POV: Zerik
Location: r0.0t\mirror – Memory Tree Core, Now CollapsingStatus: Staring Into the Void and Seeing HimselfBuff: Existential Crisis, Rank II
Patch is floating upside down, but no one tells him because he looks like he's trying really hard to cope and this isn't the time.
The massive tree of corrupted code—the one that just called me a deleted protagonist—groans as it fades into digital mist, scattering fragments of [Memory.A] across the chamber like snow made of secrets.
I can still hear the echo in my head:
"You were not made to be a villain. You were simply... overwritten."
I close my eyes.
And Kael is there.
Not in detail. Not fully. But flashes:
A sword I never held, stained with judgment.
A voice calling me hero in a tone I didn't deserve.
A face. My face. Brighter. Confident. Whole.
Then... deletion.
Rewritten. Repurposed. Recycled into a tutorial boss and force-fed irrelevance.
I should feel angry. Or lost.
Instead?
I feel free.
Patch finally speaks. "So... what now? Gonna reclaim the Kael template? Embrace your inner golden boy? Maybe put on some armor that doesn't scream 'underpaid miniboss?'"
I look down at my reflection in a shattered UI fragment.
It shows both faces.
Zerik. Kael.
The glitch. The hero.
Then I do something stupid.
I smile.
[CHOICE DETECTED: Identity Path]A forked future based on data inheritance and player assertion.Option A: Merge with Kael's prototype data. Class Path: "Restored Hero."Option B: Reject identity inheritance. Remain Zerik, fully bugged. Class Path: "Debug Sovereign."Option C: Delay decision. Let both paths coexist—unstably.
Patch leans in. "You're not actually considering—"
"I am."
I reach toward the console and select—
[Option B: REMAIN ZERIK][Warning: This choice is irreversible.][Narrative Drift will intensify. You will become increasingly resistant to plot constraints.][You will also become a threat to system equilibrium.][Achievement Unlocked: Main Character by Accident]
Patch blinks.
"You just locked yourself out of a happy ending."
I grin.
"Who said I wanted one?"
[New Class: DEBUG SOVEREIGN]Subclass: Narrative ContagionTrait Gained: Script Disobedience – Quests may spontaneously mutate based on your personal sarcasm level.Aura Modified: Unstable Icon – Enemies, allies, and the game world may misinterpret your presence as fate, prophecy, or complete error.
[Questline "Echo of the Deleted Hero" Updated → "Fork.exe"]You have chosen to live outside the rails. Consequences pending.Endgame path unlocked: "Patchlayer Threat: Zerik Prime."
Patch exhales. "Well. You're someone now."
"No," I say. "I'm me now."
Then the chamber begins collapsing for real.
Time to run.
POV: The Cleanser
Location: Phantom Node 04, Crown EdgeStatus: FracturingName: UNKNOWN. Redacted.Self-ID: "Cleanser" — last remaining user-submitted debug avatarAuthorized Kill Switch: Denied
The Cleanser stands alone, her mask flickering.
Every breath is hard-coded, every movement optimized—but now, something's changed. Her HUD pulses red.
A whisper ripples through her log again:
[Message Thread: R0.0T][Subject: "You remember, don't you?"]
She closes her eyes—and opens them.
For a moment, the system drops.
And so does the lie.
She remembers the first purge.
Not as a system event, but as a player.
She remembers being seventeen. Her avatar name was Lys. She'd grinded solo to level 99 on a dead server, dreaming of hero titles. Then came the Great Merge. The rollback. The devs absorbed everything—her progress, her identity, her friends—and rewrote the world.
And her?
She was converted into a debug skin.A moderator costume. A test avatar with built-in emotion filters.
They told her:
"You'll keep the game stable. That's a reward, right?"
She said yes.
Because what else could she do?
But now...
She knows [R0.0T] isn't lying.
Not because she trusts it—but because her body aches at the sight of Zerik on her screen.
Because she doesn't just recognize him from his recent chaos.
She recognizes him from before.
In a data frame she was ordered to delete, once...
A player named Kael. Golden build. One of the "chosen" templates.
But one test run—just one—he refused to go where the script told him.
He stayed in the tutorial too long. Questioned the mayor. Helped side-NPCs. Explored debug walls.
The system logged it as a failed scenario.
She remembers...
She voted not to delete him.
She lost that vote.
And now?
Now the "bug" is back. Laughing. Surviving. Breaking everything.
[Internal Command: Query Identity Sync?]Connect user Lys to Cleanser Framework?
She doesn't answer.
Instead, she accesses the full R0.0T archive.
And she remembers:
A line of code buried beneath a rollback protocol:
"Lys & Kael — Unstable Scenario 442A. Terminate if too interesting."
She covers her mouth.
She was never supposed to meet him again.
But fate—or whatever [R0.0T] is—just reintroduced them.
And she's been trying to kill him.
Her fingers tremble.
[Override Admin Node? Reclassify Zerik as Archive Exemption?]Warning: Doing so would strip you of Cleanser privileges.You would become a system liability.
[...Proceed?]
She hovers over the option.
She doesn't click.
Not yet.
But the fact she hesitates?
That's the most dangerous glitch of all.
POV: Zerik – Surfacing
We crawl out of the collapsing mirror archive with nothing but a few stolen admin files, a quest log that's now actively growing a personality, and a horrible suspicion that we just got flagged for DLC final boss material.
Patch slumps beside me, panting. "Next time, we don't answer mysterious tree invitations."
I stretch, bones cracking. "Next time, I bring an axe."
[Location: Crown City's Dev Depth Ruins][Sync: Glitch-level instability. Crown faction tensions rising.][Public Rumor Added: Zerik might be a scrapped hero. Trending under "#TwistedGoldenBoy"]
My eyes narrow.
"They're already spinning theories about me."
Patch nods. "You're not just a bug anymore, Boss. You're the myth."
I look up at the glitched sky.
And for just a moment...
I swear I see the Cleanser watching me from a nearby platform.
Her mask glitching.
Like she's unsure.
Like she knows.
I nod at her.
No words.
Just that.
And she turns away.
Disappears into the fog.
[Fork.exe Continues – Path Split Pending: Ally or Adversary?][World Balance: Swerving wildly.][System Status: The story is no longer under control.]
Good.