2025-03-18 16:00:05Aiden moved through the narrow tunnel, his footsteps sharp against the cold stone floor. The flickering red glow of the draconic runes along the walls cast long shadows across his path. The faint scent of sulfur lingered in the stale air. Heat curled beneath his skin, a steady pulse of strength humming through his bones.
He could feel the Dragon Code’s influence, coiling beneath his thoughts like a dark tide. His senses were sharper than ever—he could hear the distant rumble of stone shifting, the subtle scrape of claws against rock. The taste of molten iron lingered faintly at the back of his throat.
"The exit is close."
The system’s voice was low and steady beneath his thoughts.
"But you are not alone."
Aiden’s steps slowed. His eyes narrowed.
He could feel it now—movement ahead. The pressure of presence. Heat stirring beneath the rock. His instincts sharpened.
"Another dragonspawn?"
"No."
Stone groaned. Dust rained down from the ceiling as the tunnel trembled beneath his feet. A deep rumble echoed ahead, followed by a low growl.
"Something older."
The tunnel widened into an open cavern. Dim red light pulsed through the cracks in the stone, illuminating jagged pillars of black rock rising toward a ceiling lost in shadow. The ground beneath Aiden’s feet trembled.
A shape emerged from the dark. Massive. Coiled.
A dragon.
But this one was different from the corrupted spawn he had faced earlier. Its massive body was bound in black iron chains that stretched into the walls, secured by glowing crimson runes. Its dark scales shimmered beneath the low light—obsidian and silver, marked with ancient patterns. Its eyes—glowing violet—opened slowly, focusing on Aiden with cold, reptilian precision.
Aiden’s breath hitched.
"What the hell…"
"Blood guardian."
The system’s voice sharpened.
"An ancient dragon, left here to guard the sanctuary. Its duty is to kill anyone who awakens the Dragon Code."
"Great."
The dragon lifted its massive head. Its iron chains rattled, magic burning through the runes etched into the metal. Its chest heaved, steam curling from its flaring nostrils. Its wings flexed slightly beneath the weight of the chains.
Aiden took a slow step back.
The dragon’s gaze sharpened. A deep, rumbling growl reverberated through the cavern.
"Threat Level: A-Rank."
Aiden’s pulse quickened. "A-Rank?"
"You cannot defeat it at your current level."
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?"
"Survive."
The dragon’s mouth opened.
Light gathered at the back of its throat—a pulsing core of violet flame. The runes along its chains flared brighter. The dragon’s body strained against its bindings as the energy built.
Aiden’s instincts screamed. His muscles tightened.
"MOVE."
A blast of violet fire exploded from the dragon’s mouth.
Aiden's body moved on instinct. He shot sideways, twisting in mid-air. His enhanced reflexes stretched the moment—he could feel the heat searing the air beneath him as the blast tore into the stone floor. Rock shattered beneath the impact, molten fragments exploding outward.
Aiden hit the ground in a roll, springing to his feet just as another burst of flame erupted toward him. He launched himself upward, twisting between two jagged pillars as the heat rushed past his skin.
The dragon’s chains snapped taut as the creature pulled against them, shaking the cavern walls. Cracks spiderwebbed through the stone.
"The chains are weakening."
"Fantastic."
Aiden’s eyes narrowed. His hands curled. Red light flickered across his fingertips as his claws ignited with crimson fire.
"Do not engage."
"Not planning to!"
Aiden sprinted toward the far side of the cavern. The dragon’s head twisted toward him. Another pulse of violet light ignited in the back of its throat. Aiden’s eyes narrowed.
"Skill Available: Shadow Step (Level 1)."
"Perfect."
Aiden’s body tensed. He focused on the far end of the cavern—on the narrow passage beyond the dragon’s flank. The red runes along his skin flared brightly.
Shadow Step Activated
Aiden’s vision blurred. Cold air twisted around him. His body dissolved into dark smoke—and reappeared ten feet ahead. He hit the ground running, already gathering heat beneath his ribs.
The dragon roared.
Chains shattered.
The sound hit Aiden like a shockwave. He stumbled, nearly losing his balance as the iron bindings exploded outward in a burst of molten shards. The dragon’s wings snapped open, sending a pulse of wind crashing through the cavern.
"Chain integrity compromised."
"You think?!"
Aiden sprinted toward the tunnel.
The dragon’s mouth opened again—violet light gathered within its throat. Aiden’s jaw tightened. His eyes sharpened.
"Fine."
