Kael stood alone in the red-glowing circle like a flaw being highlighted in a perfect equation.
Every other student had already backed away, as if being near him would infect their threads. The glyphs around his feet pulsed faster now, forming a symbol he couldn't decipher. One thing was clear. It looked like a lock. And it was closing.
❝WARNING: UNWRITTEN ENTITY DETECTED.
No thread alignment. No origin stamp. No fate.❞
❝System integrity at risk.
Erasure process will begin in… 10.❞
A countdown. Kael's breath caught.
"No… wait I don't even know"
9.
His voice echoed strangely.
Not around him inside him.
Like the system didn't care what he said, but it made sure he heard himself beg.
❝Instruction: Prepare soul for deconstruction.❞
❝Emotion buffer: DISABLED. Memory anchor: UNAVAILABLE.❞
8.
His fingers trembled. He dropped to one knee, eyes scanning the crowd pleading, not with words, but with panic. No one moved. Not even the instructors watching from above the tower balcony. Because no one remembered what to do with someone like him.
7.
Kael's thoughts began to stutter.
Not from fear. From erasure. Little things the color of the sky, the sound of his voice, the shape of his own hands began flickering like glitching pixels.
❝Data integrity dropping… 82%... 76%...❞
6.
His heartbeat returned. But it wasn't his. It belonged to the Narracode Engine.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Why? Why now? Why me?
5.
A scream caught in his throat. Not fear. Rage. That someone something thought he could be deleted just because he didn't fit their system. He stood again.
"You think I don't belong?"
His voice cracked loud, angry, alive."You think because I'm not written, I don't exist?!"
4.
The red glyphs surged.
❝System override protocol engaging.
Fatal fade initiating.❞
Kael clenched his fists. If he was going to die again he wanted to look at the sky. He wanted to feel something. Anything. Even if it was pain.
3.
And then something flickered. Not in the glyphs. In the crowd. A shimmer. A ripple. One girl stepped forward. Nyra.
❝STOP.❞
Her voice didn't echo. It slammed. Like fate itself hesitated when she spoke. ❝Override request: Witness-class protocol. Activating Memorium Link.❞
❝Thread connection attempting to bridge... to NULL.❞
Everyone gasped. No one could do that. Not unless... ❝Violation Detected: Witness engaging with Erased Class.❞
2.
Kael turned slowly toward her. And for a second a half-second his world didn't glitch. Her eyes were wide. Wet. Her hand trembled. But it reached forward anyway.
"I remember you," she whispered.
1.
❝I remember you.❞
The moment Nyra said it, the system hesitated. Just a flicker a half-second lag in the countdown. But in a world governed by absolute script and code, even a flicker… was defiance. The glyphs around Kael's feet pulsed violently.
❝WARNING. Witness-Class entity attempting bridge-link to NULL-Class.
This violates Sovereign Protocol 3.9.❞
The air screamed. Not loud. Not sharp.
But deep. Like reality itself was groaning in resistance. Kael stared at her. That girl that strange, silver-eyed soul. Her arm was outstretched, trembling, but steady. Like she had done this before. Like she was ready to do it again. "Who... are you?" he asked, voice hoarse.
"You wouldn't believe me," she whispered.
Around them, the crowd was frozen.
The instructors on the balcony had gone silent. Some systems flickered. A few began shutting down altogether as if unsure how to process a rule being broken by memory. ❝Override Accepted: Temporarily.
Thread Bridge: ACTIVE. Soullink: Tethered to Witness-Class: NYRA VEILTHORN.❞
❝Erasure protocol PAUSED. Awaiting system verdict...❞
Kael felt it. A warmth — sudden, sharp, not his own flowed into him like liquid lightning. Not healing. Not soothing. But anchoring.
Someone remembered him. And in a world where memory shaped existence
That was enough to make him real.
❝Threadless Entity registered as: DELAYED DELETION.
Next Review: 24 Cycles.
