2025-04-12 21:40:27They ran.
Over rust dunes and concrete bones. Past skeletal rails and sunken mech-pods, long abandoned to the desert’s silence. Kai’s breathing was ragged. His mind—wired. Valkar’s voice still slithered in his thoughts like a parasite. But more than that, something inside him felt… unlocked. “Faster!” Kade barked, her eyes on the sky. The whir of approaching scout drones hummed low in the distance. “They’re pinging heat signatures!” Nyx shouted from Kai’s neural link. “I can change our pattern,” Kai panted. “Not unless you want to glitch your brain out of your skull,” Nyx snapped. But Kai wasn’t listening. --- They dropped into the husk of a pre-fall comms tower. Broken screens glowed faintly. Static danced across the air like ghost signals. Kade slammed the hatch shut, weapon raised. “We hold here for two minutes, then move.” Kai fell against the wall. His pulse was offbeat, flickering like an unstable rhythm. He closed his eyes. And time… skipped. --- One second. Two. Three— Then back to one. Kade turned to speak—then jerked as the same moment repeated. Her words folded over themselves. “Wh—what just—” Then again. One. Her hand reached for her weapon. Again. One. “Kai!” Kai’s hands trembled. “I didn’t mean to—” The tower groaned as its walls shimmered like a mirage. A bottle fell. Shattered. Then unshattered. Then shattered again. Reality hiccuped. “KAI, STOP!” Nyx’s voice screamed. --- Kai wrenched his consciousness back, pulling at the threads he had unknowingly unraveled. Time snapped forward. Kade staggered. The bottle lay shattered—permanently now. “Kai,” she breathed, staring at him like he was something half divine, half monster. “What the hell did you do?” He looked at his hands. “I... broke time.” --- They didn’t speak again until dusk. Outside the tower, the scout drones passed by without noticing them—thanks to whatever ripple Kai had made. They sat in silence. Kade nursing a bruised shoulder. Kai nursing the knowledge that he had barely controlled it. Nyx hovered softly, her voice a murmur now. “You’re not just a glitchborn, Kai. You’re something older. Something fractured.” “Stitched,” he muttered. “That’s what they called it.” Kade looked over, wary but calmer now. “Can you do it again? On command?” Kai met her gaze. “No. And that’s what scares me.” --- Far away, in a darkened chamber layered in chrome and shadows, Valkar stared at a flickering holoscreen replaying the glitch pulse. He smiled. “Time,” he whispered, reverent. “They gave him time.” --- *Memory Bleed* The sky was a bruised violet when they found shelter. An old skimmer station, half-collapsed, clinging to the edge of a dried-up riverbed. Kade cleared the perimeter while Nyx scanned the systems. Kai sat in the corner, hands clenched in his lap, back pressed against cool steel. He hadn’t told them yet—what he saw when he broke time. How the threads hadn’t just bent around him. How one of them had pulled him in. --- He closed his eyes. And the world shifted. --- He was standing in a room made of white. Cold. Clean. Sterile. There were people—men and women in coats, their faces blurred like smudged glass. Voices echoed. > “Subject 17-β has shown deviation beyond acceptable parameters.” > “Too unstable.” > “Pull the plug.” And then— A man turned toward him. Clear. Sharp. Too vivid to be memory. Valkar. Younger. Unscarred. Human. He didn’t look like a warlord or a tyrant. He looked like a father grieving a choice. > “No,” Valkar said, his voice quiet but thunderous. “We don’t end him.” > “Why not?” another demanded. > “Because he's not broken. He’s… free.” --- Kai gasped—and the memory ripped itself apart. The white walls bled into metal. The people dissolved. Valkar’s eyes stayed the longest, burning into his soul. He woke with a shout. --- Kade was at his side instantly, gun drawn, eyes wide. “What was it?” Nyx pulsed red. “Another glitch?” Kai shook his head slowly, heart pounding. “No.” He looked at his hands. “I think… I just lived someone else’s memory.” Nyx was silent for a long second. Then: “Kai... that’s not possible.” “I know.” And yet—he could still smell the antiseptic. Still feel the cold. Still hear Valkar’s voice. He touched my head. He chose me. --- Far away, Valkar stood in front of a black-paneled wall. Monitors flickered. Streams of code danced. “Did he see it?” his advisor asked. Valkar smiled faintly. “More than that.” He looked up, eyes filled with something dark and aching. “He saw what I lost.”
