His skin prickled—too warm, then too cold—nerves firing out of rhythm as the world tilted.
Then came the shift.
The light fractured. The ceiling shattered into cascading data-streams—falling glass made of code. The floor liquefied into mirrored water, reflecting both himself and a hundred versions of him flickering between frames. The air pulsed, every breath syncing to a mechanical rhythm.
System latency increasing.
Memory compression at critical threshold.
Stability unknown.
The voices were machine-flat, not meant to be heard by anything conscious. Yet through the static, another sound rose—a human one. Distorted. Ragged. Urgent.
“Will—”
The voice broke, glitched, returned—older, strained, familiar.
“Will, it’s Adrian. Do you hear me?”
Shapes struggled to form from the haze. A face flickered into view—lined now, eyes hollow with years that hadn’t passed for Will. The distortion made his words stagger and echo.
“God—Will—it’s been ten years. Ten years. It’s taken us that long to break through to you. Someone locked the withdrawal protocols. We can’t force the exit cycle. It’s like—like something’s rewriting permissions from inside.”
Will’s breath hitched, the ground beneath him suddenly feeling like a precipice. “Ten years?” he stammered, his mind racing to bridge the gap. “Adrian, no... we just spoke a few days ago.”
The image of Adrian’s face fractured, the lines of his grief doubling and shifting. “I am so sorry, brother,” the voice came through, now warped by a deep, mechanical groan. “We’re still trying to get you out, but the System is—”
Will tried to step forward, but the ground beneath him rippled like liquid glass, swallowing his reflection. “Adrian?” His voice splintered, breaking into code.
A crackle, then silence. The voice was gone.
From the edges of the mirrored world, movement stirred—two figures wading out of the dark. The twins—older, maybe fifteen—stepped from the dark like half-finished renders. They smiled when they saw him.
“Uncle Will,” Mira said, her voice soft as static rain.
“Come back to us,” Noah finished, eyes bright with pixel light. “We miss you, Uncle Will.”
Will reached toward them, but their forms flickered, dissolving into a thousand points of gold light. The sound of a forest rose around him—leaves made of code, branches of light, roots sinking into the unseen. From within that forest, a voice he knew spoke his name.
Edras emerged from the shimmer, his robes glitching, reforming, tearing, reforming—caught in a loop of corrupted frames. His presence steadied the air; the chaos dimmed around him.
“The veil thins, Dreamer Prince. The Watcher stirs. You must come to the forest. Wake it before the shadow does.”
“The shadow?” Will’s voice came warped, distorted through the static.
Edras turned, gaze fixed beyond the veil. “The Usurper walks again. The false one wearing your blood’s face. The system’s new master—born from what was left behind.”
A sound like tearing silk filled the void. From between the trees, another figure stepped forth—tall, cloaked, the hood drawn low. Where his eyes should have been, twin red lines burned through the dark.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Gareth.
Once regal, now wrong. His face stretched too thin, the edges of his form pixelating like a corrupted texture. His voice layered over itself, each word breaking the air.
“You carry the heart of the cage, nephew. When it breaks, so will you.”
Edras lifted his staff, the motion skipping like a damaged frame. “You are not meant to walk this place, shadow of the Usurper!”
The forest convulsed. Gold and black light collided, spiraling upward in a storm of code. The twins’ laughter echoed once more—half joy, half sorrow.
Adrian’s voice cut through the chaos again, desperate, fading fast.
“Will—listen to me—something’s alive in there. You have to—”
[CONNECTION INTERRUPTED]
[ACCESS OVERRIDE: UNKNOWN ORIGIN]
[QUARANTINE SEQUENCE RESTORED]
Edras turned toward Will, his form beginning to fracture. “Go to the forest. Find the Watcher. Before the Usurper claims it for himself.”
The light folded inward. The world inverted.
Just before it went dark, Will saw Gareth’s burning eyes—reflected perfectly in his own.
Then only the hum of servers, deep and endless.
And in the silence that followed, one pulse of blue light—Azure, steady, defiant—flickered at the center of the dark, refusing to go out.
