The Void Lurker's deep hum shook Leo's teeth, a heavy feeling threatening to turn his bones to liquid. Its twelve purple eyes, cold and strange, held him frozen. Level 25. 5000 HP. Against his weak 20. The numbers screamed impossible. The Cleansing Wave countdown burned in his sight: 00:02:30... 29... 28...
Fear threatened to swallow him. Run? Where? The Lurker blocked the path to Bastion's pulsing blue dot, now painfully close – less than 500 meters past the bridge. The broken city gave little cover against something so big. Hide? Its many eyes seemed to see right through the smashed van he hid behind.
[Reality Editor] pulsed in his head, a raw, hungry thing. The Lurker wasn't just a monster; it was a walking storm of complex, scary code. Layers of shimmering, complicated data streams showing its hard shell, its jagged teeth, its burning blood, its huge size. It was too much, dizzying. Changing a Jackal's Speed had almost broken his mind. This... this was digital death.
But the other choice was real death.
Focus! Leo yelled inside, pushing down the fear and the leftover pain from the Speed change. His Sanity ticked down: 86%. He couldn't hurt its main HP – too big, too important. He needed a weak spot. A number he could break.
His Observe skill blinked uselessly against the Lurker's level. ⌈ OBSERVE FAILED! TARGET LEVEL TOO HIGH! ⌋. Useless. He had to use the raw sight of [Reality Editor].
The acid. Thick drops of green-black slime burned where they fell from the Lurker's scythe-claws, eating through road like nothing. The code around the dripping poison was complicated, but less thick than the monster's main parts. A number flashed inside it: THICKNESS.
Thicker acid moves slower… maybe even sticks? It was a wild guess. He pictured the number going up. Make it like sticky mud.
⌈ TARGET ACQUIRED: VOID LURKER ACID SECRETION. EDIT VARIABLE: VISCOSITY. CURRENT: 0.8. DESIRED: 50. CONFIRM EDIT? Y/N ⌋
The cost warning screamed – a head-breaking blast of mental noise. Higher than the Speed change. Much higher. ⌈ ESTIMATED COST: SANITY -10% ⌋
No choice. Yes!
Leo pushed with his mind, throwing his will, his fear, his anger against the Lurker's reality.
⌈ EDIT SUCCESSFUL! COST: SANITY -12% ⌋
The world turned into a mess of screaming colors and wrong sounds. Pain, white-hot and electric, exploded behind his eyes, running down his back. He tasted blood, felt warmth from his nose. His vision blurred, doubled. SANITY: 74%. The dizziness was crippling.
But across the broken highway, the effect was instant and ugly. The thick, sticky acid now coming from the Lurker's claws didn't drip – it stretched, making gooey strings. As the creature took another ground-shaking step, lifting a huge claw to hit the van, the thick slime jammed the joint. The claw jerked, slowed, the sticky mess holding tight.
The Lurker let out a sharp scream of anger, a sound like tearing metal. It shook its big leg, trying to get rid of the gunk. It was distracted. Slowed. Not hurt, but bothered.
It worked! The thought was a lifeline in the sea of pain. Now move!
Leo scrambled out from behind the van, legs shaking, vision swimming. He didn't run straight towards Bastion – the Lurker was still between him and the bridge ramp. Instead, he ran sideways, towards the broken bones of a fallen sign structure, hoping to go around.
The Lurker's twelve eyes snapped back to him, burning with cold rage. It stopped trying to shake the acid and jumped, its huge body still fast even slowed. The scythe-claw, trailing thick strings of black-green goo, cut through the air where Leo had just been. It sliced through the van's remains like paper, sending twisted metal flying.
The shock hit Leo off his feet. He landed hard on the broken ground, his remaining HP dropping to 18/30. Gasping, he rolled behind a chunk of fallen road. The Lurker's shadow covered him. Its jagged mouth opened, that deep hum getting louder, shaking the ground under him. He could see the swirling, impossible shapes of its teeth.