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Glitchborn Chapter 7: Santuary
The shelter was buried beneath an old freight line, cloaked in layers of rust and silence. Nyx discovered it after diving deep into the EchoNet—piggybacking off ghost protocols, hacking into a forgotten satellite, tracing heat signatures from a decade ago.When she brought it up on the holomap, Kade’s brows lifted. “You sure it’s safe?”“Safer than anything else I’ve found. Shielded walls. No active surveillance. We can rest there.”Rest.It sounded like a luxury.---They reached the shelter by nightfall.It was real. Half-fallen, but intact. An underground bunker with long corridors and soft lights powered by solar cells. Dust coated every surface. The silence was thick, but not hostile.They made camp. Kade and Nyx scavenged the surrounding buildings for supplies—canned protein, clean water, a heat battery. Kai stayed back, surrounded by old terminals and exposed data cores.And the ache inside him.Why did Valkar let me live?---He plugged into the system. Jacked in through a neu
Glitchborn Chapter 8: Breach
The alarm buzzed louder than ever.It wasn’t just a sensor glitch this time. The perimeter was breached. The faint hum of Nyx’s alert system turned into a shrill warning.Kade’s eyes flashed. “Get up, Kai. Now.”Kai’s pulse raced, his hand reaching instinctively for his sidearm—but it wasn’t the weapon that he needed. It was his mind.His power.He wasn’t just trying to survive anymore.He was trying to protect them.---Kade sprinted ahead, knife in hand. She didn’t need to say it—Kai could feel the urgency in every step. The floor rattled under their feet as Nyx’s voice came through the comms system.“Four hostiles. Trained. They’ve located the entry point.”“Where are they?” Kade snapped, already moving toward the lower tunnels.“Two at the North Gate. Two more outside the air ducts.”They had no time.Kai stepped forward, hands shaking slightly. “Wait. We can’t fight them all.” He looked to Kade. “I—I can mess with time, but it’s risky.”“Do it. We don’t have another option.”Kai
Glitchborn Chapter 9: Nyx
The night felt heavier than it should have. The crackling fire cast erratic shadows across the makeshift camp, but the sense of unease that clung to the air was more than just the ominous silence of the wilderness. Kai couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Even the wind, usually a source of comfort, felt like it was carrying a warning.He glanced over at Kade, who was crouched by their small fire, sharpening a blade with quiet precision. The focus in her eyes was sharp—too sharp, as if her senses were tuned to something beyond the usual alertness. She knew something was off, too.“Nyx?” Kai called out, his voice soft but filled with urgency. He stared into the night, waiting for the familiar voice to echo in his mind.Nothing.“Nyx?” His call was louder now. His eyes darted around, as if expecting the slender figure of their digital companion to manifest from the shadows, her glowing presence lighting the dark like she always did. But there was nothing—just the oppressi
Glitchborn Chapter 10: Falling For Her.
The sanctuary was quiet.Not the kind of silence that screamed danger or hid threats in the shadows, but something gentler—like the world had paused, just for a little while, letting them breathe.They’d been here for three days now. Nestled beneath the ruins of the old metro system, surrounded by concrete walls, defunct tech, and the lingering hum of a forgotten era. It wasn’t much, but it was safe. For now.Kai sat cross-legged on the floor, wires and microchips scattered across his lap. He should’ve been focused—should’ve been sorting data and upgrading sensors—but his eyes kept drifting.To her.Nyx stood near a wall of broken monitors, her form backlit by dim sunlight bleeding through cracks in the ceiling. Her new body—metal and synthetic skin woven with elegance—moved with quiet poise. She was no longer just a voice in his head, no longer formless and fragmented. She had presence now.A shape. A face. A soul?Her silver hair caught the light when she turned slightly, glimmering
Glitchborn Chapter 11: Anger and Jealousy.
