The clock ticked.
Eran Veyl leaned back in his creaky desk chair, headphones slipping halfway off his ears. The glow from his monitor bathed his face in a pale blue hue, highlighting the tension in his narrowed eyes.
[Simulacrum Scenario 999: COMPLETE.]
The message blinked across the screen.
He didn't blink. He couldn't.
For three years, he'd logged into this hidden simulation. Not a game. Not exactly. Each scenario had felt… real. Too real. Disasters, betrayals, wars, awakenings—he'd watched people live and die inside it. He'd followed every story, every pattern, every shift in cause and effect.
And now it was over.
He stared at the message until the screen flickered—and went dark.
Then the window behind him cracked.
Not the glass.
The air cracked, like it had split open. A sharp noise rang out—like someone had just sliced through reality with a blade of ice.
Eran spun around.
Nothing.
His room was quiet. Silent, even. No wind. No sound from outside. No hum of his computer. Just—
Another crack. Louder. Closer.
This time, he saw it.
A thin black line in the center of his ceiling, like a seam being unzipped. It spread slowly, jaggedly, until a flicker of light shone through it—light that didn't belong in his world. Violet, humming, pulsing.
He backed away instinctively. Heart hammering.
This isn't happening.
This can't be happening.
But deep down, he knew it was.
Because this was exactly what happened in Scenario 999.
The rift. The first tear.
The beginning of the end.
The air rippled. Shadows bent the wrong way. A low hum began vibrating through his bones. And then, from the crack, something fell.
Not a monster. Not yet.
A symbol. A floating glyph, glowing red.
[Codex Detected: Initializing.]
[Codex Zero – Unranked.]
Eran stared at it.
There wasn't supposed to be a Codex Zero. It didn't exist. Not in the Simulacrum. Not in any records.
It was him.
He had been marked. Chosen. Or maybe—cursed.
The glyph vanished into his chest, sending a cold surge through his body. For a moment, his heart stopped.
Then—
[Simulation Begins.]
Hi
s eyes widened.
It was no longer a simulation.
This time, it was real.