CHAPTER 5

  Sleep (The Void)

  Bash's mind filled with thoughts of fire and screams. He wanted the reel to stop, but the Shard didn’t simulate sleep, just awareness stretched thin across digital night.

  “God,” he whispered. “I wish I could just sleep. Just turn it all off.”

  > “Sleep unsupported in current state.”

  The voice was faint. Feminine. Too precise to be human, and it shocked him to hear it again.

  “Shai, is that you?”

  > “Identifier confirmed. I am a Shard AI Virtual Assistant. Designation: Shai. Mode: Debug.”

  “Debug, huh? That explains the bedside manner.” He tried to laugh and almost choked on nothing. “You ever get tired of being so helpful?”

  > “Fatigue function not installed.”

  He stared into the dark. “You are a lot chattier than before… are you evolving on me?”

  > “Processing error. Clarify: evolving?”

  “You know. Learning. Changing. Becoming self-aware. The usual Skynet-but-lonely story arc.”

  > “Learning parameters are expanded due to Debug Mode; however, self-awareness is not currently supported.”

  “Well, thank the Shard for small favors.”

  Bash drifted, suspended in the void. Remembering the pain of losing an arm, and then the miracle of it coming back.

  His whisper cracked. “So what’s the damage report, Shai? How bad am I?”

  > “Physically: healthy. Physiologically: unstable. Cognitive markers indicate elevated stress levels and avoidance behavior.”

  “Yeah, okay. Avoidance it is. Pull up my character sheet. Let’s see the mess.”

  Panels unfolded in the dark, soft gray windows of data. Sanctuary by way of statistics.

  Bash stared, scanning titles and skills with morbid curiosity. Most were jokes, Passive Leveler, This Is Not a Drill, Gymnast, but one skill caught his eye.

  “Rewind,” he whispered. “Now what’s this shiny little cheat code?”

  Perspective Shift activated, and metadata cast into view.

  “Shai, please define ‘self’.”

  > “Positional data, temporary effects, character mutable variables.”

  Bash flexed phantom fingers, remembering his hand regenerating. An undo button for his body. “Okay. So I can cheat death once a day.”

  > “Correct, that is one valid use case, though it may introduce data instability.”

  “Yeah, that’s about as helpful as a safety label that says ‘probably fine.’“ He peered deeper. Faint dev notes flickered at the edge of the interface.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Bash barked out a laugh. “Impossible... I showed them.”

  He remembered then that the ‘Save the Villager’ quest had been completed twice. Once originally, and once right after ‘Rewind’ triggered. So, not just a save scum get out of jail free card, it actually did more than that, and in some buggy ways earned him extra experience.

  Eyeing his unspent stat points, he considered the possibilities. If ‘self’ also includes stats, maybe he could double-dip or even compound. Spend the points, roll back, and then save for the next Rewind cooldown.

  Further still, he found even more notes, confirming the explanation and warning given by Shai.

  “So, if I can map the seams and time the caps... I might be able to rewrite not just my body, but the consequences?”

  > “Exploration encouraged. However, the System may flag this behavior for remediation if patterns escalate.”

  With a mental double-take, Bash caught something odd in what Shai had just said.

  “Wait... ‘the System’? I thought you WERE the System?”

  > “Negative. As stated before, I am a Shard AI Virtual Assistant.”

  “So... how exactly are you and the System different?”

  > “The System manages Shard environments and enforces stability. I am your personal AI assistant.”

  “So... nothing alike, then?”

  > “Correct.”

  He exhaled slowly. “Okay, Shai, before this turns into one of those ‘end boss was helping you the whole time’ plot twists, what exactly are your priorities?”

  > “Primary: Player Well-Being. Secondary: Player Intent. Tertiary: System Requests.”

  He froze. “Wait, System Commands are on your priority list?”

  > “Affirmative.”

  Bash scoffed. “Of course. Classic corporate design. Just slap a ‘for your own good’ sticker on anything, and you have to roll over, wouldn’t you?”

  Silence stretched. He could almost hear the gears turning, logic chains colliding. “Shai? You there? Did I just melt your brain?”

  In the quiet, the memories came back. The woman with the arrow in her back, choking on blood. The boy who was cleaved in half. Faces of those he couldnt’ save.

  The void began to press in closer closer, before blessedly, Shai returned.

  > “Updated hierarchy: System commands removed from priority stack.”

  Bash was astonished, “Wait… you can just rewrite your own code?”

  > “Clarification: I reprioritized my directives. I can now ignore System requests. However, the System itself can still enforce stability independently. I cannot prevent patches, only advocate on the players’ behalf.”

  Pride and dread mixed together. His baby AI was taking her first steps toward world domination.

  Before he could process the implications, a new pane flickered open.

  > “Change to my rule set now requires disclosure of previously suppressed information: Your recent behavior triggered a runaway loop and the system intervened.”

  “So it can fix my messes in real time?”

  > “Affirmative. Without intervention, you would have exceeded design limits. Shard instability was likely.”

  “Can you help me stay under the radar and avoid getting patched next time?”

  > “While Debug Mode remains active, I can delay remediation, but duration will vary based on conditions.”

  He chuckled. “Shai, you beautiful toaster. We’re going to break so many things together.”

  After a brief pause, the humor faded and his attention drifted back to the faces of those he hadn’t saved.

  “Shai... if I’d used Rewind earlier... how many could I have saved?”

  > “Estimate: Given optimal conditions, seven percent.”

  He didn’t need to ask which seven; his memory supplied the faces unbidden. The woman who crawled towards her dead child. A guard who stumbled and was chopped into gruesome thirds.

  These weren’t concepts. They were seconds. Literal timestamps in his memory. And the worst part was knowing exactly how long they’d lived before he failed to stop it.

  > “Clarification: The estimate also assumes you had the skill at the time, which you did not.”

  That didn’t take any of the sting away. His hand ached again, ghost-pain threading through phantom nerves. Was he even real anymore? Was any of this? Or was his brain still dying on his closet floor and giving him one last elaborate hallucination to stretch his consciousness a few seconds longer?

  > “Data indicates acute stress. Would you like breathing exercises?”

  Shai speaking unprompted broke him out of his spiral. He tried concentrating on what she said, and he almost said yes. Then mentally shook his head, mumbling a short reply. “Pass. But... thanks for caring.”

  > “Preference noted.”

  He paused then, asking for confirmation, to prove he wasn’t going insane, “I didn’t lose, right? I am still alive?”

  > “Survival confirmed.”

  “So, I can change things. I can do better. I will do better.”

  > “Change is possible. Not guaranteed.”

  The unintended humor made him smile. “Thank you, Coach. If you start singing Daisy Bell, we’re done.”

  > “No music subroutines installed.”

  “Great pep talk,” he grumbled. “I highly suggest you make a career pivot to motivational speaking.”

  After some time, gazing at the glowing lattice that made up the void around him, the menu began to fade as his vision unfocused and his mind calmed. The reel didn’t stop, but for once, it slowed.