The sterile voice echoed in Elara's mind, a stark contrast to the clatter of loose metal and the distant cries of the mutated carrion-birds that populated the ruins. [Welcome, Glitch Mage.] The words sent a shiver down her spine that had nothing to do with the chill of the dying sun. She blinked, and the translucent blue rectangle intensified, revealing more detail. It hovered about a foot from her face, adjusting its position as she instinctively tried to move her head.
Elara ran until her lungs burned and the strange blue interface in her vision dimmed, her Mana completely depleted. The pack-dog's snarls had faded into the distant hum of the ruined city. She slumped against a leaning monument, its cracked surface etched with indecipherable ancient script, trying to catch her breath. The sheer, overwhelming strangeness of what had just happened began to sink in. She had used a power, a real, tangible power, to escape a predator. The Shattered Core was gone, but its essence, the System, was now undeniably a part of her.
She pulled herself upright, forcing her shaky legs to move. Old Kael needed her. He wouldn't last another cycle without proper energy, and she had promised him. The metallic smell of the ruins was now laced with the faint scent of rain, promising a fresh layer of grime and slick, dangerous surfaces. Elara knew the quickest route back to their hidden den, a labyrinthine path through collapsed structures and rusted conduits that few others dared to navigate.
As she moved, the blue [STATUS] panel flickered back to life, though faintly. A new notification appeared, almost imperceptibly.
[Mana Regeneration initiated.]
Elara watched, fascinated, as the 'Mana' count slowly ticked upwards, one point at a time. It was incredibly slow, agonizingly so. She had used 45 Mana to deter the pack-dog, and it felt like an eternity before it even reached 10 again. This wasn't a sustainable fighting method, not yet. She needed to understand this "Glitch Mage" ability, to master it.
Her mind drifted back to the System's other information: [Corruption: 5% (Stable)]. What did that mean? Was it a disease? A side effect of linking to a shattered, ancient system? She'd seen scavengers succumb to strange ailments from prolonged exposure to ancient tech, their minds twisting, their bodies mutating. The thought sent a fresh wave of fear through her. She couldn't afford to get sick. Not with Old Kael depending on her.
Reaching the den was a relief. It was a deceptively small opening in a collapsed administrative building, leading into a series of surprisingly stable, subterranean chambers. Warm, stale air enveloped her as she slipped inside, the faint glow of Old Kael's jury-rigged life support providing the only light.
Old Kael was a silhouette against the dim light, his frail form huddled under a tattered blanket made from ancient circuit boards and synthetic fibers. He was an elder, one of the few who remembered even fragments of the 'Before Times.' He wasn't her blood, but he was the closest thing to family she had ever known, having found her as a child amidst the rubble after a particularly fierce dust storm.
"Elara? Is that you, child?" Kael's voice was raspy, weak. His eyes, though clouded with age, still held a sharp intelligence.
"It's me, Kael. I… I didn't find any power cells." Elara's voice was heavy with failure. She hated disappointing him. "But I found… something else."
She knelt beside him, hesitating. Should she tell him about the System? About the Glitch Mage? He might think she was going mad, or worse, that she had stumbled upon something truly dangerous. But Kael was wise, and he had always valued honesty, even when it hurt.
"I found a Shattered Core in the data spire," she began, choosing her words carefully. "It… it crumbled when I touched it, and then this happened." She gestured vaguely at her eyes, where the [STATUS] panel still faintly flickered, invisible to him. "There's a voice in my head. It calls me a 'Glitch Mage.' It's like… a game, Kael. With numbers and skills. I used a skill to get away from a pack-dog."
Kael was silent for a long moment, his labored breathing the only sound in the small chamber. Elara braced herself for his dismissal, for concern, for fear. But when he finally spoke, his voice was filled with a strange mix of wonder and grim recognition.
"A Glitch Mage," he repeated, a tremor in his voice. "So the legends are true. I never thought... I never thought I'd see one."
Elara stared, surprised. "Legends? You know about this?"
Kael shifted, wincing slightly. "Yes. Faint echoes from the Before Times. They spoke of the Grand System, a network that connected everything, powered by core fragments. It guided our ancestors, gave them incredible abilities, kept the world in balance. But then... the Great Glitch happened. A catastrophic failure. The System shattered, the world fractured, and those connected to its fragments... they either died, or became what you now are. Glitch Mages. They were said to be… unstable. Powerful, but unpredictable. Sometimes they harnessed the glitches, sometimes the glitches consumed them."
His words painted a terrifying picture, confirming some of Elara's worst fears about the 'Corruption' stat. "Consumed them? What does that mean?"
"Madness. Mutation. Or becoming a conduit for the System's errors, twisting the fabric of reality around them without control," Kael explained, his voice growing weaker. "But there were also stories of those who mastered it. Who bent the glitches to their will and restored parts of the System, bringing order where there was chaos. They were the Ascendants."
Ascension of the Glitch Mage. The title of her own burgeoning System interface. A chill ran down Elara's spine, this time of profound realization. This wasn't just a random power; it was a destiny, woven into the very fabric of the ruined world.
"Kael, how do I... master it?" Elara pleaded, her voice urgent. "How do I become an Ascendant?"
He coughed, a wet, rattling sound. "The legends speak of System Shards, smaller remnants of the core. Absorbing them strengthens the connection, clears the corruption. And… and Data Nexus Points. Places where the System's fractured consciousness still lingers. Finding and stabilizing them was the path of the Ascendants." He paused, taking a shallow, ragged breath. "They said, they said only a true Glitch Mage could hear the whispers of these Nexus Points."
Elara looked down at her hands, then back at Kael. His breath was becoming shallower. This was not the time for grand quests.
"Kael, we need energy. Can this System help us find it?" she asked, desperate.
Kael managed a weak smile. "Perhaps. The System was a network of information. It knew where everything was. But finding a stable connection to its archives... that's the trick. Perhaps your 'Glitch Shift' can... nudge reality in the right direction." He closed his eyes, his breathing growing even fainter. "Find the old substation. Buried beneath the market square. There were emergency cells there... always."
Elara's heart sank. The market square was miles away, across treacherous terrain and through the territory of other, far more dangerous scavengers. But Kael's words gave her a target, a hope.
A new notification flashed in her vision:
[Quest initiated: Locate Emergency Power Cells in the Old Substation (Market Square).]
[Reward: Kael's Survival. +100 XP. Unlock Substation Data Nexus.]
Elara stared at the screen, a grim determination setting in. This System, this Glitch Mage ability, it was a terrifying gift. But if it could save Kael, if it could lead her to the substation, she would embrace the glitches, she would learn to bend reality. She would become an Ascendant, even if it killed her. For Kael.