(voice-over) Kaien opened his inventory again. The Mystery Trinket pulsed faintly, emitting that eerie heartbeat sound, like a flickering heartbeat of code counting down to doom. He hesitated, hovering over it, as if touching it might trigger another “surprise server disaster”.
(inner thought) Responsible? Me? That trinket is basically a ticking plot device. Probably something that’s going to make me scream in thirty seconds.
(voice-over) Nyra’s eyes tracked the cracked skyline again, her hand brushing the tip of her longsword. She didn’t speak, but Kaien could almost hear the silent code running through her mind, analyzing every frame of this unstable world.
Nyra: ‘Follow me. North Gate isn’t far, but the path will be… tricky.’
(Kaien’s Pov) Tricky. That’s the gamer code for “expe
