The grass beneath Erevan's boots looked deceptively ordinary. It swayed under the wind, green blades brushing against his fingertips, but after tumbling through collapsing fragments of reality and punching a nightmare monster with a bug-spawning fist, trust came hard. He pressed his heel into the soil, digging in like it might betray him otherwise. Nothing flickered. Not yet. That was a small victory.

Kaelith's eyes scanned the horizon, bow drawn, fingers brushing against the fletching of her arrows. Every so often, a ripple of light danced across her silver armor. "We're not safe," she said, voice low and precise, like a blade sliding through air.

"Wow," Erevan muttered, dropping heavily onto the grass. "What gave that away? The part where a laughing nightmare tried to eat us? Or the part where we fell through a collapsing computer screen? I mean, I love stability as much as the next guy, but come on."

Kaelith didn't answer. That was fine; he didn't have the energy for sarcasm sharp enough to cut through reality anyway.

The system, however, was relentless.

A notification blinked across his vision, jagged and intrusive.

Quest Complete: Emergency Escape
Reward: 1,000 EXP
Bonus Reward: Data Fragment (Delivered)

[Level Up]
Erevan Arclight – Lv. 12 → Lv. 14
HP: 620/620
MP: 360/360
Strength: 49 (+6)
Agility: 44 (+7)
Intelligence: 46 (+6)
Luck: Error

New Skill Gained: System Ping
Effect: Sends out a pulse to detect anomalies nearby. Warning: May attract unwanted attention.

Erevan groaned, leaning back into the grass. "Great. That's not a skill. That's an open invitation to die spectacularly." His hand scraped over the blades, feeling the rough tips, the earthy smell grounding him, even if the system insisted otherwise. "For a system that keeps telling me I'm some kind of anomaly… it really loves making me miserable, doesn't it?"

Kaelith crouched beside him, eyes fixed on him like she could see through the sarcasm straight to the worry behind it. "Tell me what you saw," she demanded.

"What?" Erevan tilted his head, half-dazed.

"The fragment. The recording." Her tone carried weight—sharp, unblinking, a predator sizing him up. She already knew he was holding something back.

Erevan's stomach twisted. The flickering hologram from the data fragment replayed in his mind—test subject, memory suppressed, experiment failed. He swallowed, trying to chase away the chill crawling up his spine. "It was… nothing. Just corrupted junk data. Old logs. Probably some ancient admin notes."

Kaelith's stare didn't waver. "You're a terrible liar," she said.

He forced a grin. "Thank you. I do try."

She didn't press further, and that silence was worse than any interrogation.

They moved onward. Rolling hills stretched out ahead, the trees warped and glitched, textures shimmering like unfinished code. A faint metallic tang hung in the air, as if the world itself was bleeding data. Rocks hovered a few inches off the ground. Birds flew backward, chirping in broken digital tones. Shadows didn't match their sources. Every step felt like stepping on the edge of a knife—real, but wrong.

"Do you think the Grinshard's still after us?" Erevan asked, glancing nervously at the shifting horizon.

"Yes," Kaelith replied without hesitation.

"You didn't even hesitate."

"I didn't need to," she said, moving forward, her boots silent against the flickering earth.

"Well, that's… encouraging," he muttered. Not really.

Before he could add anything else, his vision blinked again, and the system injected a new side quest.

New Side Quest Available: Investigate the Whispering Grove
Reward: ???
Failure: Unknown

"Why do I never get side quests like 'Take a nap' or 'Eat a sandwich'?" Erevan groaned, rubbing the back of his neck.

Kaelith tilted her head toward the line of distant trees, twisted and unnatural, leaves flickering in chaotic patterns. "The Grove. I've heard of it."

"Good things?"

"No."

"Figures," he muttered.

The forest loomed larger as they approached. Tree trunks twisted upward in unnatural spirals. Leaves flickered between green, red, and static-like distortion. Faint whispers threaded through the air—not wind, not animals, but voices. Soft, urgent, indecipherable.

Erevan froze at the tree line. "Okay… okay, I don't know about you, but I'm hearing my childhood nightmares calling my name."

The whispers grew louder, almost forming words, syllables curling around his mind like cold fingers.

Riven… Erevan…

He spun toward Kaelith. "Tell me you heard that!"

She shook her head. "I only hear static."

The system chimed, jagged and harsh.

Warning: Mental Stability Threat Detected
Countermeasure: Resist or Submit

"Oh, great," Erevan muttered, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "Another rigged choice. Just what I needed today. Survive creepy digital forest or get erased."

He stepped into the Grove. The whispers surged immediately, pressing into his ears like a thousand unseen mouths, cold and mocking. Shadows stretched unnaturally. Trees bent inward, forming a tunnel that seemed to swallow light.

In the distance, a figure stood. Hooded, cloaked, face hidden.

"Nope," Erevan whispered to himself. "Not doing this. Kaelith, do you see—"

But she wasn't beside him. The forest behind him had vanished, replaced by endless rows of warped, flickering trees.

The system chimed once more.

Quest Progress: Whispering Grove – Phase One Initiated

Erevan's voice cracked, tension coiling tight in his chest. "Phase one? How many phases are there?"

The hooded figure raised a pale, trembling hand. The whispers sharpened, layering into words.

"You do not belong here."

Erevan forced his sarcasm to the surface, even though his stomach churned. "Yeah… no kidding. I wanted a sandwich quest. Instead, I got creepy tree cult."

The figure's voice layered over itself, overlapping, echoing from every direction at once.

"You are an error. A fracture. A shadow of what should have been."

A chill swept over him. His vision blurred, digital overlays flickering in his eyes. His HP bar dropped with chunks vanishing without a single visible wound.

HP: 620/620 → 490/620

"What the hell—stop that!" Erevan yelled, punching forward instinctively. The whispers pressed in, clawing at his mind.

The hooded figure raised a hand again, and memories, or perhaps hallucinations, flooded him—labs, wires, empty white rooms, his own reflection with hollow eyes staring back.

"Nope! Not looking at that!" he shouted, swinging his fists desperately.

The air tore open, and something waddled into existence: a penguin. Small, round, and wearing a crooked wizard's hat.

"…Seriously?" Erevan muttered, staring at it.

The penguin quacked—or maybe it was a spell—and a burst of icy shards erupted outward, hitting the hooded figure squarely. The whispers faltered. The cloaked enemy stumbled, disoriented.

Erevan grinned despite himself. "That's right. Fear the penguin."

The figure dissolved into static, the forest shimmered, and Kaelith reappeared beside him, blinking in disbelief.

"What happened?" she asked.

Erevan gestured at the penguin, now preening its feathers with pride. "That happened."

Kaelith stared at the small creature. "…Why is it wearing a hat?"

"I don't know, but he's my favorite summon so far," Erevan admitted, brushing dirt from his pants and crouching to pet it.

The system chimed yet again.

Side Quest Progress: Whispering Grove – Phase One Complete
Companion Acquired: Glitch Penguin (Temporary)
Skill Unlocked: Frozen Static Blast

The penguin quacked triumphantly, looking smug.

Erevan exhaled slowly, but the words of the hooded figure still echoed in his mind: You are an error. A fracture. A shadow.

Kaelith's sharp gaze rested on him. "Something happened, didn't it?"

He forced a grin, trying to shrug off the weight. "Yeah… just me and my penguin saving the day."

But deep down, he knew it wasn't over. The Grove had recognized him. It knew his name. And somewhere beyond this corrupted reality, someone else might know too.