Gravity. The thought was crazy. Dangerous. But [Reality Editor] was already flaring, pulled to the complicated field around the creature. He saw a number tied to its local gravity pull – a small change that probably helped its big jumps or held food still. CURRENT GRAVITY PULL: 1.1x. Barely felt, but there.
Flip it. Make it lighter. Make it float!
⌈ TARGET ACQUIRED: VOID LURKER LOCALIZED GRAVITY FIELD. EDIT VARIABLE: GRAVITY MULTIPLIER. CURRENT: 1.1. DESIRED: 0.2. CONFIRM EDIT? Y/N ⌋
The cost warning was huge. ⌈ ESTIMATED COST: SANITY -20%! LIFE LOSS POSSIBLE! ⌋. Life loss? The skill had mentioned it… but seeing it? Terror fought with need.
The Lurker's mouth came down, jagged teeth turning towards him. The hum became a physical force, pressing him down. The countdown screamed: ⌈ NIGHTFALL IN: 00:01:05! CLEANSING WAVE STARTING! ⌋
YES! DO IT!
Leo threw everything – his fear for Mia, his rage at the System, his will to live – into the change. It wasn't a push; it was a mental explosion.
⌈ EDIT SUCCESSFUL! COST: SANITY -15%, LIFESPAN POTENTIAL -1 YEAR ⌋
The world didn't just spin; it flipped. Leo felt a scary pull, as if part of his soul was being torn out. A wave of deep, scary cold washed over him, followed by a tiredness worse than any he'd known. His vision went completely black for a terrifying second. SANITY: 59%. A new, scary picture flashed beside his HP bar: a small, cracked hourglass, labeled ⌈ LIFE LOST: 1 YEAR ⌋.
But the effect on the Void Lurker was huge.
As the gravity around it flipped, the huge creature didn't just get lighter; it became almost weightless. Its jump turned into a wild, clumsy float. Its claw, meant to crush Leo, swung off course, smashing into the sign support with a heavy thud. The Lurker itself, confused, kicked its many legs in the suddenly light air, its hard body rising meters off the ground. It let out a high, puzzled scream, spinning slowly, its acid-dripping claws waving uselessly. It was stuck in its own floating bubble.
Leo didn't wait. Blinded by pain and dizziness, gasping just to breathe after the life loss, he crawled on hands and knees. He couldn't see the Lurker, couldn't see the path, only the pulsing blue dot of Bastion on his small map. He followed it like a light, tripping over broken ground, falling, getting up. The Cleansing Wave timer was a death bell: 00:00:45... 44...
Behind him, the Lurker's screams turned angry as it fought against its strange float. The gravity change wouldn't last. He knew it. The System would fix it. He had seconds.
He reached the bottom of the bridge ramp. Bastion wasn't a building; it was a fort. High walls, easily twenty meters tall, made not of brick or steel, but of locking blue energy shields that glowed. They pulsed with power, feeling safe after the hell outside. A huge gate stood open, guarded by towers made from broken concrete and metal. Armed people stood on the walls.
"Move! Move! Cleansing Wave coming!" A voice shouted from the gate, made loud by speakers. "Last ones! Get inside NOW!"
Leo used every bit of his weak VIT 3 energy for a last, desperate run up the ramp. His lungs burned. His legs felt like stone. He could feel the air changing behind him – a static feeling building, his arm hairs standing up. The Lurker's angry screams reached their peak. The gravity was fixing itself. It was coming.
He stumbled through the huge gate, falling onto rough dirt just inside the walls. He rolled onto his back, gasping, his vision still blurred, the world a smear of pain and tiredness.
⌈ QUEST COMPLETE: REACH SAFE ZONE 'BASTION'! ⌋
⌈ REWARD: 100 XP, COMMON LOOT BOX (x1) AWARDED! ⌋
⌈ LEVEL UP! YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 2! ⌋
⌈ STAT POINTS AVAILABLE: 5 ⌋
⌈ SKILL POINTS AVAILABLE: 1 ⌋
The words flashed, briefly cutting through the pain. Level 2. 5 Stat Points. 1 Skill Point. Choices. Survival. But before he could think, the world outside Bastion ended.
