[System Alert: External Agent Detected]
Classification: System Enforcer
Codename: Delta_Zero
Affiliation: None
Objective: "Eliminate Narrative Aberrations. Purge Unregistered Authors."
Status: Currently Undetected
The wind howled through the shattered rail bridge just beyond the western perimeter of Danton. Most assumed no one could cross there anymore.
They were wrong.
A man in a white coat stood beneath the rusted archway, boots untouched by the dust. His presence made no sound. His eyes glowed a faint amber, scanning lines of text embedded in the air.
Every breath, every footstep of the inhabitants within Danton was recorded in script only he could see.
He read the lines of Noah Graves.
[Subject: Noah Graves]
Traits: Usurper, Author-Tier Reader, Echo Custodian
Risk Level: Ascending
Verdict: Terminate before Chapter 20
Inside the Dominion – Upper Rail Tower
Talia leaned on the edge of the balcony, watching the mist ripple beyond the sector wall.
"He's coming," she said without being asked.
Noah stood beside her, reading the latest System Patch Log.
"You feel it too?"
"I don't feel him," she said. "I feel what isn't there. No narrative presence. No alignment. No timeline. He's not part of any book."
Noah flipped to the new alert.
[New Entry: Enforcer Class – Delta Units]
Origin: System Core (Root)
Purpose: Correctional Measures
Note: Enforcers appear only when the balance between Reader and Narrative fractures.
"So… the System thinks I'm the problem," Noah said quietly.
"You are," she answered.
He didn't argue.
[System Timer – Chapter 16 Progress: 39%]
Remaining: 61%
Time Before Collapse Risk: Unknown
Noah spent the next hour coordinating barricade adjustments. Seraphine had trained new squads with salvaged constructs—semi-automated golems cobbled from twisted drone shells and core fragments.
Still, they weren't preparing for a monster.
They were preparing for something worse.
A man with no story.
Elsewhere – South Power Junction, Danton Border
A patrol guard named Lin was checking a glyph ward when he saw him.
Just standing there.
White coat. Hands folded behind his back.
No glow. No presence.
Just there.
"Hey! Who—who goes there?!"
The man didn't answer.
He tilted his head.
[Delta_Zero has begun Line Erasure]
Lin blinked.
And forgot why he had come to the gate.
Forgot what his name was.
Forgot how to breathe.
He fell, quietly, as if his script had simply been cut.
[Citizen #117: TERMINATED]
Cause: Storyline Erasure
Method: Narrative Inversion – "Was never written."
Dominion Core Chamber
[Alert: Citizen #117 Missing From Record]
Discrepancy Detected
Initiating Story Integrity Scan…
Noah stared at the alert as it popped up.
"…That's not possible."
Talia entered, breathing hard.
"One of the guards vanished. No body. No trace. No system alert for death—just… deletion."
[Update: Line Erasure Detected. Delta Unit Confirmed Active.]
Suggestion: Use Author Text to anchor reality.
Noah stepped toward the Core, already typing.
Author Text: "Every named person inside Danton cannot be removed from the story for the next 24 hours."
[Author Text Engaged]
Status: LOCKED
Result: Narrative Reinforcement Applied to Sector Population
The room shimmered faintly as the script protecting each person aligned itself again.
Names appeared briefly over every survivor in the system HUD—like story tags anchoring them to existence.
Talia exhaled.
"You just saved a hundred people from being cut out of existence."
Noah sat down heavily.
"But we're out of Author Texts now. I'll need a full day before I can write another one."
"And he'll know that."
Meanwhile – Delta_Zero's Observation Log
[Sector Reinforcement Detected]
Result: Partial Block of Line Erasure
Assessment: Subject possesses stabilized Author Text ability.
Threat Level: Upgraded – Tier 2 Exile
New Directive: Observe Sector Narrative
Locate Anchor Point
Disrupt from Within
Delta_Zero took one step forward.
And with it—became someone else.
Not shapeshifted.
Not disguised.
Written in.
He rewrote his own line of entry.
Now, within Danton's interface, he was no longer an enemy.
[New Character Inserted: Elias – Survivor Class, Rank F]
Assignment: Kitchen Support, Group C
Registered: 2 Days Ago (Retconned)
He walked into the barricades.
And no one noticed.
Because as far as the story was concerned—
He had always been here.