The ruins were silent now.
Only the faint hum of the patched server pylon kept the world from unraveling completely.
I staggered to my feet, wincing at the sharp pain in my ribs.
My Patch Tool buzzed weakly, still faintly glowing from the Final Rewrite.
The System-Breaker was gone — dissolved into corrupted fragments, leaving only the echoes of its destruction behind.
> [STABILITY ZONE: 72% — TEMPORARY HOLD.]
Temporary.
The word echoed in my mind like a curse.
I had stopped the immediate collapse, yes — but not fixed the world.
Not truly.
And now, a new threat had appeared.
> [NEW ERROR DETECTED: SECTOR 02 - BLACK GATE ANOMALY.]
[SEVERITY: UNKNOWN.]
[RECOMMENDED ACTION: INVESTIGATE IMMEDIATELY.]
---
The notification pulsed urgently at the edge of my HUD.
Reluctantly, I turned away from the battered plaza and headed toward the largest fissure — a massive crack in the ground left by the System-Breaker's rampage.
A swirling mass of black static pulsed deep within it, barely visible through the layers of broken code.
It didn't feel like any normal corruption.
It felt hungry.
Alive.
---
I checked my systems one last time.
> [PATCH TOOL: 38% INTEGRITY.]
[OVERRIDE CHAINS: 0 REMAINING.]
[FIELD REWRITE: COOLDOWN — 8 MINUTES.]
[ENERGY: LOW.]
Not good.
If something worse was waiting for me, I was going in half-blind and half-broken.
Still…
I couldn't just walk away.
I clipped the Patch Tool back to my belt and jumped down into the fissure.
---
The descent was dizzying.
Broken code vines hung from the walls, sparking weakly.
Chunks of floating debris drifted aimlessly, caught between half-loaded gravity fields.
The deeper I went, the colder it got.
The system hum — usually a comforting background noise — distorted into a low, predatory rumble.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I landed on a solid fragment of ground.
Ahead of me stood a massive archway, formed entirely of black, shifting code.
It loomed impossibly tall, scraping against the fractured sky overhead.
And in its center: a swirling vortex of absolute darkness.
---
> [BLACK GATE DETECTED.]
[STATUS: SEALED — FRACTURED.]
[WARNING: ENTITY PRESENCE DETECTED BEYOND THRESHOLD.]
Entity?
What kind of entity?
As if answering my unspoken question, the air in front of the Gate shimmered —
and a figure materialized.
At first, I thought it was another glitch — a malformed NPC or a leftover corruption.
But no.
This figure was clean.
Sharp-edged.
Real.
A human-like silhouette, cloaked in deep blue, with a mask covering their face.
They stood between me and the Black Gate, one hand resting on a curved weapon — something like a scythe fused with coding threads.
And somehow, without speaking, I knew:
They were the Gate's Warden.
---
The Warden's voice echoed directly into my mind.
"Patcher 117," it said, cold and formal.
"You have delayed the Collapse, but the Root Corruption remains.
The Black Gate hungers.
Will you proceed, knowing the price?"
I hesitated.
What price?
I wasn't exactly given a choice when I was first forced into this mess.
Was there ever truly a way out?
I stepped forward, tightening my grip on the Patch Tool.
"I'll proceed," I said simply.
Because what else could I do?
---
The Warden tilted its head slightly, as if amused.
Without another word, it stepped aside — revealing the Black Gate fully.
At that moment, a pulse of pure darkness surged outward from the vortex, slamming into me like a tidal wave.
My vision blurred.
My systems screamed warnings.
> [CORRUPTION LEVEL: RISING.]
[INTEGRITY: COMPROMISED.]
I stumbled backward, barely staying on my feet.
The Black Gate was trying to consume everything — including me.
The Warden spoke again:
"To enter, you must offer stability.
Sacrifice a fragment of yourself to anchor the Gate."
---
A menu opened in front of me, unbidden.
[OFFER A FRAGMENT:]
[System Access Speed -20%]
[Memory Retention -15%]
[Skill Precision -10%]
Choose one.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips.
No matter what, I was going to lose something important.
Welcome to saving the world, I guess.
Gritting my teeth, I selected Memory Retention -15%.
Better to lose fragments of memory than slow my system access during combat — or worse, weaken my precision in the middle of a critical fight.
The system acknowledged.
> [OFFER ACCEPTED.]
[ANCHORING BLACK GATE...]
Pain lanced through my mind — a sudden tearing sensation, like pieces of my past were being shredded.
I saw brief images:
Faces I couldn't name.
Places I couldn't recall.
Moments slipping away like sand through fingers.
And then it was over.
The Black Gate stabilized, its swirling darkness becoming less chaotic, almost inviting.
---
The Warden bowed its head slightly.
"The path opens, Patcher.
Beyond lies the heart of the corruption —
and answers you are not yet ready to face."
I didn't respond.
Words felt meaningless now.
I simply stepped forward —
and passed through the Black Gate.
---
The world dissolved into nothingness.
And the true nightmare began.