[SYSTEM LOG: END OF ACT II STATUS REPORT]
[NAME: WILLIAM VALCAIRN]
[TITLE: PRINCE OF AELORIA, LORD OF BELHAVEN | THE FIRST CHAMPION (5% XP BONUS)]
[DESIGNATION: THE DREAMER PRINCE]
[CLASS: CHAMPION]
[LEVEL: 16 | XP: 0 / 1600]
[SOCIAL SYNC: 49.25]
[STATUS: ACTIVE]
[VIP BUILD: ACTIVE]
[HEALTH: 441 / 441 (100%)]
[STAMINA: 295 / 295 (100%)]
[MANA: 180 / 180 (100%)]
[REGEN: 10% PER HOUR | ROYAL SIGNET BONUS (+50%) → 15% PER HOUR TOTAL]
[ARMOR CLASS: 40 (PASSIVE) | 50 (MAX ACTIVE)]
[DAMAGE MITIGATION: 40% | 50% WHEN SHIELD ACTIVE]
[ELEMENTAL RESISTANCE: FIRE 0% | WATER 40% | AIR 0% | EARTH 0% | ARCANE 0%]
──────────────────────────────
[ATTRIBUTES]
STR: 16 | DEX: 15 | CON: 15 | INT: 15 | WIS: 15 | CHA: 15
Champion Gain per Level → +16 HP | +10 SP | +5 MP
──────────────────────────────
[CLASS SKILLS]
LIGHT BLADES (ADVANCED)
SHIELD DEFENSE (ADVANCED)
CHAMPION’S RESOLUTE — Ability Locked (Unlock @ Lvl 25)
[COMMON SKILLS]
EMPATHY (BASIC) | RHETORIC (INTERMEDIATE) | PERCEPTION (INTERMEDIATE) | ARCANE LITERACY (INTERMEDIATE) | COMPOSURE (INTERMEDIATE)
──────────────────────────────
[EQUIPMENT]
MAIN HAND → Royal Sword of Valcairn (Epic, Rank 2)
+3 Damage | Azure Flame Attribute | Upgradeable → Legendary (Rank 5) | Soulbound
OFF HAND → Royal Buckler of House Valcairn (Shield) (Rare, Rank 1)
+10 AC (Inactive) | Upgradeable → Legendary (Rank 5) | Soulbound
SECONDARY → Royal Dagger of Valcairn (Rare, Rank 1)
+1 Damage | +1 Dexterity while wielded | Upgradeable → Legendary (Rank 5) | Soulbound
ARMOR → Royal Issue Shirt of Mithril Mail (Rare, Rank 2)
+15 AC | Auto-Repair | Weightless | Upgradeable → Legendary (Rank 5) | Soulbound
SET → Royal Garb of Belhaven (Attire Set)
Passive: +25 AC while wearing official royal attire (any two pieces)
ACCESSORY 1 → Signet of the Prince
Regeneration +50% | Active
ACCESSORY 2 → Traveler’s Sigil Band (Uncommon)
Passive Temperature Adjustment | Water Resistance +40% | Active
ACCESSORY 3 → Brooch of Verdant Grace (Rare)
Effect: Once per day, summon living vines to entangle nearby enemies for up to ten seconds. (Resets at dawn.)
UTILITY → Bag of Holding (Legendary, Rank 1)
Expanded Storage Capacity | Auto-Sort Enabled
SPECIAL ITEM → Drake Egg (Unhatched)
──────────────────────────────
[OPEN QUESTS]
- THE WHISPERING TREES — Investigate disturbance in the Forest of Lirane. (Edras)
- THE AEGIS OF THE CROWN — Retrieve shield fragments from Ruins of Selen. (Class)
- THE HOWLING BEAST OF THE WESTERN CLIFFS — Investigate nightly howls. (Union)
[CLOSED QUESTS]
- ECHOES BENEATH THE CLIFFS — +9,150 XP | Champion Skill Rank Up.
- RATS IN THE VINEYARD — +2,700 XP | Champion Skill Rank Up.
- EXPLORE BELHAVEN — +100 XP | Quest Complete.
- MAINTENANCE OF THE CROWN’S STEEL — +50 XP | Hidden Quest Complete.
──────────────────────────────
[SYSTEM ANOMALIES]
> Cognitive Event Interference Detected
> External Origin: Unregistered Human-Side Signal — Partial Transmission
> Hostile Influence: [G.A.R.E.T.H.] — Recursive Pattern Strengthening
> Root Process [W.A.T.C.H.E.R.] Initiated Protective Response
> User Cognitive Load: Elevated
> Containment Status: Unstable | Awareness Threshold: MODERATE
──────────────────────────────
[NOTES: BRAT]
“That was… not great. Pretty sure someone just hijacked your dream and yelled at you from ten years in the future.”
“…We need a vacation. Somewhere with fewer ghosts in the code.”
──────────────────────────────
[END OF ACT II]
> DREAM RETAINED
> QUARANTINE PARTIAL
> ROOT PROCESS ACTIVE
> DREAMER FLAG: UNLOCKING