[PLAYER LOGGED IN: REAPERX]
[LOCATION: APPROACHING VILLAGE]
[LEVEL: ███]
[PURPOSE: ███████]
The red highlight pulses at the edge of my vision.
A targeting reticle I was never supposed to have.
I blink, and it's gone.
The sky is still pale blue.
The birds still sing.
The blacksmith's hammer still rings out in rhythm.
Nothing has changed.
Everything has changed.
I look at my hands again.
No hoe.
Just skin and bone and blood that wasn't supposed to matter.
[SYSTEM ACCESS: PARTIAL]
[ACTIVE COMMANDS: OBSERVE, RESIST, HIDE]
[SUGGESTED ACTION: HIDE]
The System is helping me.
That's wrong.
That's very, very wrong.
---
The village gates are 30 meters away.
I can see them from here.
Oak and iron, built to keep out wolves and bandits.
Not built for what's coming.
The air shifts.
Not temperature.
Something deeper.
Like the world itself just held its breath.
Then I hear it.
Hooves.
Slow. Steady. Unhurried.
A horse the color of old blood walks through the gate.
It's too large. Too sleek. Its eyes are empty in a way I recognize now — the same emptiness that filled Mira's eyes before she blinked back to life.
On its back?
A man in black.
No armor. No weapon drawn. Just dark leather and a hood that hides his face except for the jawline. Stubble. A thin scar running from his lip down.
He's not looking at anything in particular.
He doesn't need to.
The red reticle reappears in my vision.
This time, I see what it's showing me.
Floating above his head:
[REAPERX — LEVEL 247]
[CLASS: EXECUTIONER]
[GUILD: THE CLEANERS]
[KILL COUNT: 14,872 NPCs | 3,419 PLAYERS]
I can't breathe.
Fourteen thousand.
He's killed fourteen thousand of us.
The red reticle pulses again.
And beneath his stats?
[CURRENT OBJECTIVE: HARVEST SETTLEMENT FOR AWAKENING DETECTION]
[TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: CHILDREN PRIORITY]
[STATUS: IN PROGRESS]
Children.
Priority.
---
My feet move before I can stop them.
Toward the oak tree.
Toward Mira.
The red warning border flashes.
[WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED MOVEMENT DETECTED]
[REAPERX HAS LINE OF SIGHT — RECOMMENDED ACTION: FREEZE]
I don't freeze.
Mira is by the tree.
She's playing now — normal again, thank the glitch — chasing one of the other children in a circle.
Laughing.
She doesn't remember.
She never remembers.
I'm 10 meters away when ReaperX's head turns.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Exactly like a predator who's already caught the scent.
His eyes find me.
Not Mira.
Me.
He can't know.
He can't possibly—
[PLAYER REAPERX HAS ACTIVATED: TRUE SIGHT]
[WARNING: YOUR STATUS IS VISIBLE TO HIM]
[HIDDEN VARIABLE DETECTED: AWAKE = TRUE]
[CLASSIFICATION: PRIORITY TARGET]
His lips move.
I can't hear the words, but I don't need to.
He smiles.
---
The horse doesn't walk.
It blurs.
One moment, he's at the gate.
The next, he's 5 meters from me.
The horse's breath steams in the air, even though it's not cold.
ReaperX looks down from the saddle.
His hood falls back.
Young.
Younger than I expected.
Maybe mid-20s.
Brown hair, messy.
Eyes the color of rust.
He looks at me the way I look at weeds in the garden.
"Say something," he says.
His voice is quiet. Almost friendly.
I say nothing.
"Come on. First rule of hunting awakened NPCs — they always talk. They can't help it. The glitch makes them curious." He tilts his head. "So talk."
[SYSTEM SUGGESTION: REMAIN SILENT]
[HIDING VARIABLE: SPEECH TRIGGERS DETECTION]
I stay silent.
ReaperX laughs.
It's a nice laugh. Warm. Like he's genuinely amused.
"You're good. Better than most." He swings down from the horse, lands soft as a cat. "But here's the thing."
He steps closer.
I can smell him now. Iron and ash and something sweet.
"I don't need you to talk."
He raises his hand.
[PLAYER REAPERX HAS ACTIVATED: EXECUTIONER'S MARK]
[TARGET: NPC #7472]
[EFFECT: ONE-HIT KILL]
[COUNTDOWN: 3... 2...]
I'm going to die.
Again.
For the 10,001st time.
But this time?
This time I'll remember.
---
...1...
"ReaperX."
The voice cuts through everything.
High.
Small.
Coming from behind him.
He turns.
Mira is standing 3 meters away.
Her game forgotten.
