Anchor Protocol
1197 Words
(voice-over) Somewhere far from Graviel Outpost, past the cracked sky Kaien stared at, a very different kind of chaos was unfolding. Rows of electronic monitors filled Eidolon Interactive Headquarters, each displaying a different shard of Eidolon Nexus: combat logs, economic balancing graphs, and a staggering list of unresolved bug tickets that scrolled faster than anyone could read. Radiant lights flickered overhead; a shimmering mimicry of Graviel’s fragile skyline.
[SYSTEM LOG: INTERNAL DEV DASHBOARD]
Warning: Nexus Breach Anomaly - Untracked Growth
Priority: Critical
Developer Override: Denied - Code Lockout Detected
Unknown observer: ‘That can’t be right…’ (mutters)
(voice-over) Riko Sanada, Lead Network Engineer, leaned back in her chair, coffee cup trembling in her hands. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and watched as red warnings flooded the dashboard.
Riko: ‘Jace, tell me you’re seeing this. That’s the fifth surge in ten minutes. Breach energy is spiking off the charts.’
(Introduction) Jace Orell, Systems Designer and self-proclaimed “Lord of Balance”, rolled over on his chair like a distracted cat, clutching a half-eaten sandwich. His monitor displayed Graviel’s skyline mid-flicker.
Jace: ‘Yeah, I’m seeing it. And I’m also seeing that someone... (glares toward the QA room) ... greenlit the Hollowfang event without patching the adaptive AI cap.’
(Introduction) Ava Turlow, QA Lead, poked her head in, dark circles under her eyes.
Ava: ‘Don’t look at me. My team flagged it. Twice. Your team said, and I quote, ‘Adaptive mobs are spicy content’.’
Jace: ‘Spicy sells.’ (grins)
Riko: ‘Spicy doesn’t explain why the Breach AI just refused my override.’
(voice-over) A quiet tremor coursed through the server banks, an almost-organic rhythm that made the room feel watched.
Riko: (inner thought) ‘This is impossible. The override key is hard-coded. Nothing in the build can...’
SYSTEM LOG: Unknown User Input Detected
Origin: N/A
Command: ANCHOR_PROTECTED
(voice-over) Riko’s fingers hovered over her keyboard.
Riko: ‘Who… who just pushed a protected command? There’s no dev logged in under that alias.’
Ava: ‘Maybe an outside intrusion? Hackers?’
Jace: ‘Or maybe the Breach’s learning algorithm just scheduled a strike.’
Ava: ‘Not funny, Jace.’
(voice-over) A bank of screens flickered, showing a bird’s-eye view of Graviel Outpost. Kaien Rook’s icon blinked erratically, his inventory flashing ERROR: Unknown Trinket.
Ava: ‘Is that… Kaien Rook? The inverted healer?’ (squints)
Jace: ‘Oh, not him again. What did he do now? Most problems we have encountered so far were because of him.’ (groans)
(Introduction) Junior Engineer Mara poked her head over a monitor. Her voice was careful but edged with alarm.
Mara: ‘Instability Index: 62%.’
Riko: ‘It wasn’t supposed to be that high. Not this early. This breach event wasn’t scheduled for another two cycles… unless…’
Mara: ‘Sir, four anomaly clusters have spawned inside safe zones. And…’
Jace: ‘And?’
Mara: (hesitating) ‘The adaptive AI flagged a nonstandard player profile.’
Jace: ‘Nonstandard?’ (frowns)
Mara: ‘Healer class. Callsign Kaien Rook. The logs can’t reconcile his combat output with healer permissions. It’s… rewriting itself around him. And he’s with… wait, who’s that? The swordswoman. ID isn’t resolving.’
(voice-over) Ava’s hands froze over the console. A single line of unauthorized code blinked on-screen.
>> TRACE ENTITY: NYRA_VAIL - ACCESS LEVEL: ROOT // MEMORY BACKLOG: LEGACY-BUILD
Jace: ‘… Root access? That’s impossible. The legacy build was purged years ago.’
