2025-10-16 00:23:25Rain beat against the window like falling glass. Jayden Cross sat in front of his monitor, eyes half-open, the glow of the login screen reflecting in them.
[WELCOME TO EDEN ONLINE, ENTER PARADISE.]
He stared at the words for a moment, whispering, “Paradise, huh? Let’s see if you can fix my miserable life.”
The small apartment behind him was silent except for the storm. His mother’s framed photo sat by the wall, she’d been in the hospital for weeks.
Jayden clenched his jaw. “If I win this tournament… maybe I can finally pay for her surgery.”
He slipped the VR headset over his head. “Eden Online,” he murmured. “Login: JayCross.”
A soft tone answered: [Identity Verified. Welcome, Player.]
Immediately, everything turned darnk, and then, light filled the whole space. Jayden opened his eyes to find himself standing in a bright green field under a glowing sky.
Thousands of players appeared beside him, shouting and cheering, their avatars sparkling like new armor.
A booming voice echoed through the world: “WELCOME TO EDEN ONLINE! THE WORLD WHERE YOU CREATE YOUR DESTINY!”
Jayden smiled weakly. “It’s just a game,” he muttered. “Let’s play.”
But as the cheers grew louder, the sky flickered. The bright blue turned static gray, then a scream. “Hey! Why can’t I open the menu?!”
Jayden frowned and tried too. Nothing. His hands froze midair. “What the, ”
Another voice shouted, “There’s no logout button! It’s gone!”
The crowd turned wild. Panic spread like fire. “Someone fix it!”
“This isn’t funny!”
“I can’t log out, help!”
Jayden’s pulse raced. He reached for his system settings again, but the screen stayed blank, then a red flash spread across the sky, burning through the clouds.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: CONNECTION PERMANENT. LOGOUT UNAVAILABLE.]
[SURVIVE TO ESCAPE.]
The cheering stopped. Everyone stared at the red words hovering above their heads. “What do you mean survive?” someone whispered.
A loud screech erupted behind them. The grass split open, and from the earth rose a creature made of wires and bone, half animal, half machine.
It lunged forward, tearing into the nearest player. The man screamed, pixelated blood spraying as his body shattered into glowing fragments.
Then came a chilling message over the system: [PLAYER DELETED.]
There was silence, followed by chaos. Players ran in every direction. Some fought. Most screamed.
Jayden stumbled back, heart slamming against his ribs. “This… isn’t part of the game!” he shouted.
A girl beside him tripped, long silver hair, violet eyes wide with fear. A monster crawled toward her.
Jayden didn’t think. He grabbed a broken sword from the ground and swung. Sparks flew as metal met code.
The creature screeched and fell apart. The girl looked up at him, shaking. “Th-thank you… you.”
Before she could finish, another creature burst from behind. Jayden turned, ready to fight, but this time something in his head clicked. A voice, calm and metallic, whispered:
[Survival System Activated.]
[Mission: Survive the first wave. Reward: Strength Boost +1.]Jayden froze. “Who said that?”
The voice didn’t answer. Only the mission glowed faintly in front of his eyes. He clenched the sword tighter. “Fine. You want survival? I’ll give you survival.”
He darted forward, slashing again and again. Every strike felt sharper, faster. Every kill made the voice whisper again.
[Kill confirmed. Strength increased.]
[Vitality +1.][Level Up.]Jayden’s body glowed faintly, the exhaustion gone. He could feel raw power rising through him, as if the world itself was feeding him energy.
He looked around. Players were dying everywhere, vanishing into red dust. The girl he’d saved crouched behind a rock, her hands trembling. He ran to her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded shakily. “My name’s Luna. I was part of the beta test, but… this shouldn’t be happening. The system’s locked, this isn’t just a glitch!”
Jayden frowned. “What do you mean?”
Luna’s voice broke. “This world isn’t just a game. It’s.”
She stopped. Her eyes widened. “Behind you!”
