CHAPTER 175: [SYSTEM GLITCH]

At first, it was subtle—just a flicker, barely noticeable despite the flood of notifications flashing in front of his eyes.

A faint distortion at the corner of his vision, like sunlight catching on cracked glass.

But then—it spread.

The familiar blue tint of the system interface warped. Colors bled into each other, dripping like wet ink on paper until the world itself began to fracture.

The trees shimmered, the air bent, and everything in his sight started glitching.

’System...?’

He barely got the thought out before thin, jagged lines of static ripped across his vision—fracturing everything.

The forest. The people. Even the light.

And then came the text.

Not the neat, sterile squares of text he was used to.

This was broken.

Corrupted.

Twitching violently in bursts of garbled symbols that looked like they were trying to claw their way into meaning.

[SYSTEM ERROR: #!a9&@8!UN$%LO@#D]

[SYSTEM ERROR: 9#1!##9@R%$^#@!!]

[SYSTEM ERROR: %$@#–!!!@9(#]

[SYSTEM ERROR: –––ORION–––]

Eli froze. His breath caught in his throat. "What...?"

"Eli?" Zaira’s voice sounded distant—muted, like she was speaking through glass. "Eli, what is it? Are you seeing something?"

He didn’t answer.

Couldn’t.

Because all he could focus on was the name flashing across his vision.

’It’s Orion... again.’

The word blinked once—gone—then came back, larger, bolder, almost screaming.

[SYSTEM ERROR: ##!$@&ORION#!@#!!!]

[SYSTEM ERROR: @@99!$8@#ORION##!]

The world shuddered.

The glitch lines that had been crawling through his sight burst outward, spreading into the air around him.

The distortion no longer stayed inside his mind—it was seeping into reality.

The trees flickered in and out of existence, their outlines splitting like reflections in shattered glass. The sky tore open in streaks of red and white light.

Sound itself warped—the whispers of wind and water replaced by sharp bursts of static that clawed at his ears.

Eli’s knees buckled. He clutched his head, fingers digging into his scalp as his pulse pounded so hard it hurt.

Every throb of his heartbeat sent another wave of distortion through the edges of his sight.

’What is happening?! Is... is Orion some kind of... thing?’

He didn’t even know what kind of thing he meant. The name had always felt like a ghost in the back of Elione’s memories—some distant lover, a whisper from a life that wasn’t his.

But now it didn’t feel like a name at all.

It felt like a trigger.

He blinked hard, trying to shake it off, but the errors didn’t fade. They multiplied.

Each flash grew brighter, closer—until the symbols burned into his vision, impossible to look away from.

[SYST##@!!EMERR@#O#R#–––ORION–––]

[#ERR!@#!R##$@!––O###RIO#N#@!]

[##!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!]

"Eli!"

The voice barely cut through the static. It sounded muffled, distant—like he was hearing it from underwater.

Mio’s voice.

Eli’s eyes snapped up, disoriented, but the world was still glitching. The lines of corruption crawled up the air itself, turning everything into a flickering blur.

He shook his head hard—once, twice—but the errors didn’t fade.

They multiplied.

Every time he exhaled, more of them appeared, crawling across the edges of his vision.

They weren’t screens anymore—they were everywhere.

The air.

The water.

Even the space between the trees.

And somewhere beneath all the chaos, he swore he heard it—a whisper.

Soft. Familiar.

"Wake up, Orion."

"Who..." Eli gripped his hair hard enough for his nails to scrape his scalp. His voice broke—half whisper, half gasp—as static still hummed around him like an invisible storm.

Who was Orion?

"My lovely Orion."

The voice came again. Gentle. Soft. The kind of tenderness that didn’t belong here—didn’t belong in a shattered forest full of flickering light and broken sound.

And yet, it was him.

The same man.

The same voice that haunted Elione’s memories.

But who was he?

Eli’s heart pounded painfully against his ribs, every beat syncing with the flickering of the glitching world around him.

His breath came shallow, ragged. The voice felt close, too close—like it was whispering directly into his mind, brushing against the edges of his thoughts.

’I don’t know who that man is.’

But why did it feel like he should?

His stomach turned. The forest warped again—color draining into pale hues, the air rippling like heat over sand.

It was definitely Elione’s lover. His past.

But how was it relevant?

Why was the system showing errors now—why this name, why this voice?

It had to mean something.

It had to.

But God, his head—his head—

The pain bloomed behind his eyes like fire, spreading through his skull until he thought it might split in two.

This wasn’t his ability reacting—this was something deeper, heavier. Something old.

The system.

The memories.The name.

Everything tangled together, an unbearable knot inside his mind.

"Oh, my Orion. My—"

"Hey! Eli!"

The voice—real this time—cut through the haze. Mio’s. Sharp, strained. Desperate.

"Eli! Are you okay?"

Through the static and the pain, Eli saw movement—Mio pushing through the warped air, his face pale but focused.

Eli tried to answer. He wanted to answer.

His lips parted, but no sound came out.

Air burned in his throat. His lungs felt tight, like they’d forgotten how to work. His vision wavered, the edges blurring into streaks of light.

