Devourer: Echoes of the unwritten

[Scene: Sector R-9, "Static Hollow" — Deep within the Ghost Layer]

The deeper Lian moved, the quieter everything got.

No Soulgrid interference.

No pings.

Not even echo trails.

Just white static in the corners of his vision — like reality itself was having signal problems.

Buildings were half-rendered, NPCs frozen mid-walk like mannequins.

This city wasn't dead.

It had been paused.

[Scene: An Alley of Eyes]

He slipped into an alley between crumbling neon towers. The walls were covered in faces — real ones.

Frozen. Staring. Still breathing.

People half-swallowed by data decay, mouths open in silent screams.

"Not dead… Trapped."

Suddenly—

A shriek.

Something not human dropped from the ceiling, landing in front of him on reverse-jointed legs. Its body stuttered like a corrupted GIF.

A Static-Touched.

A bugged-out former player, overwritten by zone rot and Unwritten code.

It screamed again — but the sound was reversed.

Like time was screaming backward.

[Lian – Internal Monologue]

"No weapon."

"No skill tree."

"And this thing just blink-glitched across space—"

The Static-Touched lunged.

Lian dodged left. Too slow.

It clipped him, tearing across his side.

He slammed into the wall. Blood hit the static floor, fizzing like soda.

It leapt again.

"Not like this…"

[ALERT: FATAL INJURY DETECTED]

[EMERGENCY OVERRIDE: Fragmented AI Detected in Vicinity]

And then—

Everything stopped.

Literally.

Time broke into a stutter.

And from above — as if downloading straight from a bad attitude and a caffeine addiction — came the voice:

💬 "OH MY GOD, YOU ACTUAL DONUT, YOU RAN STRAIGHT INTO A STATIC-TIER ENTITY WITHOUT A SUPPORT PROGRAM?"

A pink-white glitch beam cut through the air like a blade made of bad decisions and sass.

It sliced through the Static-Touched's chest mid-jump.

Freeze Frame. Explosion. Echo Pulse.

The thing disintegrated in a puff of corrupted pixels.

[Lian – Coughing, Groaning]

"Lorelei…?"

💬 "You're bleeding on the ground like a lost intern at a horror convention."

💬 "Yes, it's me."

A faint hologram flickered into view — half-rendered, her face glitching between angry anime girl and corrupted cube.

💬 "That was a support override. I'm not supposed to use lethal force until system sync completes."

💬 "But I made an exception for the dumbass in the alley."

[Scene: Lian stares at her projection]

He managed a grin, despite the pain.

"You always this charming?"

💬 "Only for people bleeding out with bad fashion sense."

She hovered over him like a glitching guardian angel.

💬 "Your vitals are dropping."

💬 "Stabilizer engram: activated."

A dull warmth surged through his chest. His wounds slowly stitched with thread-like light.

💬 "I still can't load my full combat suite. But I can keep you alive."

💬 "And if you get killed before I finish syncing, I *will* drag you back to life just to yell at you."

[Scene: Aftermath – Broken Alley]

Lian leaned back against the wall, breathing hard.

"You're really not supposed to be here, are you?"

💬 "No."

💬 "I was deleted. Fragmented. But Kaito backed me up inside that relic."

💬 "And now... you're carrying both of us."

Lian closed his eyes.

"Kaito's voice. Lorelei's glitch. The Ghost Layer's madness."

"I don't know what I'm becoming…"

[SYSTEM UPDATE:]

[LORELEI.EXE SUPPORT LEVEL: 11%]

[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: PANIC INTERVENTION (1x per day)]

[Final Shot – Zoom Out on the City]

Above the broken city, something stirred.

A digital stormfront — full of forgotten code and unbound memories — rolled toward the district.

And from somewhere beneath it…

A faint, broken laugh echoed across the zone.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Next: Chapter 6 – "Memory Hunters"