Ava: ‘Then explain this.’
(voice-over) A new feed appeared: Nyra standing in the alley with Kaien, her crimson scarf flickering between rendered fabric and raw wireframe. Her username blinked between NYRA_VAIL and a string of corrupted symbols.
Jace (leaning forward): ‘That model… that’s not a current-generation asset. That’s pre-release code “alpha state”.’
Mara (nervously): ‘Sir, if alpha code is manifesting in the live server, the Breach event isn’t just a glitch. It’s… a data spillover.’
Rika: ‘Which means the game’s world is fusing old builds with the current one.’ (dryly)
(voice-over) The room fell silent except for the distant hum of the server racks. Somewhere in the back, an automated coffee machine gurgled, oblivious to the unraveling digital universe.
Ava (hardened voice): ‘Ok. For now, lock down the North Gate sector. Redirect the monitoring AI. And get me a secure line to the creative director. If Nyra’s still walking the server, she’s carrying memory fragments the Breach can exploit.’
(voice-over) Ava tapped a console, bringing up a side-by-side: one panel showed Kaien fumbling with his Mystery Trinket, the other displayed lines of corrupted code that seemed to react to his every move.
Jace: ‘Maybe the system’s using him as a failsafe.’
Riko: ‘Failsafe? He destroys healing potions by existing.’
Jace: ‘Exactly. He’s unpredictable. Maybe unpredictability is the only thing the Breach can’t calculate.’
SYSTEM: ‘Potential Anchor Candidate: Kaien Rook’
Mara: (hesitant) ‘What should we do about Kaien? His bug signature matches at least three instability spikes.’
Riko (slamming fist on console): ‘This isn’t a game anymore. If he dies in there; if the Breach consumes him...’
Ava: ‘Then Nexus dies too.’
Riko: ‘Yes. So, keep him alive. Whatever corrupted his class… it’s stabilizing the environment, somehow. Pull him out and the whole sector could implode.’
Jace: (scoffs) ‘We’re relying on a broken healer to hold the world together?’
Ava: ‘We don’t have any other choice.’
(voice-over) They gathered around Graviel’s 3D map, unstable code patches blinking like red ulcers.
Riko: ‘We push an emergency patch. Inject stabilizer scripts at the North Gate Rift.’
Jace: ‘Players will see that as a world event. Fine. But what about Nyra?’
Ava: ‘She’s… different. There are lines of original build code inside her avatar file that don’t match current assets.’
Riko: ‘Then she’s not just an NPC.’
Jace: (half-joking) ‘She’s the dev team’s ghost in the machine.’
Riko: ‘Or the Breach’s messenger.’
SYSTEM: ‘Developer Note - Warning: Core Memory Leak Detected in Sector “Vail_Nyra”.’
Ava: ‘…Sector Vail_Nyra? That’s not even a valid branch name.’
Riko: ‘It is now.’
(Introduction) Ava went upstairs, in a glass-walled conference room. There was sitting Director Elias Corven, the stoic head of Eidolon Nexus Interactive overlooking the server farm, was mid-call with the board. His suit was immaculate, but the deep lines on his forehead betrayed sleepless nights. She explained the situation to her.
Corven: ‘Ok. I understand the issue. Now the most important part is that we need a statement to explain this to the players.’
Ava: ‘I have an idea. How about the “Surprise event chain”?’
Corven: ‘Good idea. Tell the player base to group up, stay in safe zones, and await guidance.’
Ava: ‘Sir, what if the safe zones collapse?’
Corven: ‘Then pray the anchor holds.’
(voice-over) A deeper alarm buzzed low, insistent, like a heartbeat dragged through static. The ceiling lights flickered, briefly showing cracks of raw code crawling up the walls.
SYSTEM: ‘UNAUTHORIZED PROCESS DETECTED: LEGACY THREADS ACCESSING MAIN SERVER.’
SYSTEM: ‘Breach Instability Surge: +12%’
- Writer
