I stood there frozen in the clearing.
Kira gripped my arm tight.
Lyra Voss stood just a few steps away.
Her black armor gleamed under the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees.
The shadows around us kept thickening.
Like ink spilling across the ground.
Those glowing eyes multiplied.
Blinking from every bush and branch.
They whispered my name over and over.
The voice crawled inside my skull.
My Stability ticked down to sixty.
Without warning.
I finally found my voice.
Stared straight at Lyra.
"What do you mean work with you?
Because I don't even know what this anomaly crap is.
And I sure as hell didn't ask for it.
So if you're here to threaten me, just do it.
Get it over with."
Lyra tilted her head slow.
Like she was sizing up a bug under glass.
Her visor reflected my face back at me.
Distorted.
Glitchy.
"Oh, I'm not threatening you, anomaly boy," she said.
"I'm offering you a lifeline.
The System just flagged us both thanks to your little show.
Those shadows aren't random mobs.
They're enforcers.
Prepping to wipe us.
So you either team with me right now—hit that party invite I'm sending—
or you get deleted first.
I'll watch.
Then I'll handle Kira here as loose ends."
Kira let go of my arm fast.
Stepped back.
"Wait, what enforcers?
I thought those were just hallucinations from his glitch.
You're saying this is real?
Lyra Voss, or whatever your rep is—
because I didn't sign up for purge protocols."
The party invite popped up.
Glowing blue in my vision.
Accept or Decline.
I hesitated for half a second.
Trusting a top rank like her felt like jumping off a cliff.
But the shadows moved closer.
One stretched into a clawed hand.
It swiped at the air inches from my boot.
I hit Accept fast.
Felt the link snap into place.
"Fine," I said.
"I'm in.
But you better explain everything.
Starting with why you know about my class.
And what the hell these things are.
Because I'm not dying in a starter zone over some error message."
Lyra laughed.
Short and sharp.
The sound echoed weirdly off the trees.
"Good choice.
Now follow me.
We're hitting the crypt dungeon east of here.
It's got high rewards.
And a backdoor I know that'll shake these shadows off.
Plus your Overwrite skill might come in handy for the traps.
So move.
Before they fully spawn."
Kira shouted, "Wait!
You're leaving me out?
I healed your asses through half the goblin farm.
And I'm not some loose end.
So invite me too.
Or I scream for help right here.
Draw every player in the zone."
Lyra paused.
Her visor flickered as she scanned Kira.
Then sent another invite.
"Fine.
Healer tags are useful.
But screw up once and you're out.
And we're gone."
Kira accepted quick.
Jumped into step beside me.
We ran full speed through the forest.
Lyra leading the way.
Her movements smooth.
Like she owned the whole map.
The shadows chased.
Snapping at our heels.
Forcing me to Rollback twice in a row.
To undo grabs that would have shredded our health bars.
Each rewind buzzed harder in my head.
Stability dropped to fifty-eight.
Then fifty-five.
The whispers now screamed:
"You can't run forever, glitch."
We burst into the crypt entrance.
A jagged stone archway covered in vines.
Glowing runes pulsed red.
Like warning lights.
Lyra waved her hand.
Activated a hidden panel.
It slid open.
Revealing a side tunnel.
"Stick close," she said.
"This skips the trash mobs.
Straight to the mid-boss.
But watch for pressure plates.
They're lethal on anomaly runs."
I nodded.
Sword out.
Scanning the floor.
Kira panted behind us.
"This place gives me the creeps.
Why isn't it on the public maps?"
Lyra snapped back over her shoulder.
"Because top ranks keep secrets like this.
To stay ahead.
Now shut up and move."
The tunnel narrowed fast.
Walls closing in.
Skeletal hands reached from cracks.
We fought through a quick wave of undead.
They clawed and bit.
Drawing blood that felt way too real.
I Overwrote one's tag.
From "Undead Minion" to "Harmless."
It turned into a stumbling idiot we could ignore.
Kira healed the scratches.
"Damn, that's broken.
How many times a day can you do that?"
"Once so far," I said.
"But it's risky every time.
The System hates it.
Look at my Stability.
It's tanking fast."
We hit the first trap room.
A wide chamber.
Floor tiles glowed dangerous red.
Lyra pointed.
"See that pattern?
Step only on blue.
But the lethal ones rewrite if you're flagged like us.
So anomaly boy—you handle it."
I stepped forward.
Focused on the biggest red tile.
Hovered my cursor over its tag: "Lethal Spike Trap."
Activated Overwrite.
Changed it to "Weak Tripwire."
The glow shifted to yellow.
The tile safe now.
Or so I thought.
The whole room shook hard.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the ceiling.
New spawns popped.
Mutated goblins fused with bone armor.
Screeching louder.
Angrier.
Twice the size of normals.
Blades dripped green poison.
Lyra cursed loud.
Drew dual laser swords.
They hummed blue.
"You idiot.
That backfired hard.
The System spawned elites to counter your hack.
Now we fight."
She charged in.
Slashing two mutants apart in one spin.
Kira threw heals.
"Yelling: On me! Keep them off the healer!"
I joined the melee.
Swinging at a mutant that lunged for my throat.
Its blade grazed my neck.
Before I Rollbacked.
Rewinding the hit.
But Stability crashed to forty-two.
The buzz turned into a full headache.
Visions flashed.
Dead faces I didn't recognize.
The fight turned brutal.
Mutants everywhere.
Claws raking armor.
Shattering stone.
Chunks falling from above.
Lyra yelled to me.
"Overwrite the big one!
Center!
It's the spawner!"
I targeted it.
Tag: "Elite Mutated Alpha."
Changed to "Weak Goblin."
It shrunk.
Stumbled.
Confused.
But the room glitched worse.
More mutants spawning.
Faster than we could kill.
Kira screamed.
"I'm out of mana!
We're overrun!"
One mutant grabbed her leg.
Dragged her toward a pit.
Spikes glinted below.
I dove in.
Stabbed its back.
Freed her.
She rolled away.
Gasping "Thanks."
But then the alpha reformed.
Grew back to full size.
The Overwrite failed.
With a red error flash:
"System Override Denied.
Penalty Applied."
My health bar exploded down to ten percent.
Poison burned through me.
Lyra shouted.
"Fallback to the exit!"
But a mutant tackled me.
Pinned me down.
Blade raised high.
I tried Rollback one last time.
But Stability hit zero.
Whispers exploded into screams:
"You die now, anomaly."
Time didn't rewind.
Instead darkness swallowed me whole.
My body went limp.
The death penalty hit.
Erasing something deep.
A memory gone fuzzy now.
What was it?
My first bike ride?
Or something with Mom?
It slipped away forever.
I woke up gasping in my apartment.
The neural implant yanked me back to reality.
With a jolt that left me soaked in sweat.
Shaking.
The collectors were still there.
Banging harder now.
Yelling: "Vale! Pay up or we drag you out!"
But worse—
the pain from the neck graze burned real hot on my skin.
A fresh scar.
Oozing blood.
Staining my shirt.
I touched it.
Winced.
Because it wasn't virtual anymore.
It was here.
Marking me.
As I stared at the ceiling.
Trying to remember what I just lost forever.
A new notification flickered in my half-logged vision.
Private.
Urgent.
"First Death Complete.
Memory Erased.
Return to EIDOLON or Lose More."
Right then the door burst open.
Collectors rushing in.
Grabbing my arms.
While the scar throbbed like fire.
Demanding I log back in.
Before they took everything.
Including my last shot at survival.