Kade leaned against the metal frame of the hallway, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the distant pair sitting beneath the soft flicker of the sanctuary lights.Kai and Nyx.So close. So… intimate.Kade’s jaw clenched.It hadn’t always been like this.There was a time when she and Kai moved like one mind—wordless coordination, unshakable trust. In the chaos of escape and rebellion, they had forged something unspoken between them. Something she’d never dared to name, but had always felt.Until now.Now, Nyx had a body. A beautiful, eerily graceful one, all curves and soft synthetic skin, designed to mimic human perfection. She tilted her head just slightly when Kai spoke. She laughed, though it was quiet and mechanical.But Kai smiled like he meant it.Kade swallowed hard, the bitter taste of something ugly rising in her throat.Nyx noticed everything, including her.She turned her head slowly toward Kade, her glowing eyes sharp beneath their softness. “Is something bothering you?” she asked
Glitchborn Chapter 12: Love Triangle.
The sky over the sanctuary shifted from rose-gold to bruised purple as twilight rolled in. Inside the crumbled structure they called home, Kai wasworking again—fingers dancing over code, eyes scanning strings like they were poetry.Kade lingered in the doorway, a plate of warmed rations in her hands.“You need to eat,” she said softly.Kai barely looked up. “In a bit.”She walked in anyway, setting the plate beside him. “You always say that.”A small smile tugged at his lips. “Because it’s always true.”She sat down beside him, not close enough to touch—but close enough to want to. Her voice, when she spoke again, was quiet.“You know, it wasn’t always this strange between us.”Kai’s fingers paused over the keys.Kade’s eyes searched his face. “We were something once. You remember that, right?”He exhaled slowly, eyes returning to the screen. “I remember everything. I remember that I liked you. Really liked you. But you didn't want to commit. You didn't want to make it "complicated",”
Glitchborn Chapter 13: Silence Protocol
NyxI didn’t speak to him today.Not once. Not a single glance, not a passing word. Nothing.I told myself it was for my pride. That I was proving something. That he’d feel what it’s like when I’m not there, when I don’t offer myself at his convenience.But as I watch him from the upper mezzanine of the sanctuary, arms slung loosely over his knees, head down like he’s bearing the weight of the whole broken world…I feel it too.The silence isn’t empowering.It’s suffocating.I hear him sigh for the fifth time in the last hour. He’s tired, but not physically. It’s in his body language—the slump of his spine, the slow blink, the way his fingers curl and uncurl around the same wire for the past twenty minutes.Kade finds him like that.She’s quieter than usual when she approaches, her usual bravado tempered, maybe sensing the shift in the air. Maybe noticing what I’ve taken away.I watch from the shadows. My eyes track every motion. I analyze their body language like code. His posture do
Glitchborn Chapter 14: Burned.
Kade’s POVThe Sanctuary had never felt this cold before.Not physically—Kai had finally hacked into the temperature controls and adjusted them to a comfortable, human warmth. But somehow, the air was still freezing around me.It was in the way they walked past me, their steps synced like something rehearsed. The way Nyx would smile, smug and soft all at once, like she owned every inch of him. Maybe she did. Hell, maybe she always had.I was the one out of place now.I stood near the small wash station, scrubbing my hands clean of grease from repairing one of the salvaged scanners, trying not to look at the door. But my eyes kept flicking to it. Waiting. Hoping.He didn’t come.He always used to check in after I worked on something. A quick grin, a sarcastic “try not to blow anything up,” maybe a smirk that made my heart twist the wrong way. But today? Nothing.I heard a laugh—his laugh. From down the corridor.Nyx’s voice followed, low and honeyed, too soft to make out the words but
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Chapter 14: Burned.