He couldn’t stop shaking. His fingers clawed at the dirt, trembling so hard it made the ground beneath him look alive.

And still—beneath the roaring in his ears, beneath Mio’s voice calling his name—he heard it again.

That same voice.

Closer this time.

A whisper brushing against his thoughts like a lover’s breath.

"Come back, Orion."

Zaira’s silhouette appeared next—faint at first through the shimmer of light and static, her form outlined by the fractured air.

Her voice was firm but gentle, steady in a way that tried to anchor the chaos.

"He looks—Mio, he looks terrified."

"I know," Mio muttered tightly. His boots splashed against the wet ground as he crouched beside her, his hand half-raised.

"Zaira, help him up—"

"No!"

Eli’s voice cracked like a whip through the stillness. Raw, panicked, desperate.

He stumbled back, shaking his head violently, boots skidding through the mud. "Don’t touch me!"

Zaira froze mid-reach. Her hand hung between them, fingers trembling as her expression faltered from concern to confusion.

Eli squeezed his eyes shut. But it didn’t help.

The afterimages still burned behind his eyelids—blinding white flashes, streaks of code etched across his mind like scars that wouldn’t fade.

’Stop—please stop—’

The static only grew louder. It wasn’t just around him anymore—it was inside him. The noise crawled through his skull, threading through his thoughts, tearing them apart one by one.

[SYST@!#EMERR##OR#––O##R#I#O#N#––]

[#######!!##!##!##!##!##!##!##!##!##!##!##!]

[#@#ORION#@#ORION#@#ORION#@#ORION]

The repetition hit like hammers against his mind, each flash of ORION slicing through his vision.

It wasn’t just letters anymore—it felt like something was trying to break through.

He clutched his head tighter, knuckles white, nails digging into his scalp as his breath came in ragged bursts.

"I can’t— I can’t take it anymore."

Mio’s voice was sharp with panic. "What? Are you in pain? Eli, tell us—what’s happening?!"

Arman’s voice cut through next, clipped and cold. "What’s up with him now? First he says he can’t see Kairo and Caelen, now this?"

Zaira’s glare snapped toward him, fury flashing across her features.

"Can you not?" she hissed, her tone sharp enough to make him flinch.

Mel—quiet until now—spoke next, his voice unsteady but firm. "He’s been through a lot in this dungeon," he said, eyes flicking between them all.

"He’s been helping us since the start. Just—stop crowding him and let him breathe. Both our captains said the same thing before everything went to hell. So just...let him breathe."

The silence that followed was heavy.

Eli barely heard them.

His chest heaved, his vision flickering with light. His heartbeat was a thunderous, uneven rhythm in his ears.

He pressed a trembling hand to his sternum, feeling the pulse throb painfully beneath his skin.

’Why am I feeling like this? Why does my heart—feel like this?’

Each breath came harder, sharper. The static didn’t fade—it only wove deeper into his veins, crawling toward his heart like a living thing.

And under all of it... that whisper again.

Faint.

Loving.

Cruel.

"Don’t run from me, my Orion."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

The words tore out of Eli before he even realized he was shouting.

His voice cracked mid-yell—raw, hoarse, desperate. The sound bounced off the trees and rolled through the mist, echoing far louder than it should have.

Everyone froze.

Zaira flinched, her eyes widening. Mio’s head snapped up instantly, his entire posture tensing as he exchanged a startled glance with her.

The forest went silent. Even the faint hum of mana in the air seemed to pause, like the world itself was holding its breath.

Eli’s chest heaved. His throat burned from the force of his own voice, his pulse hammering painfully beneath his skin.

He didn’t even know who he was yelling at. The voice—the thing—it wasn’t even visible, but it felt close. Too close.

The static still crawled faintly in his ears, the whisper still echoing there.

"Don’t go, Orion. Please."

He gritted his teeth, shaking his head hard. "I said stop!"

His fingers curled into fists, trembling as he clutched at his shirt like he could rip the word out of himself. "That’s not my name!"

Zaira took a hesitant step forward. "Eli..." she whispered, her voice soft, uncertain.

But Eli didn’t move. His breathing was uneven, almost ragged. Sweat mixed with rain on his temple, trickling down as his shoulders shook.

Looking behind him, Mio’s voice broke the tension, wary but careful.

"...What are you doing?"

▒▓ ▀▄█ ⚠ ▄█▀ ▓▒

"We’re wasting time. Obviously something’s wrong with him." Caelen’s voice is low, sharp as he looks down at Eli, every syllable hard with irritation and something like worry.

’He looks crazy right now.’ Caelen thinks, watching the way Eli’s fingers tremble and his eyes flick too fast—too far from the Eli they know. He hates how small, how fragile Eli suddenly seems.

Not even the quiet they’d had alone could explain this. This isn’t nervous energy or a bad day—it’s the hollow, jagged kind of wrong that makes Caelen’s chest tighten.

Kairo steps forward, calm but taut. "What are you planning to do?" he asks, measuring. His eyes are on Caelen, but there’s ice under his question.

Caelen lets a smirk curl, half challenge, half desperate hope. "I’m going to try and attack him."

"WHAT?!"