Death, Kaia thought, felt weirdly electric.
One second, she was face-to-face with a murder-chicken. The next, everything slowed like the world had forgotten how to tick properly. The Cockatrice lunged, its beady eyes locked on her, its fanged beak snapping forward. Kaia didn't move.
Because time wasn't moving.
The raindrops had frozen mid-air. Her breath fogged in front of her face but refused to drift. Even the river had stilled, ripples arrested in place like a bad painting. Only the glowing blue screen hovered steadily in front of her, blinking with mild irritation.
[SYSTEM INSTALLATION COMPLETE.]
[USER STATUS: Technically alive. Miraculously.]
Kaia blinked. "Did I… die?"
[Temporarily. You were paused. Think of it as a courtesy freeze-frame. Very cinematic.]
She blinked again. "...Okay, no, this is it. This is how madness starts. First it's talking chickens, now it's talking rectangles."
[I'm not a chicken. I'm your new SYSTEM.]
"And I'm hallucinating," Kaia muttered. "I always knew it'd end like this. Trampled by poultry and hearing voices. Should've eaten the turnip."
The screen pulsed again, now pulsing gently in a slow heartbeat rhythm.
[Would you like a tutorial, or do you prefer to suffer in silence?]
Kaia narrowed her eyes. "You're sarcastic."
[Correct. I've been assigned to someone with a 'chaotic energy profile.' My options were sarcasm or therapy. I chose the one that doesn't involve crying in a corner.]
"…Fair."
Time snapped back.
The Cockatrice moved again until it didn't. A wall of glowing blue code like tangled lightning bolts erupted between her and the monster, halting it mid-air. It screeched in frozen time, flailing against the shimmering net of energy.
Kaia, very reasonably, screamed a little.
"Okay, system, tutorial. Give me something. A weapon, a knife, a frying pan, emotional stability I'm not picky!"
[Opening Emergency Survival Package.]
There was a pop. A very literal pop, like someone uncorking a bottle of reality.
A floating metal cube shimmered into existence and dropped neatly into Kaia's hands. It looked like a lunchbox designed by someone who really hated lunch. It buzzed in her grip, then unfolded with a satisfying click, revealing a glowing interface.
Inside:
One crystal vial labeled "Emergency Mana Shot (Tastes like regret)"
One oversized hoodie labeled "+3 Warmth, -2 Dignity"
One ancient spell scroll, frayed and glowing
And a note that said: "Good luck, you hot mess."
"…Are you allowed to insult me in my own starter kit?" Kaia asked.
[Legally? No. Morally? Absolutely.]
Kaia gritted her teeth and grabbed the scroll. "Alright, what do I do with this thing?"
[Hold it, shout something cool, and hope it doesn't backfire.]
"…You're joking."
[Am I? Roll the dice, Time Gremlin.]
Kaia squinted at the script, which pulsed faintly in her hand. The glyphs on it shimmered, and the moment she touched them , her head exploded with knowledge.
Not literally, thank all the gods. But her brain felt like someone had downloaded a magical instruction manual into her cerebrum via lightning bolt. The world tilted. Her bones buzzed. Her hair stood on end.
She opened her mouth, and the words tore themselves out:
"Temporal Shift: Flux Break!"
The scroll burned to ash. Her body lit up with silver and violet magic, crackling around her like a broken clock gone nuclear. The Cockatrice screeched as the time-net around it shattered—and then reversed.
Yes. Reversed.
The beast blinked and suddenly jerked backward, like someone hit rewind on a very violent VHS tape. It flew through the hole in the windmill, tripped on its own talons, and went skidding into the mud with a noise that could only be described as angry duck accordion.
Kaia stood panting, hands glowing, hair floating around her like she'd just walked out of a time tornado. She looked down at her fingers. They buzzed with arcane light.
"…Okay," she said finally, staring at her hands. "What. The. Actual. Hell."
[Congratulations, you've unlocked your innate magic: Chrono-Flux. You're now a mildly terrifying anomaly. Welcome to the club.]
She staggered back toward the windmill, slid down the remains of a support beam, and flopped into the mud.
"I have questions."
[I have answers. Most of them unhelpful.]
She stared up at the rain, which now tasted slightly less like despair and slightly more like dramatic rebirth. "So… what are you?"
[A Supportive Tactical Yield Interface Monitoring system.]
"…That spells STYM."
[Exactly. You may call me Styme. I hate it.]
Kaia snorted. "Styme. Sounds like a grumpy wizard's cat."
[I once crashed the nervous system of a warlock trying to summon me with bad spelling. He screamed like a potato.]
"I don't even know what that means."
[And I don't plan to explain it.]
She laughed, a wild, half-panicked laugh that turned into a wheeze. "Okay, Styme. Let's assume I haven't completely lost my mind. What is this? Why do I have a magic voice in my head now?"
[You were selected for system integration due to extreme survival probability failure. In short: you were about to die in a deeply stupid way.]
"…Thanks?"
[It was either integrate you into the S.O.U.P. Initiative—Survival-Oriented User Protection—or let the Cockatrice turn you into muddy jerky.]
Kaia blinked. "You guys named your secret survival program SOUP?"
[We are not known for acronyms.]
She pulled her legs up, resting her forehead on her knees. "Okay. Okay. So what now? I'm not a mage. I don't do magic. I can barely do math."
[Correction: You are now a registered magic user. Stat display incoming.]
A translucent window opened above her like a pop-up ad from hell.
USER PROFILE: KAIA VEYRIS
Age: 15
Location: Dallira Outskirts, Fiore
Title: Underdog of Time (Temporary)
Magic: Chrono-Flux (Unstable)
STATS
Vitality: 7/100 (Yikes.)
Magic Power: 40/100
Control: 12/100
Luck: 99/100 (How did you survive this long?)
Sanity: …questionable.
NOTES
Potential: Absurd.
Training: Nonexistent.
Charm: Middling.
Attitude: Concerning.
Footwear: Still missing.
Kaia stared.
"…Did that stat screen roast me?"
[It's set to 'honest mode.' You want sugarcoating, I can switch to 'grandma mode.']
"What does grandma mode say?"
['Oh sweetie, you're doing your best and that's what counts!']
"…Yeah no, leave it in roast mode."
[Wise.]
She pushed herself to her feet, wobbly but upright. Her fingers still tingled. The mud stuck to her knees like unwanted opinions.
"I have magic now," she whispered. "I'm… a mage."
[A very loud, very untrained, very chaotic mage. Congratulations. You've just leveled up from 'rat food' to 'glitch in the matrix.']
Kaia looked around. The Cockatrice was gone either running for the hills or getting therapy. She had survived. She had a system. And she had one burning question still eating away at her.
"…Am I allowed to punch a giant chicken in the face if it comes back?"
[Technically not recommended. Morally? Deeply satisfying.]
She cracked her knuckles.
"Then let's go find my boots."