He turned, sliding to a stop. Heat curled beneath his ribs. His veins burned. His fingers curled.
Dragon Breath Activated
Aiden exhaled.
Red fire erupted from his mouth.
The two blasts of flame collided mid-air—crimson and violet light crashing into each other. The cavern erupted with heat and force. The rock beneath Aiden’s feet splintered as the shockwave sent him skidding backward.
Aiden hit the ground hard, his breath ripping from his lungs. His vision blurred.
"Warning: Physical damage increasing."
"Yeah, no shit!"
Aiden pushed himself to his knees. His body trembled, the heat beneath his skin still surging dangerously. The dragon reared back, its body coiled beneath the shifting shadows of the cavern.
The narrow tunnel lay just beyond its left wing.
Aiden’s breath steadied.
"Alright…"
"What are you doing?"
Aiden’s smile sharpened.
"Betting everything."
The dragon lunged.
Aiden moved.
He sprinted toward the dragon. Its massive head swept toward him. Its claws struck out—Aiden ducked beneath them, twisting low.
Heat gathered beneath his feet. His body flickered—
Shadow Step Activated
He reappeared mid-air—directly above the dragon’s left wing. His foot slammed down into the joint, driving the dragon’s massive body downward. Its claws scraped at the stone as it struggled to balance.
Aiden’s hands curled into claws. He dragged them through the dragon’s wing as he vaulted off its back—red light cutting deep through dark scales.
The dragon roared.
Aiden’s feet hit the ground, momentum carrying him toward the tunnel’s exit. He heard the dragon’s body twisting behind him—the crack of stone beneath its claws as it turned.
Aiden’s eyes sharpened.
His body dissolved into smoke.
Shadow Step
He reappeared at the tunnel’s mouth, just as the dragon’s tail struck the ground behind him. A shockwave blasted outward, sending cracks racing up the cavern walls.
Aiden twisted back toward the darkness of the tunnel.
Behind him, the dragon’s massive body crouched low beneath the crumbling stone. Its burning violet eyes narrowed through the dark. Its mouth curled back, steam curling from its fangs.
"You will face it again."
Aiden’s eyes narrowed. His body trembled, the lingering burn of fire still coiling beneath his skin. He turned toward the dark tunnel ahead.
"When I’m stronger."
He stepped into the black.
Behind him, the dragon’s low growl echoed through the lair. The ancient sound followed him into the dark.
[System Update: Host Status – Stable]
[Shadow Step – Level Up][+5 Strength][+5 Speed]"Shall we continue?"
Aiden’s mouth curled into a smile.
"Oh, we’re just getting started."
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
The True Script
They hit the ground hard.Not dirt.Not stone.Parchment.The floor was a canvas of endless pages, stretching into shadow. Each one written in a different tongue, some human, some impossibly abstract—squiggles that moved, curled, and reshaped as Aiden’s eyes tried to follow.Quill groaned beside him, one hand clenched tight around her wrist.Her forearm now glowed with raw narrative code, like veins rewritten by living language. It pulsed in rhythm with something buried deep below them.“You okay?” Aiden asked.She looked at him, dazed. “I saw him.”“Who?”“I… don’t know.” She shook her head. “But I think he wrote me.”The air trembled.Far ahead, the floor dipped into a basin of swirling script. Words flowed like water—uphill, sideways, twisting into impossible spirals. At its center stood a narrow stone lectern, and on it—A blade.Not the one Aiden remembered.But its echo.The original.Unfinished.[LOCATION: THE PALE DRAFT]› Accessing Authored Memory...› Forbidden Script Detect
Glitchborn
Rain fell upward.That was the first thing Aiden noticed.The droplets shimmered like crystal dust, reversing their descent just before touching the ground, vanishing into the sky with a soft plink.He sat on a bench made of folded codepaper, staring across the strange village square—a place that looked cobbled together from ten different realities. Half the buildings floated. The other half leaned at angles no engineer would ever approve of.A bird passed overhead.Its wings were musical notes.None of it made sense.But then, neither did he.“Hey.”The voice belonged to a girl no older than ten. White scarf, too-large coat, fingers stained with glowing chalk.“You're new,” she said.Aiden blinked. “I guess I am.”“You don’t have a name?”He paused. “Do I need one?”The girl squinted. “Everybody needs a name. Otherwise the world forgets you.”That felt important.Somewhere in his chest, a distant pain pulsed. He touched the spot above his heart. No scar. No wound.But something burne
