REBOOOT: Glitch in the realm

“Welcome, Soul Fragment [REDACTED].

Please remain still while your essence is reconfigured.”

Darkness. Cold, shifting static.

A low hum like a machine breathing in its sleep.

“Rebooting consciousness layer… success.

Applying memory fog… success.

Neural bindings established.”

A pulse echoed through the void—warmth, confusion, a heartbeat restarting in a body that didn’t exist yet.

Then—light.

Aflickering figure, tall and fractured, stood before the void-born soul.

No face, only a jagged crown of glitching pixels where eyes should be.

“Ah… another one. You’re early.

”The voice warped like corrupted audio, equal parts code and godhood.

“I am the Gatekeeper, the Glitched God, the Error in the Architect’s plan.

Before you enter the Cosmic Layer, you must choose.”Floating before the soul, two glowing runes appeared, each humming with potential.

Flame twisted with shadow.

Light fractured into sound.

Skill Seed: [Echo fire]———> (fire type)

Skill Seed: [Null Thread]———> (dark type)

Skill Seed: [infinite mass]———> (Earth type)

Skill Seed: [Destructive beam]———> (Destruction type)

“Choose two. Combine. Create. Survive.”

The soul reached forward.

System Prompt: Customization Accepted. Generating Hybrid Tree…The Gatekeeper raised a hand, its fingers unraveling into strings of code.

“Remember this: the System lies. Not all stats can be trusted.

Not all gods are sane.”Then—[CRITICAL ERROR: SYSTEM SHUTDOWN INITIATED]

A siren wailed.

The void cracked like glass.

Reality blinked out of sync.

“Wait—what? No, not now—” the Gatekeeper’s voice was torn apart mid-sentence, spiraling into raw static.

BOOT FAILURE: ENTITY DISPLACED COMMENCINGCOSMIC DUMP.

Andthe soul fell through corrupted skies, glitching stars, and broken laws of physics—toward a world not meant to be seen.

Toward a story that had already been deleted.

(The novel will be based onMC’sPOV…and this being my first novel forgive me if I miss something)

[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]