The entire canyon shook as the fragments of the light storm descended.Thousands of luminous streaks fell from the sky like shards of glass refracting a divine spectrum, each beam precise and merciless. The rain of radiance struck the sneaking players who had surrounded Alstar and Alexandrite moments earlier—men and women clad in tactical data-armor, their avatars glowing faintly with health bars that now collapsed with every impact.
Screams tore through the simulated air.
"Impossible—he's—" one player shouted, but his voice was cut off as a bolt of golden light drilled through his forehead. His form flickered, broke apart into thousands of glowing polygons, and scattered like fireflies into the void.
Another tried to shield himself with a virtual barrier, but the arrows penetrated it like paper. The system didn't even have time to register a damage counter before his avatar's body was reduced to digital dust.
In seconds, the battlefield became a blizzard of light and data.
Alstar's [Aurora Shower] filled every corner of the canyon, bathing the rocks and scattered debris in pale illumination. The attack was relentless, sustained by his will alone. His bow, Brightsparrow, gleamed in his hands like a living constellation, threads of luminescent energy coiling around his forearms and reflecting in his eyes. He didn't breathe. He didn't blink. He simply held his aim, like a statue carved from light itself.
When the final arrow fell, silence followed.The canyon that had moments before been a chaos of screams and movement now lay still, shrouded in mist.
Then came a deep, resonant hiss.
The python.
The monstrous data-beast, large enough to swallow a bus, raised its head sluggishly. Its scaled body, patterned with digital code symbols that flickered across its length, was riddled with holes that glowed faintly from within. The [Aurora Shower] had ripped through it like meteors through atmosphere. Segments of its body were breaking apart, pixels evaporating into the air.
The python lunged one last time, jaws wide, fangs gleaming, but its motion was slow—clumsy, dying. Alstar lifted Brightsparrow effortlessly, drew the string with two fingers, and released a single arrow.
A whisper of light crossed the canyon.The arrow pierced the python's skull cleanly.
The creature froze mid-air, then convulsed. Its entire form glitched—static lines crawling through it—and then disintegrated. Its massive frame turned into luminous fragments that shot upward, dissolving into the atmosphere like embers.
Alstar lowered his arm, exhaled slowly, and let Brightsparrow fade away. The bow vanished in a shimmer of particles, its afterglow reflecting faintly in his orange-yellow eyes.
Behind him, on a stone ledge, Alexandrite sat with her legs drawn close, panting from exhaustion. Her hands, surrounded by faint yellow ember light, continued to heal a deep cut along her thigh. She looked up as Alstar approached.
"Looks like we've got the water source," he said, glancing toward the small spring behind the python's former nest—its surface shimmering with iridescent ripples.
"Yes," she replied, pushing a strand of hair from her face. "And if you don't mind, take me to the water, my leg is injured!"
Her tone was half demand, half plea.
Alstar blinked once, then—without hesitation—stepped forward and picked her up again. His arms slid under her knees and back in a practiced motion, lifting her effortlessly.
Alexandrite let out an involuntary gasp. "Again!?"
Her voice echoed across the canyon, making a few surviving data-birds in the virtual sky scatter. Her cheeks turned crimson, but Alstar only replied with a faint smile. "You said it yourself."
He carried her across the jagged terrain to the river that wound its way down from the cliffs. It was no ordinary river; the water here gleamed faintly with data-light, small lines of code streaming beneath the surface like fish made of symbols. The liquid shimmered with hues of turquoise and gold, reflecting the artificial sun above.
He set her down gently on a flat rock near the riverbank.
"There. Don't move too much," he said simply, then turned away, scanning the surroundings. The remnants of the digital battlefield still glowed faintly in the distance. Even though it was all a virtual projection, the fatigue in his body felt real. The pain from his shoulder wounds, the adrenaline, even the smell of heated stone—it was all rendered with unnerving accuracy.
Alexandrite, now seated by the river, slipped off her boots and dipped her legs into the glowing current. The artificial water rippled softly, cleaning the wounds and cooling her skin. She sighed, relief flooding through her body.
Alstar climbed up a nearby cliff and sat down, his silhouette outlined against the holographic sunset. He rested one arm on his knee, staring toward the horizon. From this height, he could see the vast stretches of the canyon's digital landscape — the luminous rivers, the shifting terrain textures, the distant polygons that simulated mountains. It was beautiful, but in that beauty was something deeply wrong.
He spoke, his voice carrying softly through the simulated air."How did this virtual world invade reality?"
Alexandrite froze mid-motion, her fingers brushing through the water. The question lingered in the air like an echo.
"I don't know!" she called back. "I just came to this world not long ago either!"
Her tone was honest, confused. There was no deception in it — only the bewilderment of someone who had been thrown into something far beyond her understanding.
Alstar's eyes narrowed slightly, reflecting the light from the horizon. "Is that so?"
He let the silence stretch between them. The digital river gurgled softly below, and the faint hum of the world's background code filled the silence like a heartbeat.
Then he spoke again, voice low but sharp."Then it's not strange that Gamma power exists inside you."
The sentence cut through the quiet like a blade through silk.
For a second, Alexandrite didn't understand. The words didn't register — or rather, her mind refused to accept them. Her hand, mid-motion, froze.
Then her body reacted before her thoughts caught up.Her shoulders stiffened. The color drained from her face. Her heart thudded once, hard.
Her eyes widened, reflecting both the glowing river and the faint outline of Alstar's back against the sunset. "What!"
The single word burst from her lips, sharp, shocked, trembling.
She turned around instantly, splashing water as she moved. Her long hair clung to her back, droplets of shimmering data-light sliding down her skin like liquid glass. Her lips parted, but no more words came. Her mind raced.
Gamma power? Inside me? How could he—no. That's impossible. I haven't used it. I've never even—
But even as she tried to deny it inwardly, a faint flicker of light shimmered beneath her skin — a brief pulse of yellow energy, so subtle it could almost be mistaken for the river's reflection.
Alstar didn't turn around. He didn't need to. His silence was louder than accusation, heavier than any spoken word.
He sat there, unmoving, staring at the horizon as though lost in thought — but every line of his body radiated quiet certainty.
Alexandrite's heart pounded harder. She gritted her teeth, trying to steady her voice, but the tremor wouldn't stop. The edges of her vision blurred slightly.
"I'm… obviously not using it!" she muttered under her breath, half to herself, half to him — as though saying it aloud could make it true.
But Alstar's silence remained, unbroken, unyielding.
She clenched her fists, staring at the back of his head, her mind spiraling between denial and fear, between confusion and a strange pull toward the truth she didn't want to admit.
The simulated wind blew across the canyon, carrying with it the faint hum of corrupted data.
The world around them seemed to pause — caught between the artificial and the real, between light and shadow.
And in that suspended silence, Alexandrite's own pulse of Gamma energy flickered once more beneath her skin… undeniable and luminous.