I ducked behind the shattered stone pillar, lungs burning, heart trying to punch a hole through my ribs. That thing—the glitched-out horror crouched at the treeline—hadn't moved yet, but every second it stayed still just made it worse. Like reality couldn't quite render it properly. Its limbs twitched at wrong angles. Its body flickered like a corrupted asset file refusing to load.
Beside me, the silver-haired girl knelt, gripping a broken dagger like it was the only thing between her and the void.
"You're not Elias," she said, softer this time. Her eyes were locked on mine. "Your eyes…"
"What about them?" I asked, still catching my breath.
"Brown," she whispered. "Only Usurpers have brown eyes."
I blinked. "I don't even know what that means."
She looked at me like she was putting together a puzzle that shouldn't exist. "You've taken a body that wasn't yours. Worn the skin of someone else. That's what Usurpers do."
I tried to laugh, but it came out tight. "Yeah? I didn't sign up for that. One second I was in my room, mid-match, and the next… I'm here. New world. New rules."
Her stare deepened. "You're from another world?"
"Yeah," I said. "This is all... not normal where I'm from. Pretty sure this counts as crazy."
She didn't answer right away. Just nodded, slowly. "There are stories. Ancient ones. About people who fall through the cracks between worlds. Most of them don't last long. The body rejects them. Or the world does."
"Well," I said, "I'm still here. And apparently, I look like someone named Elias."
Her expression twisted—half confusion, half something close to sorrow. "You are him now. But you don't feel like him. And your eyes gave you away."
I didn't know how to respond. So I did what I always did when things got too heavy: I checked the HUD.
The Cheat Engine blinked to life.
[System Stability: 42% – Partial Access Restored]
[Gold Remaining: 6]
[Available Cheats: Wallhack.v2 | Auto-Dodge.macro]
I nearly laughed with relief. We were back online.
Then the beast moved.
It didn't run. It didn't charge. It just shifted. One moment it was crouched behind trees—next, it was ten meters closer, glitching forward like broken animation frames stuttering into place. Its eyes—two pulsing white-hot error symbols—locked onto me.
And it sprinted.
"Hey," I said, not taking my eyes off the thing. "Get behind something."
She didn't argue.
I raised the bow, already reaching for Auto-Dodge.macro in the menu. The beast was too fast. I wouldn't get the shot off in time.
[Activate Auto-Dodge.macro? Cost: 5 Gold]
Y
[Auto-Dodge.macro Activated – 1x Fatal Attack Evasion – Gold Remaining: 1]
Time didn't slow. But I moved before I could think.
The moment the beast leapt—six limbs spread wide, jaws open, glitch-fire trailing from its mouth—I sidestepped like I'd rehearsed it a hundred times. Smooth, perfect, effortless. It flew past, just inches from tearing me in half.
The cheat moved me like I was on rails.
The world caught up half a second later.
I spun, notched an arrow, loosed it blind.
The shot missed. I wasn't using Aimbot this time. Couldn't afford it.
But the beast crashed into a tree, snarling, turning too fast—its limbs catching on each other. It stumbled. It glitched again, like it couldn't decide what direction it was supposed to be facing.
Lyra was suddenly beside me, breathless, eyes wide. "That dodge—how did you—?"
I didn't answer. Couldn't. The Cheat Engine flickered again, and a new warning appeared across my vision:
[Anomaly Detected – Entity "Elias" Alive]
[WARNING: Dual Occupancy Imminent]
My stomach dropped.
"What does that mean?" I whispered.
Then, somewhere nearby, I heard it.
Someone screaming.
With my voice.
The scream echoed through the trees.
It sounded like me.
But it wasn't.
I stood frozen for half a second, breath caught in my throat. Lyra turned toward the sound, face tightening.
"That voice…" she said. "It sounded like—"
"Me," I finished, jaw clenched. "Yeah. I heard it too."
The Cheat Engine flickered again, glitching across my vision.
The scream echoed through the trees, twisting through the static haze like feedback from a busted mic.
It sounded like me. For half a second, it rattled something deep in my gut. But then the Cheat Engine flickered back online, glitchy but legible:
[Anomaly Resolved: False Echo – Transfer Residue]
[Cognitive Control: 100% Stable]
So it wasn't me.
Just noise. System debris. Like my existence here left a crack in the code.
"Just a glitch," I muttered under my breath. "Stay focused."
The corrupted beast was still circling, limping slightly from the last shot I landed. But it wasn't alone anymore. Shadows moved in the treeline. At first I thought more monsters—but then I saw the others.
The rogues.
The three who had been holding the line before I stepped in. One of them still had blood streaking down his chest, being dragged by another. The third, the tall one with the dual swords, was waving them in broad arcs, keeping the smaller beasts at bay.
He turned toward us. "You two, get out of here! We'll hold—"
The corrupted beast roared.
And then everything went to hell.
It moved faster than before—like it had adapted. One glitching lunge, and it was on them.
The one dragging his friend didn't even have time to scream. Claws tore through him like wet paper. The tall rogue turned, tried to fight—but his blades passed right through the beast like it wasn't fully synced to reality.
Then it became real enough to kill him.
One swipe. Gone.
The girl beside me—the one who'd been calm, composed, steady—choked on a breath. I looked over just in time to see her eyes go wide, her face crumple.
"No—"
I grabbed her arm. "We have to go."
"They were—" she started, but the words caught in her throat. Her gaze stayed locked on the clearing, on the blood now soaking the dirt.
"I know," I said, softer now. "I'm sorry. But we're next if we don't move."
The corrupted beast raised its head. It saw us.
I didn't wait.
I yanked her back, and we ran.
Through the trees. Down a slope slick with moss and mud. Branches whipped past. She stumbled once, but I caught her. I didn't let go.
Behind us, I could hear the thing chasing. No footsteps. Just this terrible buzzing, like the sound of an overloaded speaker grinding itself to death.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?" I called over my shoulder.
She didn't answer.
But she kept running.
The forest thickened, shadows rising like smoke. The cheat interface in my vision blinked erratically—no gold left, no cheats available.
Just me, a bow, and a stranger with a shattered weapon and the weight of three dead friends dragging behind her.
After what felt like forever, the sound started to fade.
Either we'd lost it—or it had stopped chasing.
We collapsed near a stream, hidden under a cluster of thick roots. I was panting so hard my chest felt like it was trying to explode. She leaned forward, hands on her knees, eyes glassy and unfocused.
Silence.
Then, finally, she spoke. Quiet. Flat.
"They're dead."
I didn't say anything.
Because she was right.
She sat down hard, arms wrapped around her knees. The moonlight hit her face through the trees—just enough for me to see the way her jaw trembled, even though she wasn't crying.
I wanted to ask her name.
But it didn't feel right.
So instead, I sat beside her.
No cheats. No plan.
And for the first time since arriving in this glitched-out hell of a world…
I felt helpless.