The clearing was silent, except for my HUD's faint hum and the occasional rustle of leaves in the breeze. The Guardian was gone—erased from existence by whatever the hell I’d just done. Lucien stood a few feet away, his knees bent slightly as if he wasn’t sure whether to bow or run. His lute hung awkwardly across his back, and his usually sparkling demeanor had dulled into wide-eyed reverence.

  I raised my hand in front of me, watching faint tendrils of shadow curl around my fingertips, flickering like tiny embers of violet fire.

  My HUD was… different. It was cleaner and sharper, but it was also broken. My css icon was nothing but a bck rectangle bordered with glitching pixels. My stat points glowed an eerie purple and a new tab beled [Demonic Dominion] appeared at the bottom of my screen.

  “Devon…” I said quietly. “Are you still there?”

  His voice came back. [Devon]: Yeah, I’m here. Kiera, what the hell was that? Your HUD looks wrong. Like, seriously wrong. And your css icon—it's completely bnk. That’s not supposed to happen.

  “I used the command,” I said, flexing my hand again. “The one from the email. And now… I’m this. Whatever this is.”

  Lucien slowly stepped forward, his head slightly bowed. “My Lady… you wield power that does not belong to this world. It’s as though the threads of fate themselves have been unraveled in your hands.”

  “Cool, Lucien. That’s very poetic,” I muttered, staring at my screen. “But what does that mean practically? Like, is the game going to delete me? Am I going to get banned?”

  Devon hesitated. [Devon]: I don’t know, Kiera. I’ve seen glitches before. Duplication glitches stat exploits… but nothing like this. Whatever that cheat code was, it didn’t just change your stats—it changed your css. And this isn’t just some bugged skill; it’s like the game doesn’t even know what you are anymore.

  I swallowed hard. The weight of what just happened began settling on my shoulders.

  Lucien gnced around the clearing before speaking.

  “My Lady, we should not linger here. Whatever force granted you this… gift… it has left its mark. Others may sense it.”

  I nodded and started walking toward the faint glow of Eldergrove Vilge in the distance. The weight of my new outfit—ornate and impossibly smooth against my skin—felt more real than any VR gear had the right to feel.

  ?????°???°????

  Back in Eldergrove Vilge

  The transition from the forest to the vilge was seamless, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was different. NPCs turned their heads as I walked past, their movements slightly… off. Some froze mid-step before continuing. Others gnced at me with hollow, gssy eyes before looking away quickly.

  Lucien noticed it, too. His dagger remained half-drawn, and his ordinarily confident gait had turned cautious.

  “Do they… always act like this?” I asked.

  “No, my muse,” he said softly. “They do not.”

  We arrived at the vilge square, where a familiar fountain gurgled peacefully under ntern light. Devon’s voice crackled back into the party chat.

  [Devon]: Kiera, okay. Listen. I’ve been scanning forums and community boards—nothing. No one has seen this before. No one has even heard of a Succubus Demon Lord css. You’re flying completely blind right now.

  “Cool, cool, love that for me,” I said dryly, crossing my arms. “So… what now?”

  [Devon]: You need to y low. I’ve got a raid with my guild in about ten minutes. They’ll murder me if I’m te. Just… go to an inn, and don’t—don’t—do anything until I get back. Got it?

  I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “Yeah. Okay. Fine. I’ll go to an inn.”

  [Devon]: Seriously. Don’t poke anything, don’t talk to anything suspicious, and for the love of all things pixeted, don’t accept any weird quests.

  “Scout’s honor,” I said, raising two fingers.

  [Party Chat Ended]

  The abrupt silence felt… unsettling. It was just me and Lucien for the first time since I’d logged in.

  The bard turned to me with a lopsided smile.

  “Shall we, my Lady? I believe I saw an inn with a rather charming balcony view.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered. “Let’s just… go.”

