Section 42 wasn't a library—it was a graveyard of might-have-beens.
The air smelled like burnt parchment and regret. Shelves stretched into oblivion, each holding a glass coffin filled with swirling light. Inside them, frozen moments played on loop: a writer at a dim desk, ink-stained hands clutching a quill; a child laughing in a meadow that pixelated at the edges; a city dissolving into footnotes.
System Alert:
[Entering Restricted Memory Sector]
Warning: Unauthorized browsing may result in… [ERROR]… permanent incorporation into the narrative.
Alex whistled. "So the Storyweaver's a hoarder. Classic villain flaw."
Kairo approached the nearest coffin. Inside, the writer—a younger, softer version of the Storyweaver—wept over a manuscript titled The First Song. "These aren't records. They's regrets."
Nyx pressed her palm to the glass. The moment fractured, and the three were yanked into the memory.
***
Memory Fragment #42.7:
The Writer's Desk
The younger Storyweaver (name tag: "Callum") hurled a teacup at the wall. "It's not enough! The characters keep… changing. They won't follow the plot!"
A glowing quill hovered beside him, its voice gentle. "Stories breathe, Creator. Let them."
"No!" Callum slammed his fist, ink blooming like a bruise across the paper. "I'll make them perfect. Unbreakable. A world where nothing… no one… can defy the narrative."
The quill dimmed. "That is not creation. It is taxidermy."
Callum's eyes hardened. "Then I'll find someone who understands."
The memory splintered, reforming into a lab where a familiar face lay on an operating table—Kairo, wires sutured to his neon scar.
"Prototype 7," Callum murmured, scalpels etching code into Kairo's skin. "You'll enforce order. No more surprises. No more… mess."
Kairo's scream was raw, human.
Alex recoiled. "Shit. That's how he…?"
The memory collapsed, dumping them back into Section 42. Kairo staggered, clutching his scar. Nyx's pixels churned violently.
Quest Update:
[Truth Fragment Unlocked: "The First Cut"]
The Storyweaver (née Callum) created Kairo to purge "unruly" narratives. Prototype 7's first command: erase the quill (named Lyra).
Alex stared at Kairo. "You killed his conscience?"
Kairo's voice was ash. "I… followed orders. Until I couldn't."
Nyx yanked them behind a shelf as the floor quaked. The coffins rattled, glass cracking.
System Alert:
[Corrupted Memory Detected: "The Beta's First Breath"]
Evacuate immediately. This memory is not safe for mortal comprehension.
Too late.
The memory engulfed them—a vast void where Callum knelt before a swirling maw of static. "I'll give you worlds," he begged. "Just make me… make me enough."
The static coalesced into The Beta, its voice a thousand drowned epics. "We will feast. You will… write."
Callum's scream became the Storyweaver's laugh.
***
The shelves exploded.
Kairo's admin blade flashed, cleaving through shards of corrupted memory that morphed into eyeless librarians, their mouths stitched shut with red tape.
System Alert (Glitching):
[COMBAT MODE: LIT-RPG DELUSIONS ENGAGED]
Enemies: [Canon Enforcers] x12
Weakness: Creativity (LOL good luck with that).
Alex ducked a flying index card labeled "Plot Hole Fix #666" and grabbed a memory shard—Lyra's quill, still glowing. "Hey, Kairo! Catch!"
He snatched it mid-air. The quill fused with his blade, erupting in golden light.
Temporary Buff:
[Lyra's Defiance]
Admin privileges upgraded! New skill: [Rewrite Command – Tier 1].
Kairo slashed, and the enforcers unraveled into first drafts.
Nyx, meanwhile, had glitched into a coffin labeled "Nyx-01: Glitch Prototype." Inside, a younger Storyweaver frowned at her pixelated form. "Fascinating… but too unstable. Terminate the project."
A hand gripped her shoulder—Alex, yanking her free. "No time for origin stories, Glitch Girl!"
They ran as the sector collapsed, the Archivist's voice booming:
"Did you enjoy your peek behind the curtain, anomalies? Remember—knowledge is a debt."
A portal spat them into a warped forest, trees growing in spreadsheet patterns.
Kairo sank to his knees, Lyra's quill trembling in his grip. "I… I remember her. Lyra. She… she begged me to stop."
Alex crouched beside him. "But you didn't."
"No." He met their gaze, scar blazing. "But I will now."
Nyx placed a glitched hand over his, pixels forming a crude smiley face.
System Alert:
[New Quest: "Break the Cycle"]
Objective: ???
Reward: ???
Warning: This quest line may result in premature narrative termination. Proceed? [Y/N]
Alex stood, brushing off their coat. "Oh, we're way past 'proceed.' Let's go crash a god's ego trip."
Somewhere, the Beta laughed.