⌈ NIGHTFALL. ⌋
The huge blood-moon vanished, covered by a total, thick darkness that fell like a blanket. Not just dark – empty. Light died. Sound died. Then, the Cleansing Wave hit.
It wasn't a wave of fire or monsters. It was a wave of erasing.
Starting from far away, a wall of shimmering, rainbow static moved forward, taller than the tall buildings. It moved fast and silent. Where it touched, reality vanished. Broken ground, twisted metal, left-behind cars, bodies of Scavengers and people – everything just stopped existing, turned into streams of pure, messy data that flowed up into the empty sky above. No bang. No sound. Just… gone.
The Void Lurker, finally free and jumping towards the gate, met the wave head-on. Its scary shape shimmered, its hard shell breaking into squares, its twelve purple eyes going out one by one. It let out a last, digital scream that stopped suddenly as the wave ate it whole, leaving nothing. Not even smoke.
The wave hit Bastion's energy shields. The blue shapes flashed blindingly bright, bending under the attack. A deep, strong hum shook the ground, moving the walls. Lines of energy cracked across the shield where the static pushed hardest. People inside the gate yelled, ducking, covering their heads.
Leo watched, frozen, from the dirt. The huge, world-ending size of it made the Lurker small. This was the Cleansing Wave. This was what failure meant. Gone forever.
The shield held. The wave of static passed over and around Bastion, continuing its path of erasing, leaving behind only a perfectly smooth, blank plain of dark glass where the city had been. The hum faded. The shield cracks slowly fixed themselves, going back to their steady blue light.
Quiet fell inside Bastion. Heavy. Shocked. Then, the sounds came back – rough breathing, crying, the low talk of scared voices.
Leo pushed himself up on his elbows, wincing. His head hurt, a constant drum of pain behind his eyes. SANITY: 59% glared at him, a sharp reminder of the price. The life-loss picture flashed softly. He felt… empty. Older. He looked at his hands. Did they look a little rougher? Or was it just the strange light through the energy shield?
"Hey. You. The one who crawled in." A rough voice. A boot touched his leg.
Leo looked up. A man in fixed army clothes stood over him, an old rifle on his shoulder. He had a scar through his short grey hair and eyes that had seen too much. ⌈ OBSERVE: HUMAN (LVL 6) - NAME: SERGEANT BRENNAN. GROUP: BASTION MILITIA. HP: 110/110. THREAT: LOW ⌋.
"New person check-in," Brennan said, no fuss. "Get up. Follow me. Need to write you down, give you a bed. Bastion's got rules. Break 'em, you answer to Commander Vance." He pointed towards a group of simple shelters near the inside wall.
Leo stood up slowly, every muscle hurting. He looked back at the gate one last time. Beyond the glowing blue shield, there was only smooth, dark glass stretching to the edge under the now-starless black. The Void Lurker, the ruins, the proof of billions lost… all gone. Cleaned. Only Bastion remained, an island in an erased world.
He turned to follow Brennan, his mind spinning. Stats. Skill Points. Loot Box. Mia. The System. The glitch. The cost. So many things needed his focus. But a new prompt, small and easy to miss in the mess, blinked at the very edge of his sight before disappearing:
⌈ SYSTEM ANOMALY DETECTED: ENTITY 'MIA CHEN'. STATUS: UNKNOWN. LAST KNOWN LOCATION: FLOOR 1 (EARTH PRIME). FLAGGED FOR REVIEW. ⌋
Leo froze mid-step. His breath stopped. Mia. Flagged? Unknown? Not gone? Alive?* The spark of hope was scary, thin, but it burned brighter than the pain, brighter than the fear. He held the faded blue scarf still tucked in his pocket.
"Move it, kid," Brennan grunted, already walking away. "Daylight's only a few hours. Got work to do."
