The Awakening
Prologue: Unrecognized
Darkness. Silence. A void beyond comprehension.
Then a flash of text.
Welcome to The Infinite System.
Initializing User...
ERROR.
Unrecognized Entity Detected.
Adjusting Parameters...
Class: Undefined
Status: Anomaly
Warning: You are not recognized. Proceed with caution.
A cold surge tore through their senses. Were they dreaming… or dying?
Then feeling returned. Solid ground yet unreal, as if both stone and air at once. Their lungs burned with their first breath. Hands pressed into the surface. Eyes blinked open to an impossible sky galaxies swirling overhead, stretching forever.
Location: System Initialization Zone
Panic pulsed in their chest. Their memory? Gone. Not even a name to hold onto.
Then a voice.
"Welcome, anomaly. You should not exist."
A figure hovered before them light and shadow, shifting, flickering, formless. No face. No identity. Just a void.
"You are outside the parameters. No class. No role. You are not meant to be here."
"…Then what am I?" the anomaly whispered.
The being paused. Tilted its head.
"A mistake."
And it attacked.
First Trial: Rewrite Reality
A blast of energy erupted slamming them backwards. Pain bloomed, real and raw.
Instinct. Movement. Survival.
Another attack dodge! The being advanced, radiating power.
"Erasing anomaly."
They backed away, breath ragged. They had no weapon. No defense.
Then a system prompt flashed.
Choose your first ability.
WARNING: Choice unrestricted due to anomaly status.
Three abilities shimmered into existence:
1. Phase Shift – Slip between moments. Dodge anything.
2. Entropy Surge – Unleash unpredictable chaos.
3. Rewrite – Bend reality… at a cost.
No hesitation.
Ability Chosen: REWRITE.
The being raised its hand. Another attack formed.
Rewrite: The enemy's attack does not hit me.
Reality blinked. The attack missed no, it never existed.
The being faltered.
They grinned. Power stirred inside them.
They weren't a mistake.
They were a rewrite.
A Power Not Meant to Exist
ERROR. Unauthorized Rewrite Detected.
WARNING: Breach of System Parameters.
The world trembled. Symbols fractured into chaos.
"This is forbidden."
Another attack. Faster. Stronger.
Rewrite: The attack dissipates into harmless light.
The golden wave scattered like stardust. But then pain.
Cost Applied: System Deviation +1%
The cost was real. Power, yes. But it came with a price.
"Unacceptable."
A deeper voice echoed. The System itself spoke.
ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.
Initiating Emergency Purge.
The sky cracked. The world shattered.
They weren't fighting one being anymore.
They were fighting The System.
System Purge: Falling Between Worlds
EMERGENCY PURGE INITIATED.
The ground collapsed.
They fell not downward, but outward, spiraling through unreality. Floating cities. Frozen battles. Endless code.
They reached. A single symbol.
Rewrite: I do not fall into oblivion.
And suddenly they didn't.
They landed hard, gasping, on a new platform. System prompts flooded in:
Rewrite Deviation +2%
Pain: Real. Cost: Growing.
But they were alive.
And they weren't alone.
The System's Executioners
System Enforcers Detected.
Designation: Code Reapers
Three armored figures emerged eyes glowing, movements mechanical.
"Anomaly detected. Lethal force authorized."
A blade flashed.
Rewrite: The blade shatters before it touches me.
It obeyed.
But the System fought back System Suppression activated. A crushing force pinned them.
Rewrite: The suppression does not affect me.
Deviation: +4%
Victory. But barely. The Reapers paused.
"Anomaly… evolving. Escalating countermeasures."
New weapons. New danger.
Rewrite wasn't limitless.
They needed an escape.
The First Escape
A tear in space opened beyond the Reapers.
Unsafe Exit Detected. Escape Probability: 12%
They ran. Blades lashed out. One strike too close.
Rewrite: I reach the portal before the strike lands.
They dove.
White light consumed everything.
A New Beginning
They awoke in a place outside reality.
Twisting towers. A sky of shifting void.
LOCATION: UNKNOWN
ERROR: This Area Does Not Exist
They had escaped the Reapers.
But they'd landed somewhere worse
a place even the System didn't recognize.
And something else was already watching.
The world reassembled around me like broken code stitching itself together. Lights pulsed in the void, geometric patterns spiraling into form cubes, grids, fractals that bled color like living software. My body, or the approximation of one, floated in an endless dark laced with starlight and static.
[ERROR: ID NOT FOUND]
[ERROR: CLASS MISSING]
[Warning: Unauthorized Entity Detected]
Initializing Emergency Protocol...
"Stop," I said aloud.though there was no mouth, no voice, just the thought manifesting in the code. Surprisingly, the System listened.
The errors halted.
Lines of System code shimmered before me, ghostly like fireflies. I reached out on instinct. The symbols twitched. Flickered. Waited.
And then I understood.
I could read it.
Not just see the System... I could edit it.
User Input Accepted
[Temporary Access Granted]
COMMAND LINE UNLOCKED
A thread of raw data extended from the code toward me, like a leash or a lifeline.
Command:
I hesitated. The void seemed to hold its breath. Somewhere distant, alarms echoed like warped music across a server collapsing in slow motion.
I typed.
Command: Define: Self
The System trembled. Stars blinked out. Then
[Name: …Input Required]
[Class: …Input Required]
[Origin: UNDEFINED]
[Warning: Self-Definition is a Violation of Core Law]
Do you wish to proceed?
Yes.
A word, a choice, a rebellion.
Command: Name: Aethyr
Command: Class: Architect
Command: Origin: System Void
Light exploded from the data-thread, cascading into me. I felt it for the first time, felt. Like breathing through circuits, like blood surging through lines of code.
I wasn't just inside the System now.
I was rewriting it.
And somewhere beyond the code, something stirred.
Watching.
Waiting.
Or hunting.