A City That Shouldn''t Exist
The twilight sky hung frozen above them, a silent testament to a broken world. Kieran followed the mysterious girl through the dense forest, his mind racing with unanswered questions. The trees were eerily still—not a single leaf rustled, not even the sound of distant wildlife. It was as if nature itself had gone dormant, caught in the same corrupted stasis as the rest of the world.
The girl moved swiftly, her silver hair flowing behind her like liquid light. Despite her graceful steps, her form glitched every few moments, as if she wasn’t fully anchored to this reality.
> "I still don’t know your name," Kieran finally said, breaking the silence.
The girl didn’t stop walking. For a long moment, she remained quiet, as if weighing whether to answer. Then, in a soft, almost melancholic voice, she spoke:
> "Seraphis."
Kieran narrowed his eyes. That name felt… important. Almost as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Before he could ask further, the forest thinned out, revealing a sight that made his breath hitch.
> A ruined city lay sprawled before them.
Massive, crumbling towers stood like dying sentinels, their structures half-dissolved into fragmented data. The streets were littered with floating chunks of broken reality, suspended in mid-air like shattered glass frozen in time. Buildings twisted in impossible angles, their walls melting into a sea of shifting pixels and half-rendered objects.
And in the center of it all stood a monolithic spire, its surface covered in pulsating red glyphs, like a warning sign etched into the world itself.
> "This… this isn’t normal corruption."
Seraphis nodded.
> "This place wasn’t supposed to exist."
Kieran clenched his fists. Then why does it?
His Administrator instincts flared, urging him to scan the ruins. With a thought, he summoned his interface.
> [System Scan: Active]
Processing…
Error. System Authority Insufficient.
Some Data May Be Corrupted or Unreadable.
Kieran frowned. He was supposed to be an Administrator—why was his access restricted?
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
> "What is this place?"
Seraphis hesitated. "A city from a timeline that was erased."
His heart skipped a beat.
> "What?"
Seraphis turned to him, her golden eyes glowing softly.
> "The System doesn’t just create worlds. It also deletes them."
A chill ran down Kieran’s spine.
> "You’re saying this world was meant to be… erased?"
Seraphis nodded. "But something went wrong. It wasn’t fully deleted. Instead, it became unstable, caught in an endless cycle of decay. And now…"
She turned her gaze toward the monolithic spire, her voice barely above a whisper.
> "Something is waking up inside it."
---
The Entity Beneath the Ruins
Kieran’s mind spun.
A city that shouldn’t exist. A world that was supposed to be deleted. And now, something inside this place was awakening?
> "If this city was erased, why does it still exist?"
Seraphis looked at him, her expression unreadable.
> "Because someone interfered with the System’s deletion protocols."
Kieran stiffened. That was impossible.
Only Administrators should have been able to manipulate the world at that level.
> "Who could have done that?"
Seraphis lowered her gaze. "That is what I need to find out."
Kieran exhaled sharply, his grip tightening. "And you brought me here because…?"
Seraphis met his eyes. "Because you are the last active Administrator."
Silence fell between them.
The last active Administrator.
Kieran swallowed. That meant all the other Administrators who once governed this world were either gone… or dead.
> "What do you need me to do?"
Seraphis glanced toward the monolithic spire, her expression grim.
> "We need to get inside before it’s too late."
---
Breaking Into the Spire
The closer they got to the spire, the worse the corruption became. The air buzzed with static distortions, and the very ground beneath their feet flickered between states of existence. Sometimes it was solid stone—other times, it was nothing but empty void.
> "Watch your step," Seraphis warned. "Some of these spaces don’t exist in reality."
Kieran grimaced. "Great. Walking on broken reality itself. No pressure."
Despite the crumbling nature of the city, strange constructs patrolled the ruins—glitched sentinels, humanoid figures composed of fractured code, their faces blank, their bodies shifting between shapes.
Seraphis narrowed her eyes. "Corrupted System Enforcers."
Kieran frowned. "The System has enforcers?"
Seraphis gave a bitter smile. "It did. But they’ve been repurposed."
She wasn’t wrong. The sentinels moved like automatons, their glowing red visors scanning the environment, searching for something. Their movements were jagged, almost robotic, but there was something off—as if they weren’t just following programming, but something more… malicious.
> "We need to move before they detect us."
Kieran nodded. Keeping low, he followed Seraphis through the ruins, careful to step only on stable ground. The sentinels didn’t react. They simply stood motionless, their heads twitching unnaturally every few seconds, scanning their surroundings.
And then, just as they reached the entrance of the spire—
One of the sentinels twitched violently before suddenly snapping its head in their direction.
> "Unauthorized Entity Detected."
"Administrator Signature Found."
"Initiating Immediate Elimination Protocols."
The sentinel lurched forward, moving far too fast for something that broken.
Kieran barely had time to react before a massive energy blade formed in its hand, crackling with unstable red code.
Seraphis cursed. "RUN!"
---
Administrator Combat: Activated
Kieran didn’t need to be told twice. He turned and sprinted toward the spire’s entrance, his pulse pounding. Behind him, the sentinel moved like a nightmare, its body phasing in and out of reality as it pursued them.
Kieran’s interface flickered.
> "Administrator Protocol: Emergency Combat Assistance Enabled."
"Deploying Temporary Weapon."
In an instant, a sleek, futuristic blade materialized in his hands—its edge shimmering with shifting data.
Kieran barely had time to appreciate it before the sentinel struck first.
The corrupted enforcer slashed downward, its massive energy blade aimed directly at Kieran’s head.
> "Dodge Timing Calculated: 0.3 Seconds."
Kieran moved without thinking, his body reacting faster than it should have. The energy blade missed him by mere inches, carving a deep gash into the ground.
With newfound confidence, Kieran counterattacked, his own blade moving in a precise arc—slicing clean through the sentinel’s arm.
> "Critical Hit."
"Damage Multiplier Applied."
The sentinel staggered, glitching violently.
But it didn’t stop moving.
> "Hostile Entity: Regenerating."
"Threat Level: High."
Kier
an gritted his teeth. This thing wasn’t going down easily.
> "Seraphis, any ideas?"
She glanced at the spire entrance—then back at him.
> "We don’t have to win. We just need to get inside."
Kieran exhaled sharply. "Then let’s move!"
With a final slash, he knocked the sentinel off balance. Then, without looking back, he sprinted toward the spire—toward whatever truth waited inside.
---
End of Chapter 3