I didn't have long to rest.
The world, though momentarily calm, still buzzed with instability under my feet.
Faint tremors rolled through the cracked stone as the system tried — and mostly failed — to stitch itself back together.
Above me, glitch-clouds swirled into new, unstable formations.
> [NEW OBJECTIVE: Locate the Source Code Vault.]
[Estimated Distance: Unknown.]
[Caution: Pathway Anomalies Detected.]
I pushed myself upright, brushing the dust from my gear.
"Find the Vault. Fix the world," I muttered to no one.
Simple enough in theory.
In practice?
Probably a nightmare.
---
A faint trail of stabilized code flickered to life ahead of me —
a path made of semi-solid data panels, floating in midair.
Each step ahead shimmered like a barely-formed memory, threatening to collapse under its own instability.
Great.
Another death trap.
Still, it was the only lead I had.
I tightened the straps of my gear, gripped the Patch Tool tightly, and stepped forward.
---
The data-path stretched endlessly, winding through surreal landscapes.
I passed floating islands made entirely of frozen time —
shattered moments from unknown histories locked in place.
Once, I glimpsed a battlefield suspended mid-war, soldiers made of light and code frozen as they charged.
Another island held a still ocean — a perfect mirror reflecting not the sky, but an endless expanse of unreadable scripts.
The farther I traveled, the weirder it became.
And the more the system whispered at the edges of my mind.
---
> [HIDDEN FILE DETECTED.]
[Decrypting... 7%...]
A low hum filled the air as the path curved upward, spiraling into a vast ruin floating in the void.
Massive gates loomed ahead, their surfaces covered in overlapping error messages and warning sigils.
Words flickered across them:
[SOURCE CODE VAULT]
[AUTHORIZED ACCESS ONLY.]
[SECURITY STATUS: CORRUPTED.]
Well.
At least I was in the right place.
---
I approached cautiously.
The air grew heavier, thick with corrupted energy.
The Vault's doors stood partially ajar — enough for me to slip through.
Beyond them lay a cathedral-like chamber.
Vast.
Dark.
Silent.
The floor was a checkerboard of pristine code and spreading cracks of corruption, fighting a silent, endless battle.
Pillars of frozen data reached up to a ceiling lost in darkness.
In the center of the chamber floated a massive sphere —
a globe of tangled light and black vines, pulsing like a beating heart.
> [OBJECTIVE UPDATED: Interface With Core.]
No problem.
Except, of course, for the guardian standing between me and the sphere.
---
It was humanoid in shape, but barely.
Its body was composed of flowing ribbons of light and static, constantly reshaping itself.
Its face was a blank canvas, save for two burning points where eyes should be.
An echo of some ancient defense system, corrupted yet still following its last directive.
It spoke, its voice fractured across frequencies:
"Identify: Unauthorized.
State: Intrusion.
Response: Termination."
---
> [MINI-BOSS ENCOUNTER: Vault Echo.]
[Objective: Defeat or Bypass.]
The Vault Echo raised an arm, summoning a cascade of distorted weapons — spears, blades, and nets — each flickering between real and unreal.
I didn't wait for it to make the first move.
I activated System Weave — the new ability I had unlocked after the Warden fight.
> [SYSTEM WEAVE: Allow temporary control over localized data threads for rapid alteration.]
Threads of reality unraveled before me, offering a glimpse of possibilities.
---
The Vault Echo attacked first, launching a barrage of glitch-spears.
I wove the data-threads around me, warping the trajectory of the projectiles mid-flight.
They twisted harmlessly past me.
I counterattacked, rewriting a segment of the floor into a kinetic trap —
a patch of explosive data that detonated as the Echo stepped onto it.
The explosion sent it staggering.
Not enough to kill it.
But enough to create an opening.
---
I surged forward, Patch Tool blazing.
Every strike rewrote a piece of the Vault Echo's form, destabilizing it further.
It retaliated with a pulse of pure deletion-code — a wave that could erase me from existence if it touched me.
I barely wove a shield in time, feeling the burn of corrupted air against my skin.
Back and forth we clashed, system against system.
Each moment, the Vault shuddered, the battle tearing open new wounds in an already fragile world.
---
Finally, after a brutal exchange, the Vault Echo faltered.
I drove the Patch Tool deep into its core.
The Echo let out a keening, almost human sound —
a final protest against its own dissolution.
Then it broke apart, crumbling into shards of broken code.
The way forward was clear.
---
> [SECURITY OVERRIDE GRANTED.]
[INTERFACE WITH CORE: PROCEED.]
I approached the pulsing sphere at the center of the Vault.
Lines of ancient code scrolled across its surface, telling stories I couldn't fully understand.
At its heart, a key — a fragment of the system's original programming, untouched by corruption.
I reached out and touched it.
---
> [SOURCE CODE FRAGMENT ACQUIRED.]
[Memory Link Established.]
[Warning: World Rebuilding Sequence — Incomplete.]
[Corruption Resistance — Improved.]
Visions slammed into me.
Flashes of the world before it fell —
people, places, cities woven from light and thought.
And then...
something else.
A shadow.
A hand reaching into the core of reality, twisting it for unknown purposes.
An enemy greater than corrupted systems or glitched guardians.
Something worse.
And it was still out there.
Waiting.
---
I staggered back, gasping.
The Vault began collapsing as the Core Fragment pulled free.
No time to admire the view.
I bolted for the exit as the entire ruin began folding in on itself, a dying star devouring its own light.
---
Outside, the sky was changing again.
And in the distance, on the horizon of this broken world,
a new shape loomed.
A massive spire — dark, ominous, drawing all remaining corruption toward it like a beacon.
The true source of the world's infection.
The final stage.
I tightened my grip on the Patch Tool.
"No more running," I whispered.
It was time to end this.