Leo forced his legs to move, following the sergeant into the heart of Bastion. The Safe Zone wasn't calm. It was tense. Simple shelters crowded the open space. Fires burned in barrels. People huddled in groups – some quiet and shocked, others arguing loudly. He saw clear groups forming already:
The Militia: People like Brennan, organized, holding found weapons and simple armor, walking the edge. Their sign: a blue shield.
The Survivors: Normal people, families, the hurt, looking lost and scared, sticking together. No sign, just need.
The Gamer Group: A louder bunch, mostly younger people wearing found gear that looked like 'game clothes' – leather bits on jackets, pipes made into sticks. They stood under a flag showing crossed swords over a dice. Leo saw the fire-throwing man from before (**LVL 5**) talking to them.
The Hooded Group: A smaller, scary bunch wearing dark robes. They kneeled in a circle, chanting quietly. Their sign: a broken eye. Leo's Observe blinked over one: ⌈ HUMAN (LVL 4) - NAME: DISCIPLE THORN. GROUP: CHURCH OF THE SHATTERED VEIL. HP: 80/80. THREAT: NEUTRAL ⌋. The words sent a chill down his back.
Brennan led him to a big tent marked 'INTAKE' near the Militia area. "Name?" the sergeant asked, pulling out a broken tablet.
"Leo. Leo Chen."
Brennan tapped the screen. "Level?"
"Two. Just hit it."
The sergeant grunted, not seeming impressed. "Class? Starting Skill?"
"Uh... no Class yet. Starting skill is Observe."
Brennan raised an eyebrow. "Just Observe? Tough luck, kid. Most get something fight-useful, even if it's just ⌈ PUNCH (COMMON) ⌋." He tapped again. "Okay. You're in Shelter Block D, Bed 47. Food once a day at the main spot – water, paste. Don't expect good food. Work jobs get listed at sun-up. Help or get thrown out. The Cleansing Wave doesn't care about lazy people." He gave Leo a chipped plastic piece with 'D-47' scratched on it. "Don't lose it. That's your life here."
Leo took the token. "My sister... Mia Chen. Did she make it? Has anyone seen her?"
Brennan's face softened a little, then got hard again. "Kid... the Change killed billions. We wrote down maybe ten thousand people who got inside these walls before dark. Names are... messy. System lists are bad." He tapped his tablet again, frowned. "No Mia Chen in the first list. Doesn't mean she's not out there, maybe hiding. Doesn't mean she is." His voice was straight, practical. "Focus on staying alive. If she made it, she'll find her way."
Leo's grip tightened on the token. The strange System message flashed in his memory: Status: Unknown. Flagged. He knew Brennan wouldn't believe him. He barely did. But it was something. A thread to hold.
"One more thing," Brennan said, his eyes sharp. "Commander Vance saw you crawl in. Saw that... thing... chasing you. The Lurker. Said it looked like it tripped over nothing just before the Wave hit." He leaned closer, his voice low. "You do something out there, kid? Something... wrong with the System?"
Leo's blood went cold. He met Brennan's look, seeing the doubt, the thinking. [Reality Editor] felt like a hot secret in his head. "I... I got lucky," Leo said, keeping his voice steady. "It tripped. I ran."
Brennan held his look for a long, uncomfortable moment. "Lucky," he repeated slowly. "Right. Well, keep quiet, Leo Chen. Luck runs out fast in the Tower." He pointed towards the crowded shelters. "Block D's that way. Get some rest. Sun comes early."
Leo turned and walked into the packed, nervous heart of Bastion, the sergeant's doubtful look burning his back. He was inside the walls. He was alive. He was Level 2.
But he was also dangerously low on Sanity, marked by a System he didn't know, holding a secret power that cost bits of his mind and his life, chased by something that flagged his missing sister, and now maybe watched by Bastion's leader.
Safety, it seemed, was just another fight. He pulled Mia's scarf tighter around his neck, the faint smell of lavender a thin anchor in the strange night. He had stats to pick. A Loot Box to open. And a broken reality that needed fixing.
The climb up the Tower of Eternity had just started.