  The Inn – The Midnight Hearth

  The inn was a cozy two-story building with warm light spilling from its windows and the faint sound of chatter and clinking gsses drifting from inside. The wooden sign above the door read The Midnight Hearth in elegant lettering.

  We stepped inside, and the innkeeper—a portly woman with rosy cheeks—politely nodded.

  “Welcome to the Midnight Hearth. Rooms are ten Obsidian Crowns a night. Will you be staying, traveler?”

  I opened my menu and handed over the coins. A notification popped up:

  [Transaction Complete: -10 Obsidian Crowns][Room Key Acquired: #7]

  “Your room is upstairs, third on the left,” the innkeeper chirped.

  Lucien walked me up the creaky wooden stairs and stopped outside my door.

  “My Lady, I will remain nearby–If you still have use for me?”

  Another notification appeared on the screen:

  [Dismissal Activated upon Reaching Level 10]

  [Dismiss the Master Bard Lucien? Yes or No]

  Since starting the game, I had wanted to get rid of Lucien for the longest, but… the annoying bard was beginning to grow on me, and without Devon yelling in my ear, it was kind of lonely. Maybe I’ll keep him around for a little longer.

  “No.”

  [Lucien, the Master bard will remain in your party]

  “I am forever in your debt.”

  “Thanks, Lucien.” I smiled faintly. “I think I just need to sit down for a bit.”

  He nodded, then bowed slightly before heading toward a bench at the end of the hallway.

  I stepped into the room. It was cozy—a small bed, a wooden table, and a window with a view of the moonlit vilge square. I colpsed into the chair by the window and opened my menu.

  The stat screen looked… wrong. Numbers flickered, and values overpped. My new css—Succubus Demon Lord—sat at the top in glitching purple text. The Demonic Dominion tab pulsed faintly, locked behind a notification that read:

  [REQUIREMENT: Unknown]

  “What the hell does that mean?” I muttered.

  I scrolled through my inventory. The Midnight Fang, the Abyssal Crown, and the Empress of Shadows Armor Set glittered ominously in my bags. The Obsidian Crowns counter sat at a ridiculously high number.

  Then, another notification pinged at the bottom of my screen.

  [SYSTEM MESSAGE: UNKNOWN is typing…]

  I froze.

  Slowly, I selected the message and opened it.

  [UNKNOWN]: They’ll come for you soon—pyers, admins, entities. Your glitch isn’t invisible. You’ll need to grow stronger… and quickly. The next marker has already been pced. Follow it, and you might survive what’s coming.

  [QUEST ACCEPTED: SHADOW’S AWAKENING]

  My heart hammered in my chest as the window closed. I hadn’t even clicked anything.

  I gnced out the window at the vilge below, where NPCs continued their routines under flickering ntern light.

  Devon had told me to stay put.

  But something told me staying put wasn’t going to be an option.

  ?????°???°????

  The faint glow of morning sunlight filtered through the thin curtains of my inn room. Dust particles drifted zily in the golden light, and somewhere downstairs, faint murmurs of NPCs and the clinking of gss echoed upward. It was peaceful—eerily peaceful, given the chaos of st night.

  My HUD hovered faintly in the corner of my vision, the flickering Succubus Demon Lord css bel still glitching in and out. The Demonic Dominion tab pulsed faintly, still locked, still unreadable.

  I leaned against the wooden window frame, staring into the vilge square. The NPCs were back to their usual routines—hawking bread, sweeping doorsteps, and walking in perfectly looped patterns. Yet every now and then, one would pause, their head turning toward the inn window, their gssy eyes staring directly at me.

  Lucien sat cross-legged in the corner of the room, plucking at his lute absentmindedly. The usually confident bard looked… hesitant, his cheerful smile absent.

  “You didn’t sleep, did you?” I asked.

  He looked up, fingers halting mid-chord. “My Lady… it is not my pce to question, but… have you truly found rest? Your aura—it has not stilled since the altar.”

  Aura. Right. Another thing Devon hadn’t mentioned.

