The Core Ring towered in the distance—impossibly large, like a halo fused to the earth itself. From miles away, Aiden and his group could see its pulsing light, drawing terrain toward it in chunks, like tectonic drift under digital control.
SYSTEM NOTICE:
New Mission: Reach the Core Ring.
Deadline: 72 in-game hours.
Reward: Game Map Control Interface Access.
Rena scoffed. "So the Game Masters want us to run headfirst into their trap."
Aiden shook his head. "No. They want to see who's desperate enough to try."
---
As the group journeyed across shifting zones, the terrain grew stranger.
The first zone was a "gravity fracture"—a broken highway hanging in midair, where up and down switched at random intervals. Lila nearly fell into the sky when gravity reversed, but Aiden pulled her down just in time.
The second zone was a forest of metal, filled with whispering AI birds that recorded every move and broadcast it to nearby players.
"We're not alone," Takumi warned. "Two more groups are headed to the Core too."
That's when they met Unit Red, a team of elite players led by Natalya, a former Russian commando. She wore a cracked combat visor and moved like a ghost.
"You've lasted this long without turning on each other," she observed. "That makes you dangerous. Or naive."
"We're not here to fight," Aiden said.
"Then get out of the way."
She and her crew moved on, but her words stayed.
---
By nightfall, a new enemy arrived.
Not a Chimera AI. Not a player.
But the terrain itself.
The ground beneath them began to melt into code—revealing an artificial void filled with corrupted data tendrils. It pulled in debris, animals, even remnants of old zones.
ZONE DECAY EVENT INITIATED.
"Move!" Aiden shouted.
They ran, the world collapsing behind them.
Rena activated the Zone Stabilizer Chip from the last battle and threw it behind them. It pulsed with light—buying them seconds.
When they reached solid ground again, Lila collapsed, coughing.
"We're not meant to survive this long," she said. "The game's rewriting the rules just to finish us off."
Aiden looked toward the Core Ring, now looming larger.
"Then we rewrite them back."
---