Waking Grove]
The world reassembled around them in a flash of code. They landed in a lush, quiet glade a neutral, no-combat zone at the edge of the game's southern continent. Trees towered above, sunlight filtered through leaves, and a soft breeze blew.
Violet stumbled to her feet, panting.
She hated that she was out of breath and he wasn't.
"Was that necessary?" she snapped.
"You needed a reason to trust me. Fear works faster than logic," Tyler said, checking his HUD. "Besides, now I get to watch you work."
She spun toward him, flaring.
"I'm not some system experiment! I didn't ask for this class, or for whatever glitched boss I just killed!"
"You activated a sealed rune in an abandoned dungeon," he said dryly. "What did you think would happen?"
"I thought I'd die and respawn."
He gave her a long look. "You didn't. That should tell you something."
Violet sat down hard on a mossy rock. Her staff rested beside her. Her fingers ached. Her system logs glitched every few seconds, still trying to reconcile what just happened.
Tyler stood across from her, arms crossed, scanning.
His eyes narrowed slightly. "You're running hot. Too hot."
"What?"
"Your rewrite signature. Fatebreaker classes don't just heal they warp reality. Every time you cast, it leaves a trace."
She looked up at him. "You're saying the system can track me by my skills?"
"Not just the system." Tyler's voice dropped. "Other players. Admin-class enforcers. Maybe even higher beings. If you use your powers recklessly, it won't be a bounty anymore. It'll be open-season."
Violet swallowed. "So what hide forever?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he opened a system map.
[Mission Thread Available: Echo Rift Investigation]
Location: Deadshore Ruins (Level 8–12)
Objective: Identify corrupted zone expanding beyond system quarantine
Reward: Admin Core Fragment / Class Evolution Path Data
"You want to take me to a corrupted zone?" she asked, frowning.
"Yes."
"You just told me not to use my powers. Now you want to drag me into a zone that's designed to trigger them?"
Tyler looked down at her, expression unreadable. "Exactly. You're unstable. But you're also evolving. The more I see, the more I believe your class isn't a bug it's a rewrite of a buried branch."
"You think I'm a beta class?"
"I think you're a rollback-proof prototype. Something the devs buried."
Violet's heart skipped.
A fate that wasn't meant to exist.
And maybe… a power not meant to be healed.
They traveled together in silence.
The Waking Grove faded behind them as they entered the low-level trail toward the Deadshore Ruins a crumbling fortress half-submerged in black water. Fog curled over the broken walls like ghost breath. Violet's system map jittered with warnings.
[Zone Status: Echo Contaminated System Quarantine Engaged]
[Dungeon Level: 10-13 | Difficulty: Unknown]
"This place wasn't here before," Violet said. "Not on the base map."
"It spawned last patch," Tyler replied. "No player party has cleared it yet."
She arched a brow. "And your plan is to solo it with me?"
"You're not just 'with' me," Tyler said calmly. "You're the reason I brought us here. This zone reacts to Fatebreaker energy. You'll trigger the path."
Violet narrowed her eyes. "You're using me as bait."
Tyler didn't deny it.
Inside the ruins, the walls moaned as they passed glitching NPC spirits flickering like unfinished character models. A glitched knight stood in one corner, twitching endlessly as if stuck in a half dead animation loop. Debris floated above the ground in defiance of gravity.
It wasn't just abandoned.
It was haunted.
They reached a central chamber with a giant cracked altar. Carved into the wall was a line of corrupted code in glowing red:
"She who heals beyond the script shall burn the path unwritten."
Violet stared.
She didn't know why… but it felt like the wall was speaking directly to her.
[System Ping: Anomaly Detected]
[Prompt: Activate Rewrite? YES/NO]
Her fingers hovered.
"Wait," Tyler warned.
Too late.
Violet tapped YES.
The ground rumbled.
[BOSS ENCOUNTER: Forgotten Echo Beast – Lv. 13]
→ Linked to Fatebreaker class evolution questline
The wall shattered.
A hulking, twisted creature emerged half code, half-shadow, its body morphing with glitch fragments and spiraling veins of red corruption. It let out a warped howl that nearly shorted her HUD.
"Stay back!" Tyler snapped.
But the beast lunged.
Violet didn't listen.
She raised her staff, burned 2 RP, and cast:
"REWIND PULSE!"
The beast's charge reversed midair its claws retracting, its roar rewinding like broken audio.
Tyler dashed in with admin blade drawn, slashing through its chest. Corrupted code erupted from the wound.
"Again!" he shouted.
Violet triggered Echo Mend, stabilizing the collapsing floor, then hit Death Unwritten just as the beast's tail slammed toward Tyler.
His HP, dangerously low, bounced back to full.
He stared at her.
"You rewrote my death."
She nodded.
"You've never cast that before."
"Nope."
"How did you know it would work?"
She breathed, sweat running down her spine.
"I didn't."
The beast roared again stronger, evolving. Tyler cursed.
"We can't beat it head-on," he muttered. "But…"
He turned to Violet.
"Rewrite the fight."
"What?"
"Use your skill. Your instinct. Twist the outcome."
She froze.
"I don't know how."
"You do," he said softly, eyes locked with hers. "You've been doing it since you entered the game."
She looked at her trembling hands.
The system tried to kill her. Her party betrayed her. Her class rejected the rules. And she was still here.
Maybe he was right.
She activated Patch Note.
Stat Roll: Agility boosted by 300% for 20 seconds
She sprinted around the beast, targeting its unstable leg joint, and slammed her staff into the glowing weak point.
Critical Chain Triggered
Hidden Protocol Overridden
Class Evolution Data Unlocked
The beast screamed and exploded into code.
[QUEST COMPLETE]
[CLASS SYNC UPDATED: FATEBREAKER – Level 5]
[New Skill Unlocked: Thread Sever – Cut a single fate thread | 1/day]
The chamber fell silent.
They stood in the aftermath, side by side, breathing hard.
"You used me," Violet said finally.
"Yes," Tyler replied.
"But you also saved me."
He didn't answer right away.
Then, finally: "You're not the only one the system lied to."
She turned to him, surprised.
But before she could ask, his name turned red.
[ALERT: Bounty Detected – FATEBREAKER EXPOSED]
His HUD lit up with warnings.
"So… what now?" Violet asked.
Tyler stared at her.
And for the first time, his voice was low, almost hesitant.
"Now we run."