  I sighed and turned back toward my HUD, briefly scrolling through my stats. The glitching was… less intense now, but it was still there. The Obsidian Crowns sat absurdly high, and my inventory glittered with rare drops.

  But one thing stood out more than anything:

  [Quest: SHADOW’S AWAKENING]- Objective: Follow the Marker.- Reward: Unknown.

  The glowing quest marker pulsed faintly on my minimap, leading out of the vilge and into the wilderness.

  I hovered over it with my cursor. It felt… heavy, like even acknowledging it pulled me slightly toward it.

  Lucien cleared his throat softly. “My Lady, forgive me for speaking out of turn, but… do you truly intend to follow that? Whatever foul force gifted you, this power cannot possibly wish you well.”

  I hesitated. Every part of me screamed to follow Devon’s advice—to stay put, log out, wait. But another part—the part tangled up with these new powers, with the shadows flickering faintly at the edge of my vision—pulled me toward that glowing marker.

  I sighed. “Lucien, we’re going.”

  He stood, putting away his lute. “Then I am with you, my muse—no matter where this path leads.”

  The vilge was buzzing with activity, but something felt off. Every step I took through the cobbled streets drew stares—not the casual gnces NPCs usually gave pyers, but long, unblinking stares.

  I gnced at an older NPC woman sweeping her doorstep. Her head twitched slightly, like a marionette controlled by a fraying string, before her gssy eyes locked onto me.

  I shivered, looking away from her gaze.

  We reached the vilge gate, and just as I was about to cross into the wilds, a voice called out behind me.

  “Traveler! Wait!”

  I turned to see an armored NPC guard approaching us. His face was stiff, eyes hollow, and his movements too smooth—too artificial.

  “You should not leave the vilge. There is… danger ahead.”

  A dialogue box flickered into view:

  [Dialogue Options]

  “I can handle myself.”“Why? What kind of danger?”(Charm: Use Lustful Gaze)I hesitated and selected Option 2.

  The guard’s mouth twitched into something that resembled a smile but never quite reached his eyes.

  “Danger… beyond your understanding.”

  The HUD flickered briefly, and for a split second, the dialogue box glitched.

  [System Error: NPC Dialogue Overwrite]

  The guard’s eyes widened slightly before he abruptly turned and walked back toward the vilge square, disappearing into the crowd like nothing had happened.

  Lucien stepped closer, lowering his voice. “That was… unnatural.”

  “No kidding.”

  We left the vilge gate, leaving the flickering ntern lights and the glitching stares behind.

  The forest was dense, the air damp with morning dew and heavy with the scent of moss and damp earth. Birds chirped in distant branches, but the sounds felt muted, like background noise in a badly rendered soundscape.

  The quest marker pulsed steadily on my HUD, leading us deeper into the woods.

  Lucien walked a step behind me, his eyes constantly scanning the trees. “Do you feel it, my Lady? The weight of… something watching us?”

  I nodded. The shadows felt thicker here, more aware.

  After a few more minutes of walking, a sharp notification rang through my HUD.

  [NEW AREA DISCOVERED: SHROUDED HOLLOW]

  Recommended Level: 20+Status: Restricted Zone“Level twenty?!” I hissed. “Devon’s going to kill me.”

  Lucien adjusted his lute strap. “Then we shall ensure he never needs to know, my muse.”

  I was about to respond when a faint glow caught my eye—a faint blue light pulsing gently in the distance.

  “It’s the quest marker,” I whispered.

  We stepped carefully into a clearing, and there—suspended in mid-air above a cracked stone pedestal—was a glowing, violet crystal. It spun slowly, shards of energy orbiting around it in hypnotic patterns but on closer inspection looked like small binary numbers.

  A notification popped up:

  [OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: Find the Source of the Marker][New Objective: ???]

  “What… is that?” I whispered.

  Lucien took a cautious step back. “Something... forbidden. I do not recognize it.”

  My HUD flickered again. A faint ping echoed in my ear, and a notification appeared.