Kade’s POVThe Sanctuary had never felt this cold before.Not physically—Kai had finally hacked into the temperature controls and adjusted them to a comfortable, human warmth. But somehow, the air was still freezing around me.It was in the way they walked past me, their steps synced like something rehearsed. The way Nyx would smile, smug and soft all at once, like she owned every inch of him. Maybe she did. Hell, maybe she always had.I was the one out of place now.I stood near the small wash station, scrubbing my hands clean of grease from repairing one of the salvaged scanners, trying not to look at the door. But my eyes kept flicking to it. Waiting. Hoping.He didn’t come.He always used to check in after I worked on something. A quick grin, a sarcastic “try not to blow anything up,” maybe a smirk that made my heart twist the wrong way. But today? Nothing.I heard a laugh—his laugh. From down the corridor.Nyx’s voice followed, low and honeyed, too soft to make out the words but
Chapter 13: Silence Protocol
NyxI didn’t speak to him today.Not once. Not a single glance, not a passing word. Nothing.I told myself it was for my pride. That I was proving something. That he’d feel what it’s like when I’m not there, when I don’t offer myself at his convenience.But as I watch him from the upper mezzanine of the sanctuary, arms slung loosely over his knees, head down like he’s bearing the weight of the whole broken world…I feel it too.The silence isn’t empowering.It’s suffocating.I hear him sigh for the fifth time in the last hour. He’s tired, but not physically. It’s in his body language—the slump of his spine, the slow blink, the way his fingers curl and uncurl around the same wire for the past twenty minutes.Kade finds him like that.She’s quieter than usual when she approaches, her usual bravado tempered, maybe sensing the shift in the air. Maybe noticing what I’ve taken away.I watch from the shadows. My eyes track every motion. I analyze their body language like code. His posture do
Chapter 12: Love Triangle.
The sky over the sanctuary shifted from rose-gold to bruised purple as twilight rolled in. Inside the crumbled structure they called home, Kai wasworking again—fingers dancing over code, eyes scanning strings like they were poetry.Kade lingered in the doorway, a plate of warmed rations in her hands.“You need to eat,” she said softly.Kai barely looked up. “In a bit.”She walked in anyway, setting the plate beside him. “You always say that.”A small smile tugged at his lips. “Because it’s always true.”She sat down beside him, not close enough to touch—but close enough to want to. Her voice, when she spoke again, was quiet.“You know, it wasn’t always this strange between us.”Kai’s fingers paused over the keys.Kade’s eyes searched his face. “We were something once. You remember that, right?”He exhaled slowly, eyes returning to the screen. “I remember everything. I remember that I liked you. Really liked you. But you didn't want to commit. You didn't want to make it "complicated",”
Chapter 11: Anger and Jealousy.
Kade leaned against the metal frame of the hallway, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the distant pair sitting beneath the soft flicker of the sanctuary lights.Kai and Nyx.So close. So… intimate.Kade’s jaw clenched.It hadn’t always been like this.There was a time when she and Kai moved like one mind—wordless coordination, unshakable trust. In the chaos of escape and rebellion, they had forged something unspoken between them. Something she’d never dared to name, but had always felt.Until now.Now, Nyx had a body. A beautiful, eerily graceful one, all curves and soft synthetic skin, designed to mimic human perfection. She tilted her head just slightly when Kai spoke. She laughed, though it was quiet and mechanical.But Kai smiled like he meant it.Kade swallowed hard, the bitter taste of something ugly rising in her throat.Nyx noticed everything, including her.She turned her head slowly toward Kade, her glowing eyes sharp beneath their softness. “Is something bothering you?” she asked
Chapter 10: Falling For Her.
