The beacon pulsed like a dying star, its fractured core radiating weak pulses of energy that seemed to reach into Kael's very soul. He felt the pull in the marrow of his bones—a strange mixture of raw data and faint echoes of something alive, something that defied logic.
Arin stood opposite him, her silhouette bathed in the flickering light of the damaged tower. Her fingers traced cryptic sigils, not of ancient magic but something in-between—strange system code manifesting as glowing runes.
"Place your hand here," she instructed quietly, indicating a cracked panel sparking with remnants of corrupted data. "It'll try to read your soul."
Kael looked at her, brows furrowed. "And what if I don't have one?"
"You do," she replied softly, eyes fixed on the glowing symbols. "It's just... broken."
Her words felt like a hollow reassurance.
He hesitated, then extended his palm to the icy surface.
[Initiating Dual Interface...]
[Verifying Soul Signatures...]
[ERROR – Incomplete Soulcore Detected]
[Override by Adjunct-Class User: Arin Nyx – VALID]
[WARNING: Node Compromise Detected – Code Layer Instability Present]
[Proceed with Forced Re-initialization?]
→ [Y/N]
Kael and Arin exchanged glances.
"Together," she said firmly.
He nodded.
"On three."
"One—"
"Two—"
"Three."
They confirmed the override.
The world screamed.
A shockwave of non-sound exploded outward, as if the very fabric of reality was compressed and stretched in an instant. Kael's vision blurred, the edges of his mind fraying like corrupted code.
Fragments of a hidden truth cascaded down his inner eye—images and sounds he was never meant to witness.
He saw cities shattered by an unseen force, sprawling in ruins under skies of dark data storms.
Players screamed as their UIs flickered and disintegrated mid-battle, trapped in loops of broken scripts.
Avatars writhed inside black voids of error code—imprisoned in failed patches of a world still under construction.
And then, amid the chaos, he saw himself.
But this Kael was different—clearer, sharper.
He stood in a fractured ring of glowing glyphs, surrounded by radiant but corrupted angels made of light and script.
A voice echoed in his mind:
[Synchronization Event Triggered.]
[Class Path Option Unlocked: Fragmented Nullwalker]
[WARNING: Path is unstable. Traits may mutate unexpectedly.]
[Class Creation Node: Glitched Access – Tier-0 Clearance Bypassed]
You are no longer bound to standard class templates.
Your soul is forming its own language.
Choose: Inherit a Broken Path... or Forge a New One.
Kael found himself in the Choice Realm, a space that felt like neither real nor virtual, but somewhere twisted in between.
Here, he was both himself and a version coded into existence by the broken system.
Before him floated two options, shimmering like mirages in the data haze.
Option 1: Fragmented Nullwalker
An unstable remnant of a traveler lost between death and data. Gains access to Voidspace traversal, temporary invulnerability, and Reality Breach effects. But risks total soul destabilization upon level-ups or damage.
Traits:
Echo Drift (Passive): Chance to phase through physical attacks.
Fracture Pulse (Active): Erupt unstable data zones to stun enemies.
Fragment Storage: Store "echoes" of enemies for limited use.
Warning: No known path to Ascension. Corruption likelihood: 72%.
Option 2: Custom Path – Write-In Permission Granted
Your soul has no defined architecture. Create your own Pathway using system fragments, echo traits, and soul-derived logic. Progression is undefined. No support. No guides.
Warning: You may break. You may vanish. Or you may become something the system can't control.
Kael stared, feeling the weight of the choice.
The first was chaos given structure—unstable but known.
The second was raw freedom, dangerous and uncharted.
He clenched his fists.
The old Kael would have picked the first. Safer. Predictable. Even if volatile.
But that Kael was gone.
Burned out in the crash, shattered alongside the world.
This Kael wanted something else.
He whispered, "I'm tired of following paths made for others."
[Custom Path Selected.]
[Initializing: Class Forge Mode...]
[Scanning: Soul Fragments...]
[Input Trait: Echo Step]
[Input Trait: Patch Drain]
[Input Trait: Combat Instinct]
[New Path Created: Echo Reclaimer]
A soul that reclaims broken echoes, forgotten code, and lost light. Specializes in adaptive combat, soul-thread manipulation, and fragment evolution.
[Starter Skills:]
– Echo Step (Lv. 1): Brief teleport through sound waves.
– Patch Drain (Lv. 1): Absorb corrupted code from enemies to regain stamina.
– Thread Recall (NEW): Pull latent echoes from fallen enemies to craft temporary skills or weapons.
Passive:
– Soulbind: Echo Anchor: First enemy slain binds part of their essence to you, evolving your traits based on their emotional state at death.
[Class Unlocked: Echo Reclaimer]
[Soul Stability Increased: 17% → 31%]
[Stat Points Earned: +4]
[Level Up! Level 3 → Level 5]
[Achievement Unlocked: Pathbreaker]
Forge your own Class without system blueprints.
Kael collapsed to his knees, overwhelmed by the surge of new power—and new responsibility.
His soul, once shattered, now sang with a faint but steady rhythm.
Chaos was no longer a curse. It was his weapon.
Arin knelt beside him, her hand resting lightly on her blade.
Her eyes shimmered with a mixture of curiosity and concern.
"You chose your own path," she said quietly.
"Was there another option?"
"There always is," she replied. "But most people don't survive the free ones."
Kael smiled faintly, despite the pounding headache.
"You've done it before?"
She looked away, her voice barely audible. "No. I followed what was given."
Her arm flickered with corrupted code, the shimmer of lost potential still lingering in her blade.
She hadn't forged her own path.
She had survived one.
But not without scars.
The beacon's light pulsed again, dim but steady—awakened, alive.
Something had noticed.
