RRRRRRR
The tavern quivered, a tremor so subtle it could've been mistaken for a drunk patron stumbling into a table.
It started as a low, ominous hum, barely audible over the clatter of mugs and the raucous laughter of adventurers deep in their cups.
Then came the flicker—lanterns dimming in unison, their enchanted flames stuttering like a lagging video feed.
The ambient mana in the air, a constant undercurrent like faint music in a game's background, hiccupped, sending a prickle of unease down Zephyr's spine.
"Did the lights just blink?" he asked, his voice tinged with a mix of curiosity and dread as he glanced up at the swaying bulbs.
Lyra tensed, her emerald eyes narrowing to slits, her hand tightening around Emberthorn's sapphire shaft.
"Mana surge," she said grimly, her voice low and sharp, cutting through the tavern's din like a warning shot.
"Correction," GlitchWitch interjected, her sprite popping into existence above the table like a corrupted error message, her neon-purple hair flickering erratically.
"Local distortion detected. Probability of spontaneous glitch event: 92%. Buckle up, SparkleBoy."
Zephyr's gaze darted around the room, his pulse quickening. "Is that… common here?"
"Depends," Lyra replied, rising from her chair with the fluid grace of a predator, her staff already humming with latent energy. "Do you count explosive slime-vomit as common?"
CRASH
A mug shattered behind the counter as the bartender fumbled, her single eye wide with alarm.
The ferret in the hooded woman's cloak hissed, its tiny claws scrabbling at the fabric. From the back of the tavern, a grizzled patron began muttering a frantic chant, his voice rising in a desperate refrain: "Not again, not again, please not again."
Then the floor cracked.
Mana erupted from between the cobblestones in jagged, glowing lines, like circuit boards short-circuiting in a blaze of corrupted light.
The tavern walls groaned, a deep, guttural sound that vibrated through Zephyr's bones.
Tables rattled, mugs toppled, and the air itself seemed to pulse with unstable energy, thick and electric.
And then reality ripped.
With a sharp, ear-splitting snap, a tear opened in the center of the room—a jagged hole of glitching pixels, like a loading screen torn apart by a bad render.
Something clawed its way through, its form coalescing from the chaos.
A beast of jagged, glowing code, its fur flickering between neon blue and toxic green, its edges fraying like a poorly optimized model.
Its eyes were square, burning red, and its snout spasmed in and out of existence, snapping with glitched distortion.
"…Are those wolves?" Zephyr asked, his voice cracking as he scrambled to his feet, his heart slamming against his ribs.
"Byte-Wolves," Lyra confirmed, already dropping into a battle stance, her staff raised like a conductor poised to unleash hell.
"System-spawned. Unstable. Aggressive. Don't let them bite—data corruption's not just a warning label; it'll scramble your core faster than you can say 'game over.'"
The lead Byte-Wolf lunged, its glitching maw wide, trailing streams of pixelated static. Lyra moved like lightning, her staff sweeping through the air in a fluid arc.
Emberthorn blazed, its runes igniting with a roar as a firebolt erupted from its tip, slamming into the creature mid-leap with a deafening CRACK.
The wolf yelped, a distorted, digital screech, as chunks of its form exploded outward like shattered polygons, dissolving into the air.
"Your turn, Glitch Boy!" Lyra shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos as she pivoted to face another wolf, her braid whipping behind her.
Zephyr's CosmoCore interface flared to life, its screen flickering wildly on his wrist:
[CHAOS ECHO: Mimic Spell Detected – Firebolt]
Processing…
Loading…
Spelling…
Spilling…
[CASTING COMMENCED]