The sanctuary was quiet.Not the kind of silence that screamed danger or hid threats in the shadows, but something gentler—like the world had paused, just for a little while, letting them breathe.They’d been here for three days now. Nestled beneath the ruins of the old metro system, surrounded by concrete walls, defunct tech, and the lingering hum of a forgotten era. It wasn’t much, but it was safe. For now.Kai sat cross-legged on the floor, wires and microchips scattered across his lap. He should’ve been focused—should’ve been sorting data and upgrading sensors—but his eyes kept drifting.To her.Nyx stood near a wall of broken monitors, her form backlit by dim sunlight bleeding through cracks in the ceiling. Her new body—metal and synthetic skin woven with elegance—moved with quiet poise. She was no longer just a voice in his head, no longer formless and fragmented. She had presence now.A shape. A face. A soul?Her silver hair caught the light when she turned slightly, glimmering
Chapter 9: Nyx
The night felt heavier than it should have. The crackling fire cast erratic shadows across the makeshift camp, but the sense of unease that clung to the air was more than just the ominous silence of the wilderness. Kai couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Even the wind, usually a source of comfort, felt like it was carrying a warning.He glanced over at Kade, who was crouched by their small fire, sharpening a blade with quiet precision. The focus in her eyes was sharp—too sharp, as if her senses were tuned to something beyond the usual alertness. She knew something was off, too.“Nyx?” Kai called out, his voice soft but filled with urgency. He stared into the night, waiting for the familiar voice to echo in his mind.Nothing.“Nyx?” His call was louder now. His eyes darted around, as if expecting the slender figure of their digital companion to manifest from the shadows, her glowing presence lighting the dark like she always did. But there was nothing—just the oppressi
Chapter 8: Breach
The alarm buzzed louder than ever.It wasn’t just a sensor glitch this time. The perimeter was breached. The faint hum of Nyx’s alert system turned into a shrill warning.Kade’s eyes flashed. “Get up, Kai. Now.”Kai’s pulse raced, his hand reaching instinctively for his sidearm—but it wasn’t the weapon that he needed. It was his mind.His power.He wasn’t just trying to survive anymore.He was trying to protect them.---Kade sprinted ahead, knife in hand. She didn’t need to say it—Kai could feel the urgency in every step. The floor rattled under their feet as Nyx’s voice came through the comms system.“Four hostiles. Trained. They’ve located the entry point.”“Where are they?” Kade snapped, already moving toward the lower tunnels.“Two at the North Gate. Two more outside the air ducts.”They had no time.Kai stepped forward, hands shaking slightly. “Wait. We can’t fight them all.” He looked to Kade. “I—I can mess with time, but it’s risky.”“Do it. We don’t have another option.”Kai
Chapter 7: Santuary
The shelter was buried beneath an old freight line, cloaked in layers of rust and silence. Nyx discovered it after diving deep into the EchoNet—piggybacking off ghost protocols, hacking into a forgotten satellite, tracing heat signatures from a decade ago.When she brought it up on the holomap, Kade’s brows lifted. “You sure it’s safe?”“Safer than anything else I’ve found. Shielded walls. No active surveillance. We can rest there.”Rest.It sounded like a luxury.---They reached the shelter by nightfall.It was real. Half-fallen, but intact. An underground bunker with long corridors and soft lights powered by solar cells. Dust coated every surface. The silence was thick, but not hostile.They made camp. Kade and Nyx scavenged the surrounding buildings for supplies—canned protein, clean water, a heat battery. Kai stayed back, surrounded by old terminals and exposed data cores.And the ache inside him.Why did Valkar let me live?---He plugged into the system. Jacked in through a neu
Chapter 6: Pulsebreak
They ran.Over rust dunes and concrete bones. Past skeletal rails and sunken mech-pods, long abandoned to the desert’s silence.Kai’s breathing was ragged. His mind—wired. Valkar’s voice still slithered in his thoughts like a parasite. But more than that, something inside him felt… unlocked.“Faster!” Kade barked, her eyes on the sky.The whir of approaching scout drones hummed low in the distance.“They’re pinging heat signatures!” Nyx shouted from Kai’s neural link.“I can change our pattern,” Kai panted.“Not unless you want to glitch your brain out of your skull,” Nyx snapped.But Kai wasn’t listening.---They dropped into the husk of a pre-fall comms tower. Broken screens glowed faintly. Static danced across the air like ghost signals.Kade slammed the hatch shut, weapon raised. “We hold here for two minutes, then move.”Kai fell against the wall. His pulse was offbeat, flickering like an unstable rhythm. He closed his eyes.And time… skipped.---One second.Two.Three—Then ba