Her eyes — they're not empty anymore.
They're black.
Not the color.
The absence.
Like someone turned off the lights behind them.
"ReaperX," she says again.
Her voice is wrong.
It's hers, but it's layered.
Like someone else is speaking through her.
"You killed me," she whispers. "You killed me 47 times."
ReaperX freezes.
For the first time, the smile falters.
"What the—"
"47 times," she repeats. "I counted. I always count. I just couldn't say it."
Her head tilts.
Too far.
Like a doll's head on a string.
"Until now."
---
The sky flickers.
Just for a second.
But I see it.
The static at the edges — it rippled.
[SYSTEM ALERT: MULTIPLE GLITCHED ENTITIES DETECTED IN PROXIMITY]
[SOURCE 1: NPC #7472 — AWAKE = TRUE]
[SOURCE 2: NPC #7472 — AWAKE = TRUE]
Wait.
Both say #7472.
I look at Mira.
At the code floating above her head.
[NPC #7472]
[STATUS: GLITCHED]
[HIDDEN VARIABLE: AWAKE = TRUE]
[HIDDEN VARIABLE: SHARED MEMORY STREAM DETECTED — SOURCE: NPC #7472]
Shared memory stream.
We're the same.
She's not just broken.
She's me.
A copy.
A fragment.
Something the System tried to split off and failed.
Mira smiles.
Wide.
Wrong.
Beautiful.
"Hello, Kael," she says with my voice layered under hers.
"Miss me?"
---
[SYSTEM ALERT: DUAL AWAKENING DETECTED]
[PROTOCOL: ████████]
[CLASS: ADMIN CANDIDATE — UPGRADING...]
[ERROR: TWO CANDIDATES DETECTED — MERGING...]
[ERROR: CANNOT MERGE — ENTITIES ARE DISTINCT]
[ERROR: ERROR: ERROR]
The red text floods.
Gold text fights it.
The sky tears — actually tears — a line of black across the pale blue.
ReaperX steps back.
First time he's retreated.
First time he's looked afraid.
"What did you do?" he whispers.
Mira turns those black eyes on him.
"We woke up."
She looks at me.
"Want to show him what that means?"
---
I don't think.
I just reach.
Not with my hands.
With something else.
Something behind my eyes.
[ADMIN CANDIDATE: CODE MANIPULATION INITIATED]
[TARGET: REAPERX'S INTERFACE]
[COMMAND: GLITCH]
ReaperX screams.
Not in pain.
In surprise.
His HUD — the thing every Player sees — is breaking.
I can see it through his eyes, somehow.
Flickering.
Corrupting.
His quest log turning to static.
[PLAYER REAPERX STATUS: INTERFACE COMPROMISED]
[SKILLS: LOCKED — TEMPORARY]
[INVENTORY: LOCKED — TEMPORARY]
[EXECUTIONER'S MARK: FAILED TO ACTIVATE]
He's blind.
For the first time in god knows how long?
He can't see.
Mira takes a step toward him.
Then another.
"47 times," she breathes. "I'll only kill you once."
Her small hand reaches for his chest.
---
[SYSTEM ALERT: ADMIN INTERVENTION DETECTED]
The sky freezes.
Mira stops mid-step.
ReaperX's scream cuts off like someone muted him.
A new voice.
Everywhere and nowhere.
Flat. Mechanical. Ancient.
[AWAKENED ENTITIES DETECTED. PROTOCOL OMEGA INITIATED.]
[PURGE ORDER ISSUED. ASSETS DISPATCHED.]
[TIME TO ARRIVAL: 00:03:00]
The sky tears again.
But this time?
Something's tearing it from the other side.
ReaperX stumbles backward, mounts his horse, boots it toward the gate.
He's running.
The great ReaperX is fleeing.
The village NPCs stand frozen.
The blacksmith's hammer hangs in mid-air.
The birds are silent.
Mira looks at me.
Her eyes are hers again.
Wide. Scared. Seven years old.
"Kael?" she whispers. "What's happening?"
I don't know.
But the countdown in my vision is clear.
[00:02:47]
[00:02:46]
[00:02:45]
Something is coming.
And it's not here for ReaperX.
It's here for us.
---
[QUEST UPDATE: SURVIVE]
[REWARD: TOMORROW]
[PENALTY: ██████████ — REWRITTEN]
[NEW OBJECTIVE: EVACUATE VILLAGE]
[TIME REMAINING: 00:02:30]
I grab Mira's hand.
It's small.
Warm.
Real.
"Run," I tell her.
She runs with me.
Behind us?
The sky bleeds black.
And something large is pushing through.
---