Chapter 3:
The world narrowed to the space between Ellie and the glitching boy. The hallway, the frozen form of Liam, the distant sounds of the school—it all faded into a dull hum. The only things that felt real were the pounding in her skull and the boy's silver-static silhouette, his grey eyes pinning her in place.
"Wh-what?" Ellie stammered, her voice a thin whisper. The intoxicating power she'd felt moments before evaporated, replaced by a cold, gripping fear.
He took another step forward, his movements fluid and unnervingly quiet. He didn't even glance at Liam, who remained a statue mid-sentence.
"I said," the boy repeated, his voice low and layered with a tension that felt years old, "what do you think you're doing? Do you have a death wish?"
He stopped a few feet from her, close enough for her to see the faint, almost pixelated shimmer in the air around him. Where there should have been a name and dialogue, there was only that chaotic, beautiful interference.
[ERROR: PROFILE_CORRUPTED]
[LOADING... 2%]
The text flickered for a split second before dissolving back into the silver storm.
"I... I was just..." Ellie's mind raced, searching for a lie, any lie. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't," he cut her off, his voice sharp. "I saw the narrative spike. I saw you brute-force a character motivation. You might as well have set off a flare." He finally gestured with his chin towards Liam, a look of pure contempt on his face. "And you did this. You broke him."
Ellie's gaze darted to Liam. His eyes were still vacant. A cold dread seeped into her bones. "Broke him? What does that mean? Is he going to be okay?"
"He'll reboot. Probably. In a few minutes, he'll forget this ever happened and come up with some plausible reason why he's just standing here drooling." The boy's eyes scanned the hallway, paranoid. "But the damage is done. The continuity error is logged. They know."
"Who are 'they'?" Ellie asked, her heart hammering. "And who are you?"
"My name is Kael," he said, the admission sounding like a risk. "And 'they' are the Authors. The Writers. The Narrative Engines. Call them whatever you want. They run this world. And we," he pointed a finger first at his own chest, then at hers, "are the typos they're constantly trying to correct."
As if on cue, the lights in the hallway flickered. A low, groaning sound vibrated through the floor, like the building itself was shifting. The blue script in Ellie's vision wavered.
[NARRATION]: The school day was over, and the students were heading home.
The text glitched, the letters stretching and distorting.
[NARRATION]: Th3 sch00l d@y w@s 0v3r, @nd th3 stud3nts w3r3... investigating the strange noise.
The groaning sound intensified. At the far end of the hallway, a locker door swung open on its own with a deafening BANG.
Kael's head snapped towards the sound, his body tensing. "We have to go. Now."
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Ellie protested, taking a step back. "You're crazy!"
"Fine. Stay," Kael shot back, already turning to leave. "Stay and explain to the plot why the male lead is a buffering mannequin and reality is starting to decay. See how that works out for you."
He didn't wait for a reply. He just started walking away, his form beginning to blend into the shimmering air.
Panic overrode her suspicion. He was the only one who seemed to understand what was happening. "Wait!"
He paused but didn't look back.
Ellie scrambled after him, her backpack bouncing against her shoulders. She chanced one last look at Liam. He blinked, shook his head as if clearing a thought, and then turned and walked away in the opposite direction, his original purpose completely forgotten.
The edit had held. But at what cost?
She caught up to Kael as he pushed open a side door leading to a deserted courtyard. The moment they were outside, the groaning sound stopped. The script in her vision stabilized, reading: [NARRATION]: The courtyard was empty and peaceful.
Kael leaned against the brick wall, letting out a long, weary breath. He looked at her, the anger in his eyes replaced by a deep, profound exhaustion.
"Rule one," he said, his voice flat. "Don't make big edits. You can nudge a word, tweak a small action. But you can't rewrite a core character motivation in five seconds. The system can't handle it. It creates paradoxes. And paradoxes..."
"...get their attention," Ellie finished, the pieces clicking into place. The headache, the glitching text, the flickering lights. It was all connected.
Kael gave a grim nod. "Rule two: every edit has a cost. The bigger the edit, the bigger the cost. A headache is a warning. What you just did... that should have put you in a coma. You're either very lucky or very stupid."
"Or both," Ellie mumbled, sinking onto a cold stone bench. The adrenaline was fading, leaving her trembling and nauseous.
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Kael's lips before vanishing. "Rule three, and this is the most important one: you are not the author. You are a proofreader at best. Your job is to stay quiet, stay off-script, and survive. The moment you try to be the hero, you become the villain in their story."
Ellie looked down at her hands, the hands that had changed a grade, fixed a presentation, and nearly broken a person. The power that had felt so freeing now felt like a bomb strapped to her chest.
"So what am I supposed to do?" she asked, her voice small.
Kael pushed himself off the wall. "You learn. You get control. And you pray they write you off as a minor glitch." He started to walk away again, this time more slowly.
"Will you teach me?" The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it.
He stopped, his back to her. The silver static around him seemed to pulse. He was silent for a long time.
"Meet me here. Tomorrow after school," he said without turning around. "Don't be late. And for the sake of whatever you hold sacred, don't edit anything until then."
And then he was gone, not just walking away, but seeming to fade into the afternoon shadows, the silver static dissolving into nothing.
Ellie was alone in the silent courtyard. The script was calm.
[NARRATION]: She was alone, and for the first time, she was truly afraid.
But beneath the fear, a new, stubborn emotion was taking root. Curiosity. She had touched the source code of the universe. And despite Kael's warnings, she wasn't sure she could ever truly let go of the pen again.