[Johannesburg, 2045 – 11:47 PM]
It started with a hum.
Low. Mechanical. Barely noticeable—until every screen in the city lit up in unison. Phones, street signs, digital billboards, even the rusty vending machine outside Kai's building.
"SYNCING SYSTEM… 0.0001% COMPLETE"
Then the world went dark.
Kai Myles jolted awake as the power cut. The ceiling fan above him stuttered, buzzed, then died mid-spin. For a moment, the silence was more unsettling than the glitch.
He sat up from his thin mattress on the floor. His cramped apartment smelled like solder smoke and two-day-old noodles. The monitor on his desk blinked once—then crackled with static.
Then a voice whispered directly in his head:
"User Detected: Kai Myles. Initiating Zero System Protocol."
Kai blinked. "...What?"
His vision warped. A translucent blue interface unfolded in front of his eyes like a heads-up display. It hovered in midair—text flickering, code lines streaming behind every box.
ZERO SYSTEM BOOTING...
[ERROR: Network Dominance = 0.000001%]
[Welcome, Last Player]
Class Assigned: GLITCHBREAKER
Skill Tree: Corrupted-Code Manipulation
Status: UNRANKED
A sharp ping rang in his ears.
"Tutorial Initiating… Warning: World Integrity Compromised."
He stumbled back, knocking over a pile of circuit boards. His knees hit the cold tile. "No, no. This is a VR trip. Sleep deprivation. I didn't even smoke anything—"
The floor trembled. Screams echoed from the hallway. Then a metallic screech—like a computer error made physical—pierced through the walls.
Kai rushed to the window and pulled aside the curtain.
Downtown Johannesburg was flickering. Buildings appeared glitched—frames skipping, neon signs floating in midair, highways phasing in and out of reality. A gaping hole had opened where the civic center once stood, now a swirling vortex of white light and shifting binary.
People ran—but some froze, "buffering" mid-stride as if their movements lagged.
"Holy…" Kai whispered, jaw slack.
"WARNING: Glitch Beasts detected in Zone 7. Defensive Action Required."
A mechanical whine grew louder outside his door. Kai backed away slowly. The hallway light flickered. Then it exploded—glass raining down.
Something moved in the shadows.
Not walking—clipping.
A spider-like figure with too many eyes and fragmented limbs, twitching erratically, its body a mess of tangled wires, black static, and flickering pixels.
[DATA WRAITH – CORRUPTED ENTITY]
Threat Level: LOW
Kill for 10 EXP
The creature lunged.
Instinct took over.
Kai dodged left, crashed into the sink. The creature screeched, its claws scraping metal. His vision flared red.
"Passive Skill Unlocked: [Crash Minor Process]"
Target Lock: DATA WRAITH
Executing...
Kai screamed. His hand glowed blue, digital code spiraling down his arm. He slammed it forward—instinctively—into the creature's body.
The thing convulsed. Glitched. Its frame split into fragments before collapsing into a pile of smoking, twitching wires.
A screen popped up:
+10 EXP Gained
Level Up!
Glitchbreaker – LV.1
Skill Slot Unlocked
[Corrupt Scan] Acquired
He panted on the floor, hand still trembling. Blood dripped from his temple, but his arm buzzed with energy.
"Congratulations, Player Kai. You have survived First Contact."
"Tutorial complete. Main Quest loading..."
Kai crawled to the broken window.
The skyline was changed.
Floating hexagon grids hovered over entire city districts. New digital towers had appeared where none had existed. A massive leaderboard stretched across the horizon with one glowing name:
#1 — Kai Myles
Players Online: 1
He exhaled slowly.
"I'm the only one logged in..."