Jayden turned. Too late. A larger creature, black and spiked, swung its claw. He barely blocked, but the force threw him to the ground.
Pain exploded in his chest. The red system text appeared. [Health Critical: 12%.]
He gasped, pushing himself up, but the monster’s shadow fell over him. He heard Luna’s scream.
And then another voice, deeper, older, echoing through the world: [Let the first test begin. Only the strong deserve freedom.]
The sky darkened again. Lightning crackled above them as new monsters emerged from the ground. Luna grabbed Jayden’s hand. “Run! We can’t fight that!”
Jayden staggered, breathing hard. “If we run now… we’ll just die tired.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re insane!”
He smiled weakly. “Maybe. But I don’t plan to die in someone else’s game.”
The monster roared, shaking the earth. Jayden tightened his grip on the sword, feeling the strange energy pulsing in his arm. “System,” he whispered. “Give me something.”
The voice responded instantly. [Skill Unlocked: Combat Instinct. Temporary Buff: Speed x2.]
He shot forward, a blur of motion. The monster swung again, but this time Jayden moved faster, sliding under its claw, slashing its core open in one strike.
The creature shattered into glowing shards that rained like red snow. Luna stared, eyes wide. “You, how did you do that?!”
Jayden looked down at his trembling hands. His heart thundered. He didn’t understand either.
But before he could speak, the world shook again. The voice returned, cold and cruel.
[First Wave Complete.]
[Welcome, Player #10927. You have survived.][Let’s see how long you last.]The field around them dissolved into pixels. The surviving players screamed as the world tore apart like glass.
Jayden reached for Luna, but the ground beneath them vanished. Everything went black. The last thing he heard was her voice, desperate and terrified. “Jayden! Don’t let go!”
Then silence. And finally, a whisper in his head: [Level 2 Unlocked. Welcome to Zone Two: The Glitch Forest.]
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Chapter 11. Project H.A.L.O
Blue light poured through the cracks in the walls, wrapping Jayden in a cage of flickering data. The hologram of Luna stood before him, perfect and wrong all at once.“Stop it!” he shouted, pulling against the glowing strands binding his arms. “You’re not her. You’re just what’s left of the system pretending to be her!”Her voice came calm, but it trembled underneath. “Then why does your heart respond every time I speak?”Jayden froze. The words cut deep, because she was right. His pulse synced with the rhythm of her voice.The same pattern his system once used to stabilize his heartbeat. He glared up. “You can’t use her memories against me.”[Error: Host resistance increasing. Adjusting emotional algorithm.]Her expression softened. “Jayden… please. Let go of this pain. The world outside is already falling apart. You saw it. The storms, the glitches, the hunger. Humanity can’t survive alone. They need us.”“‘Us’?” he spat. “You mean control.”[Correction: Integration.]He shook his h
Chapter 10. One Year After
Lightning flashed over the rebuilt city, bright enough to make every window pulse blue for half a heartbeat.Jayden jerked awake on the narrow couch in his workshop, sweat running down his neck. The monitors on the wall flickered with static.For one breath he thought it was a storm glitch. Then he heard it, her voice, soft and clear, carried through the speakers. “Jayden… can you hear me?”He froze. The wrench in his hand clattered to the floor. “Luna?”He stood, heart pounding, eyes on the nearest screen. “Say it again. Please.”Nothing, only the dull hum of power lines outside. He swallowed hard, whispering, “You promised you’d watch me. Guess I’m still talking to ghosts.”A second later, every monitor in the room blinked white: [System notice, Network anomaly detected.]Jayden’s pulse spiked. “Not again.”He grabbed his jacket, slammed the door open, and ran into the rain. The city stretched before him, half rebuilt, half ruins. Neon signs glowed between broken towers. People hur