  [SYSTEM MESSAGE: UNKNOWN is typing…]

  The message opened automatically.

  [UNKNOWN]: You’re close. But be careful—this isn’t a gift. It’s a test. If you fail… well, let’s just say failure isn’t something the system tolerates. Proceed when ready.

  I stared at the crystal. It pulsed softly, casting strange shadows across the clearing.

  Lucien’s voice trembled slightly. “My Lady… whatever lies ahead, we must tread carefully.”

  I took a deep breath and stepped toward the crystal.

  The rune fred brightly, flooding the courtyard with harsh purple light. The tree’s branches creaked, and the faint smell of burning ozone filled the air.

  Another message appeared:

  [SHADOW’S AWAKENING INITIATED.][WARNING: INSTABILITY DETECTED IN PLAYER CLASS DATA.]

  The light intensified, and static crackled through my HUD. Lucien stumbled back, shielding his eyes.

  “My Lady!” he shouted over the rising hum.

  Suddenly, the light snapped off, and everything went silent.

  Then… a voice spoke.

  “You shouldn’t be here.”

  The voice was metallic, distorted, and yered with static.

  My HUD glitched violently, red warning text fshing in the corner of my screen:

  [CONNECTION TO MAIN SERVER STABILIZING…][ERROR: DATA CORRUPTION DETECTED.]

  Lucien stepped closer to me, his dagger drawn now. “Who… who goes there? Show yourself!”

  I turned sharply, scanning the courtyard. The tree’s bark was shifting slightly, like it was breathing.

  Then, out of the shadows, a figure stepped forward.

  A pyer?

  Their armor was sleek and bck, edged with faintly pulsed neon blue lines. A reflective visor obscured their face, and their stance was rexed but purposeful.

  [PLAYER: Guardian Oberon][LEVEL: ???]

  They tilted their head slightly at me, and for a brief moment, I could see faint static flickering around their outline, like they weren’t entirely stable.

  “System Error detected. You shouldn’t have accepted that message,” they said ftly.

  I reached for the Midnight Fang instinctively, shadows curling at my feet. “Who are you? What do you want?”

  They didn’t answer. Instead, they raised one hand, and their palm glowed faintly with lines of glitching code.

  “You’ve made a mistake, Succubus Demon Lord. Now… you’ll have to deal with the consequences.”

  Before I could react, the courtyard was flooded with red warning signs:

  [ALERT: HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED.]

  Lucien lunged forward with a shout, but the stranger flicked their hand, and Lucien was flung backward into a crate with an unnatural force.

  “Lucien!” I shouted.

  The Guardian lunged at me with a glowing bde, and I barely parried with the Midnight Fang. Sparks erupted as our weapons cshed, the force sending shockwaves through the courtyard.

  My HUD fshed red:

  [Health: 68%]

  I stumbled backward, shadows swirling protectively around me.

  “Abyssal Barrier!”

  A dome of dark energy erupted around me just in time to deflect another strike.

  “You don’t understand what you’ve done,” the Guardian said coldly. “And if you think you can just walk away from this… you’re wrong.”

  My hands trembled as the shadows pulsed violently around me.

  This wasn’t just a fight. This was something bigger—something I didn’t understand yet.

  But if this "pyer" thought I was going down without a fight, they had another thing coming.

  The courtyard felt like it was folding in on itself. The air crackled with static energy, faint red pixels flickering at the edges of my vision. The Guardian stood across from me, their bde glowing with neon light, their armor reflecting fragments of the glitching environment.

  Lucien groaned behind me, struggling to stand, his lute cracked beside him. “My Lady… this foe… they are not natural.”

  No kidding.

  The Guardian Oberon tilted their head slightly, their visor fshing faintly as lines of code flickered across it.

  “You shouldn’t have accepted that email. You’ve broken something that wasn’t meant to be touched.”

  I raised the Midnight Fang, shadows curling around my feet, flickering like living smoke. “Yeah, well, it’s a little te for regret now.”