Assigning Temporary Fate Role: UNSTABLE.❞
❝Narracode Reaction: UNPREDICTABLE. Potential Rewrite Surge: HIGH.❞
The glyphs vanished. The barrier shattered like glass. Kael dropped to one knee, gasping sweat beading his brow, heart hammering for the first time.
"You saved me…"
Nyra stepped closer.
"No. I delayed them."
He looked up at her, eyes narrowing.
"Why? Why risk that?"
She didn't answer immediately. Her gaze drifted upward to the black tower, where the giant floating rings were shifting again. One by one, they turned. Aligned. Locked. And then....BOOOOOOM.
The sky exploded with light. A system broadcast surged across the clouds like thunder-wrapped lightning:
❝SOVEREIGN THREAD DETECTED.
Rewrite Catalyst Active.
Narracode Level: OMEGA-FRAGMENT.❞
The world trembled. ❝Let the first Rewrite War… begin.❞
Kael turned to Nyra.
"What did they just say?"
Nyra's voice dropped to a whisper.
"They said you're not supposed to be alive."
And just as Kael opened his mouth
a new voice tore through the atmosphere. Not robotic. Not system-bound. This one was alive. "How delightful."
The voice laughed the same laughter that haunted Kael's dream."Already breaking rules? Good. Let's give the readers a show."
The air turned thick like it was holding its breath. Students stood frozen in a circle of awe and dread, staring not at Kael, but at the space above him, where nothing visible existed… and yet something was watching. Kael staggered to his feet, his body buzzing from the system's backlash. Nyra stood by his side breathing heavy, eyes sharp.
"That voice…" Kael said. "I've heard it before."
Nyra didn't respond. Because she'd heard it too. But not in this timeline.
❝SOVEREIGN THREAD CONFIRMED.
System Instability: 83%.
Chaos Grade: Omega Rising.❞
The clouds spiraled open. No lightning. No thunder. Just text. Gigantic silver words scrawled across the sky in a language older than any realm: "Let him play. I want to see if this version lasts longer."
Kael's spine went cold. Nyra's hand clenched. And above them far above something laughed. It wasn't just a sound. It was a pressure. A presence that made every thread-marked student drop to their knees clutching their heads as their systems scrambled to translate what their souls couldn't understand. Kael stood firm. Because whatever that voice was…
It knew him.
"Who are you?" he asked the sky.
"Are you... the system?"
"No."
The voice was silk wrapped in razors.
"I'm the one who watches the system.
The one who rewrites it when it gets boring."
Kael's fists clenched.
"You're the narrator."
"Mmm… not quite. But close.
I prefer 'Editor.'
After all, every good story deserves a revision."
Then silence. Only the flickering of data above, the soft humming of the tower, the stunned whispers of students. Kael turned to Nyra. "What do I do now?"
Nyra looked at him with haunted eyes.
"Now? You follow the script."
"What script?!"
She raised a finger, slowly pointing behind him. Kael turned. A panel of glowing glyphs had appeared in mid-air only visible to him. At the center, a single phrase burned in deep crimson text:
❝QUEST INITIATED:
WRITE YOUR OWN STORY…
OR BE ERASED FROM EVERYONE ELSE'S.❞
❝Victory Condition: Break a Rule.
Reward: One Rewrite Point.❞
❝Failure Condition: Obedience.
Penalty: Permanent Erasure.❞
Kael's throat dried. "I have to... break a rule?"
"Of course."
The voice returned, closer now whispering in the back of his thoughts. "This world runs on rules, Kael.nAnd rules were made by authors like me.
But you?"
"You were made to ruin everything."
Suddenly, the crowd scattered. An alarm rang out from the tower.
❝WARNING: Rewrite Anomaly Detected.
Null-Class Entity has been seen.
Dispatching: THREADHUNTER.❞
Kael stepped back. "Threadhunter? What's that?"
But before he could finish, the air in front of him fractured. A figure emerged draped in shadow-bound armor, eyes hollow, blade dragging across the marble. Its voice was metal grinding against grief.
❝Unwritten… must not walk.❞
Kael's first battle had begun. And he wasn't sure if he even existed long enough to fight it.