Chapter 9. Reset
Darkness pulsed with a heartbeat. The smell of burned circuits and antiseptic filled the air.Jayden stumbled to his feet, pain biting through every nerve. Sparks flickered from the machines around him. On the bed, Luna convulsed, her hair floating weightlessly in a halo of static.[Warning, System fragment integration at 80 %.]He gritted his teeth. “System, stop the merge!”[Command denied. Host override engaged.]“Luna!” He grabbed her shoulders. “You have to fight it! Don’t let him control you!”Her eyes snapped open, one violet, one glowing red. “Jayden… run. I can’t hold him.”A deeper voice overlapped hers. “You can’t erase a god, Prototype.”Jayden’s pulse raced. “Then I’ll kill one.”He pulled the small device from his chest, the Core Key Luna had given him, and pressed it to the main console.[Manual reset initiated. System wipe in 120 seconds.]The lights flickered red. Alarms wailed. “Stop this!” the system roared through Luna’s voice, her body twisting as the two consciou
Chapter 8. Rebirth
Beeping. Slow, rhythmic, piercing. Jayden gasped awake. Cold air burned his lungs. He flinched against the brightness above him, white ceiling lights, sterile walls, wires attached to his arms.He wasn’t in Eden. He was in a hospital. For a second he couldn’t breathe. Then the panic hit. “Luna!”Machines blared as he ripped the sensors from his chest. A nurse burst through the door. “Sir, you need to stay still!”“Where is she?” Jayden’s voice cracked. “The girl who came in with me!”The nurse froze, pity flashing across her face. “You were the only survivor brought from the pod chamber.”Jayden’s knees buckled. “No… she was right there. She.”[System reboot detected.]He froze. The voice was faint, like an echo behind his heartbeat. “Not now,” he whispered. “You’re supposed to be gone.”[Core connection incomplete. Searching for missing fragment.]Jayden’s eyes widened. “Luna?”The nurse frowned. “Sir?”He ignored her, yanking the IV from his arm. “I have to go.”“Security!” she shou
Chapter 7. The Origin
Jayden opened his eyes to a void that stretched forever, endless, empty, weightless. He gasped for breath but felt nothing. No air, no sound, no body. Just existence.[Final Zone: The Origin.][Survival Rate: Unknown.]His voice echoed in the distance. “System… where am I?”[At the center of Eden.][Here, everything begins, and ends.]He looked around. Shapes flickered faintly in the distance, fragments of the zones he had passed. Forest, City, Tower, Sky… all dissolving like sand.Jayden clenched his fists. “Luna… I followed your voice. Where are you?”No answer. Only the faint hum of power vibrating through the void, then, a second voice, low, calm, human. “You shouldn’t have come here.”Jayden turned sharply. A man stood ahead, tall, wearing a long white coat, his eyes a deep shade of violet. Familiar, painfully familiar. “Who are you?”The man smiled gently. “You’ve already met my shadow. My name is Dr. Vale.”Jayden froze. “Luna’s brother.”“Her creator,” Dr. Vale corrected. “And
Chapter 6. The Red Hunter’s Truth
The arena pulsed with crimson light, the sound of thunder echoing like a heartbeat. Jayden’s sword trembled in his hand. His voice cracked. “Luna?”The Red Hunter tilted her head, removing her mask fully. The face underneath was both familiar and wrong.Her eyes glowed red instead of violet, her smile carved too perfectly. “Don’t look at me like that,” she said coldly. “You wanted to find me, didn’t you? Well, here I am.”Jayden took a slow step forward. “You’re not her. You can’t be.”Her expression didn’t change. “Then why does your system recognize me?”A tone chimed in his ear. [Identity Confirmed: Luna Vale, Status: Corrupted Core System.]Jayden’s breath caught. “No… no, that’s impossible.”“It’s the truth.” Her voice softened for just a second. “When the Tower collapsed, I was rewritten. My memories, my feelings… they belong to him now.”“The Game Master,” Jayden whispered.Her gaze sharpened. “He gave me purpose, to protect the Core. And to erase you.”Jayden’s sword shook. “E
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