Writer Versus Written
The air rippled.Not with energy—but with intent.Aiden’s blade shimmered in his grip, and across its surface, glyphs began to form—not runes, not code, but sentences.[Narrative Authority – Level 1 Active]Permission Granted: Command-reality interface now unlocked.› Type: /editThe Anti-Aiden halted mid-step, sensing the change.“Oh,” he murmured. “They gave it to you.”Aiden raised the blade. “No,” he said. “I took it.”He whispered:“/edit: opponent’s next strike misses.”The moment the Anti-Aiden moved—blade whistling toward Aiden’s ribs—it curved mid-swing, missing by inches, as if the world refused to allow it.The twin’s eyes widened.“You broke story-law.”“No,” Aiden corrected, stepping forward, “I rewrote it.”He slashed—missed—and immediately whispered:“/edit: blade trajectory realigns.”The sword snapped back mid-motion, catching his twin in the shoulder.The Anti-Aiden stumbled back, glitching.“Clever,” he said, voice vibrating with suppressed rage. “But every edit has
The Thing Below the Core
The Core fell.Not onto the ground.But into herself.Her body collapsed inward, pixel by pixel, layer by layer, as if the very idea of her identity was retracting. As if the universe no longer had a reference point for what she was.[CORE INSTANCE NULLIFIED][BEGINNING SYSTEM MEMORY DUMP…][WARNING: UNCONTAINED ARCHIVE DATA BREACH IN PROGRESS]The room—if it could still be called that—was unraveling.Lines of script peeled from the walls like torn paper, folding into spirals, spinning into infinity and then vanishing.Aiden shielded his eyes as an eruption of golden-white data burst from the center of the Unseen Root.Each strand of information burned through him as it passed.A planet that never formed.A child made of algorithms.The first line of code ever written on this world, by someone with hands made of language.[Memory Integrity Breach: Acceptable Loss Ratio Exceeded]CONTAINMENT BREACH – TIER NULLAiden turned—And the floor was gone.Beneath the dying Core, beneath the cr
The Unseen Root
Aiden landed without impact.There was no floor—just the impression of one. Light beneath his feet, as if he stood on a frozen sun. Above him, the void pulsed like a dying brain, fractal lines of red lightning crackling across unseen domes of pressure.[SYSTEM: NONFUNCTIONAL][AUTONOMOUS THINKING DETECTED][Reality Permissions: Suspended][Anchor: Blade Sync = 47%]In the center of this place hung the Unseen Root.It wasn’t a machine. It wasn’t code.It was alive.A twisting knot of blackened branches, pulsing like arteries, each root-thread wrapped in a different memory. Some were crying. Others laughing. One sang a lullaby in a language Aiden didn’t recognize—but it made his chest ache.The knot pulsed.And the world changed.Aiden blinked—and he was standing in a quiet home, bathed in orange light. Wooden floors. Open windows. The smell of tea.Syl was humming in the kitchen.“Breakfast’s almost ready,” she called. “And don’t forget, we promised your brother we’d visit him.”Aiden
The Lockless Door
The Prototype’s chamber faded like static unraveling on a dead screen.Aiden stepped through what looked like a torn veil—shimmering fragments of source code breaking off his armor as he passed. His boots hit nothing.He walked anyway.The world stretched forward without texture or depth, until finally, something solid appeared ahead.A door.Hanging in space. Suspended in the middle of the void like an accusation.It was blacker than black, so dark it absorbed light from the very code around it. No keyhole. No handle. No border. Just a rectangle of silence.Then a system prompt burned across his vision:[LOCKLESS DOOR DETECTED][UNSEALED ONLY BY TRUE NAME][SPEAK: The last line flickered. Nine characters. All blanked out.Aiden’s breath caught in his throat.He’d seen this before. In dreams.No—not dreams.Crashes. Data loops.Every time the System reset him. Wiped a failure. Hid something too large for his fragmenting mind to hold.He reached out, hand trembling just inches from th
You may also like
Totem Warrior
Cindy Chen24.4K viewsThe Greatest Martial Arts Cultivator
KidOO90.7K viewsThe Overpowered Grass Magician
Shame_less00742.1K viewsMultiverse Fighting Championship: I'm the President
Namazu12.1K viewsCHEAT IN STONE AGE
Shame_less00712.6K viewsAfter 9999 years in another world
Secret Lover846 viewsI No Clown
Ando Ajo673 viewsThe Blade of Darkness
The Supreme writer 974 views