  [COMBAT INITIATED][OPPONENT: Guardian Oberon][LEVEL: UNREGISTERED]

  The "pyer" lunged, their bde slicing through the air inhumanly. I barely managed to activate the Abyssal Barrier in time. The glowing shield of dark energy fred up around me, deflecting the strike, but the sheer force of the impact sent me skidding backward across the cobblestones. I rustled through my inventory and grabbed a potion.

  [Health: 82%]

  The stranger's glowing bde smashed against my Abyssal Barrier, sending sparks into the night air. The force of the attack rippled through the barrier, cracks spreading along its surface like fractured gss.

  [Barrier Integrity: 64%]

  They didn’t stop. In a blink, they were in front of me again. Another strike. Then another. I couldn’t even process their movements—they were too fast.

  “Absolute Command!” I shouted.

  The shadows around me pulsed outward, freezing the stranger mid-attack. Their bde stopped inches from my neck, flickering in and out of existence as if caught between frames.

  [Absolute Command Activated][Enemy Immobilized: 3 Seconds]

  I didn’t waste time. My HUD highlighted my skills, and I lunged forward with Venom Kiss, driving the Midnight Fang into their side. The bde sank into the glitching armor, purple poison hissing as it seeped into the wound.

  [Damage Dealt: 145 HP][Poison Status Applied]

  The immobilization broke. The stranger staggered backward, clutching their side, faint blue code leaking from the wound instead of blood.

  “You’re… adapting fast,” they said, voice crackling like distant radio static. “But it won’t be enough.”

  They raised their hand, and a glowing code sphere began to form above their palm. The HUD fshed:

  [WARNING: HIGH-DAMAGE ATTACK INCOMING]

  “Lucien!” I shouted. “Move!”

  The bard scrambled to his feet and threw himself behind an overturned cart as the stranger unleashed the attack. The energy sphere exploded outward, shattering the stone courtyard and sending me flying backward into the tree.

  [Health: 38%]

  I coughed, shadows flickering wildly around me, responding to my emotions rather than my commands. The ground beneath me cracked, and the faint hum of corrupted code filled the air.

  The stranger advanced again, bde glowing, movements precise and unyielding. I clenched my fists, shadows swirling violently at my feet.

  And then… I felt it.

  A pressure in the back of my mind, like a door creaking open. The Demonic Dominion tab in my HUD pulsed faintly.

  [Requirement Achieved]

  [New Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Howl][Description: Unleash a wave of abyssal energy, temporarily disrupting enemies and lowering their defense.]

  Fine. Let’s see what this does.

  I smmed both hands to the ground and roared:

  “Abyssal Howl!”

  A shockwave of dark energy burst from my body, rippling outward and colliding with the Guardian Oberon. Their armor crackled, blue code splitting at the seams, and they stumbled backward, clutching their visor.

  [Enemy Defense Reduced by 20%][Enemy Status: Disrupted]

  Lucien used the opening, rushing forward with his dagger. “For my Lady!”

  He sshed across the stranger’s arm, nding a clean hit.

  [Damage Dealt: 45 HP]

  The stranger let out a sound—half growl, half static. They straightened, visor flickering, armor sparking with stray data streams.

  I activated Crippling Aura, the air around me thickening with oppressive energy. The stranger hesitated for the first time, their movements slowing as the debuff took hold.

  [Crippling Aura Applied: Enemy Attack and Speed Reduced by 20%]

  "Interesting," they said, their static-den voice now tinged with curiosity. "So the system is letting you use that css after all. Fascinating."

  "Fascinating this," I growled, firing a Shadow Bolt directly at their chest.

  The bst of dark energy connected, sending them skidding back several feet. For a moment, I thought I’d gained the upper hand.

  But then they straightened, their flickering visor reflecting the moonlight. "If you're this sloppy with your power, they'll find you before you’re ready."

  "Who's 'they'?" I demanded, summoning the Abyssal Barrier again.