[ALERT: CODE ENTITY DETECTED – CLASS UNKNOWN]
[Designation: Auditor]
[Location: Approaching. Estimated arrival: 02:39]
Kael's UI flickered, warning flashing in his vision.
"What's an Auditor?" he asked, heart pounding.
Arin paled.
"They're not enemies," she said. "Not bosses. They're system janitors."
"And?"
"They don't clean with brooms. They clean with erasure. You rewrote part of the world. Now the system sends something to judge if you were allowed to."
"Am I?"
"No."
Kael smirked.
"Perfect."
They had less than three minutes.
Arin opened a portable rift, a Hide Node she had pre-programmed—a pocket of shadow where the code couldn't reach.
Kael worked quickly, binding the beacon's data stream to his new Echo Anchor, feeling the tether of silver-blue light curl between his soul and the fractured tower.
The beacon hummed faintly, responsive.
[Subnode Bound: Echo Reclaimer / Beacon Alpha-07]
[Fast Travel Unlocked: 1/10 Nodes]
[Beacon Reputation: 0 (Unknown)]
Arin's voice cut through the tension.
"Who the hell are you?"
Kael flexed his fingers, feeling the stirrings of Thread Recall forming in his palm.
"Someone tired of playing by the rules."
The sound of approaching footsteps echoed in the shattered corridors—a slow, methodical rhythm that made Kael's blood run cold.
He gripped the echo energy forming in his hand, ready.
The Auditor arrived.
It wasn't a beast or a warrior, but a shifting mass of light and code—a judge sent to erase anomalies.
Its voice was a thousand whispers layered into one, cold and merciless.
"Subject Kael: unauthorized class creation detected."
"Assessment: threat level critical."
"Proceeding with elimination protocol."
Kael didn't hesitate.
He Echo-Stepped behind the Auditor, striking with a pulse of Patch Drain that siphoned corrupted energy.
The Auditor hissed, its form flickering.
Kael's heart hammered.
He was alive.
He was a force.
And this was only the beginning.
Kael's heartbeat echoed louder than the cold voice of the Auditor as the flickering mass of code shifted in front of him. The being's form was unstable — like corrupted data struggling to maintain shape — but its presence was undeniable, a manifestation of the system's will to maintain order.
"Subject Kael," the Auditor intoned, voice layered with dozens of discordant whispers. "Your existence is a breach. Unauthorized class creation is forbidden. Your anomaly corrupts the integrity of the system."
Kael's grip tightened on the gathering energy in his palm. His new class — the Echo Reclaimer — was no accident. It was rebellion forged from broken code. The system wanted him erased.
"Well," Kael said, voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through him, "I'm no one's bug to squash."
The Auditor's form expanded, fragments of code splintering off like shards of glass. "Objection recorded. Commencing termination protocol."
Before Kael could react, a wave of blinding light exploded outward — the Auditor's first attack — attempting to overwrite Kael's corrupted soul with system "patch" code.
But Kael was ready.
He Echo-Stepped backward, teleporting through a ripple of sound that left behind only the faintest distortion. His body reappeared behind the Auditor — a ghost woven from echoes and broken fragments.
His hand ignited with a strange energy — part light, part glitch. He thrust forward, releasing Patch Drain, siphoning corrupted energy from the Auditor.
The Auditor faltered, its form flickering erratically. "Error detected. Unregistered energy source."
Kael smiled. "Exactly."
The battle was unlike any Kael had imagined. The Auditor moved with surgical precision, its attacks designed not just to damage but to rewrite, to erase Kael's very essence.
But Kael fought with instincts born of brokenness. Every strike, every dodge was a weave of raw soul energy and fragmented data — unpredictable, chaotic, and powerful.
Thread Recall pulsed in his mind — the ability to pull echoes from fallen enemies, crafting skills and weapons from their essence.
Kael's gaze flicked to the shattered beacon tower behind him. It was more than a source of power — it was a repository of forgotten fragments, lost code waiting to be reclaimed.
He lunged toward the tower, weaving through the Auditor's attacks, and slashed at a glowing shard embedded in the rubble.
The shard shattered, releasing a burst of pure data into Kael's soul — cold, yet alive. His power surged, the Echo Anchor glowing brighter, tethering him tighter to the corrupted world.
"Subject Kael," the Auditor hissed, regaining composure. "Final protocol activated."
A vortex of light and code materialized around it, a massive sphere of pure system energy designed to overwrite everything it touched.
Kael's vision blurred. The air thickened with static.
He gritted his teeth. This was the moment of truth.
He called on Echo Step — teleporting through the vibrating sound waves of the battlefield — then Thread Recall — pulling from the echoes he had gathered during the fight — and forged a weapon: a blade made of shimmering, shifting fragments of code and soul light.
With a roar, he charged the Auditor, striking through the vortex with the newly formed weapon.
The Auditor's form fractured violently, but it did not collapse.
"System breach... must... eliminate..."
Its whispers turned to screams as the Auditor unleashed a final burst of energy — a wave of purifying light meant to erase Kael from existence.
But Kael's soul was no longer fragile.
The corrupted fragments within him resisted the purge, absorbing the wave's energy and converting it into raw power.
He held the pulse, channeling it through the Echo Anchor, and released a counter-wave — a surge of reclaimed echoes that shattered the Auditor's form into digital dust.
Breathing heavily, Kael collapsed against the cold floor, the echo of battle still ringing in his ears.
Arin rushed to his side, eyes wide with shock and awe. "You did it..." she whispered.
Kael managed a weak smile. "We did it. Together."
But even as the system tried to erase him, something deeper had awoken within Kael — a force beyond code and soul, a power that might change everything.
The beacon pulsed once more, steady and alive.
The war for this broken world had only just begun.