  The stranger didn’t answer. Instead, they raised their free hand, and the air shimmered as jagged lines of glowing code spread outward.

  [WARNING: DATA CORRUPTION DETECTED]

  The ground beneath us glitched violently, pixels distorting and warping into jagged, unnatural shapes. My HUD flickered, warning messages flooding my screen.

  Lucien staggered backward, looking around in arm. "My Lady, this pce—it is unraveling!"

  "I noticed!" I shouted, barely dodging a chunk of corrupted ground as it exploded upward.

  My HUD fshed red again:

  [ESCAPE SEQUENCE INITIATED]

  [Objective: Flee the Corrupted Zone Before Stability Drops to 0%.]

  I gnced at Lucien, who was struggling to stay upright as the ground beneath him warped and shifted. "Lucien, move! We’re getting out of here!"

  "But the foe—"

  "Forget the foe!" I grabbed his arm, dragging him toward the alley we’d entered from. The Guardian Oberon didn’t follow but watched us go; their bde lowered as if they had no intention of pursuing.

  "You’ll have to face them eventually," they called after me. "And when you do, don’t expect to walk away unscathed."

  I didn’t answer, focusing instead on staying upright as the corrupted ground cracked and splintered around us.

  Then, with a sharp flick of their wrist, their entire body shattered into streams of blue and red pixels.

  They were gone.

  When we arrived back in town, we burst through the door of The Midnight Hearth. The warm light of the inn was a stark contrast to the chaos we’d just escaped. Lucien was panting heavily, his usual composure completely gone.

  I colpsed into a chair by the firepce, my hands shaking as I tried to steady my breathing.

  [ESCAPE SUCCESSFUL: CORRUPTION ZONE STABILIZED]

  Lucien stood beside me, clutching the back of the chair for support. "My Lady… what just happened?"

  I opened my menu, and my HUD still flickered faintly with error messages. The Demonic Dominion tab pulsed faintly, its contents still locked behind a cryptic requirement.

  "I don’t know," I said quietly. "But whoever that was… they knew something. About my css, about what I’ve become."

  Lucien frowned, his usual confidence repced by concern. "You wield power that defies understanding, my Lady. But power without control is a curse."

  I stared at a flickering UNKNOWN tab in my inbox. A new message was waiting, but I couldn’t bring myself to open it. Not yet.

  Lucien stumbled to my side, clutching his bleeding arm, his face pale. “My Lady… are you unharmed?”

  I nodded, my breath still ragged. “I’m fine. Are you okay?”

  “I’ll live.”

  Devon’s voice crackled through the party chat. [Devon]: Kiera… are you there? I couldn't get a connection for a second. Your HUD’s still flickering. I saw what you were fighting. That… that thing you fought—it wasn’t a typical pyer, right?

  “No,” I said softly. “It wasn’t. It was something called "Guardian Oberon.”

  My hands still trembled, and my HUD glitched faintly at the edges. My Demonic Dominion tab pulsed again, but I dared not open it.

  Lucien leaned against the cracked tree trunk, breathing heavily. “My Lady… I fear this is only the beginning.”

  I looked at the rune on the ground, now cracked and fading. The quest marker was gone, repced by three faint dots in my HUD:

  [AWAITING FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS FROM UNKNOWN…]

  “We need answers,” I said softly.

  [Devon]: Kiera, listen to me. Stay at the inn. Right now. I know someone who might be able to help. We’ll figure this out.

  Lucien looked at me, his usual pyful arrogance repced with genuine worry.

  “What now, my Lady?”

  I hesitated, staring at the flickering edge of my HUD. The shadows coiling around my feet seemed to have a life of their own.

  “Devon says we should stay at the inn.”

  But even as I said it, I knew staying still wouldn’t work.

  Something had started tonight. Something bigger than me, bigger than Devon, bigger than whatever that stranger was.

  And deep down, I already knew whatever it was…wasn’t going to wait quietly.