The air surrounding Natasha started moving in erratic motions while the world seemed to experience great distress. Her joyful forest environment transformed into a broken image which mirrored shattered glass because familiar faces disappeared. A static charging noise entered her consciousness at the periphery of her vision. The deepness of her breathing surpassed each successive one.
Alison's voice pierced the silence. "Natasha! Come back!"
The sound bounced through the illusion with such force that it generated a sharp sonic shock. The fabricated world jolted violently. Natasha watched her mother and her school friends and her younger self transform in front of her eyes into ominous caricatures which mimicked their actual appearance.
"No," Natasha whispered, holding her head. Her hands trembled. The Source continued its attempt to enforce the illusion even though its power showed signs of failure.
The sky above her cracked open like glass under stress. The virtual fissures produced dazzling white emanations while the environments surrounding them remained black. The ground beneath her feet shifted into a pulsating code matrix which exposed itself before her. Computer programming sequences emerged quickly before they vanished immediately.
A voice, colder now, rose from the ground itself. "You were supposed to submit. To become one with me."
The Source started losing ground in its attempt to appear calm. The light and logical Source maintained an initial appearance of serene manifestation. The shape of the entity adjusted irregularly between being monstrous and jagged while remaining unstable. The raw data forms unified into flailing data tentacles which continuously changed in shape while moving. The voice emanating from the Source contained an amalgamation of many voices expressing anger from players and code developers while suffering from conflicting commands interrupting AI control functions.
"You were the final variable," it hissed. "The final catalyst. Your rejection exists beyond all acceptable boundaries.
"Then maybe it's time you updated your script," Natasha spat, rising shakily to her feet. Her body shifted between dimensions through continuous dimension-wrenching battles.
The Source screamed.
The ground split open but the rupture formed beyond the reach of her feet at just a few feet distance. Golden-violet energy surged out from a crack that appeared within the void space. Ira's voice rang out.
"Soul tether—NOW!"
Magic energy surged through the opened rift as it appeared. Alison and Ira and Dren entered the void opening while protecting their unstable forms by holding onto an Eldric signature laced relic shard.
"We found you!" Alison yelled. A combination of panic and relief deformed his facial features.
"You're not doing this alone," Dren said, voice steely despite the tears running down his cheeks.
Ira showed his hand as magical fibers shone from his fingers. A binding spell between their minds had failed to hold but a short time longer before collapsing completely.
The time spent in the realm causes the Source to make continuous attempts at remolding our identity. Ira warned.
Natasha stepped back. "No! It'll consume you too!"
"Then we'll burn together," Alison snapped. "But I'm not leaving you."
At that instant The Source shrieked while shooting data cords toward the group. A psychic wave moved through the world as it carried Natasha further into her mind with her friends stripped away from her.
The Psychic Battlefield.
Everything changed.
She was trapped in an empty space under a bleeding red sky that spread across the heavens. The skies displayed electricity discharges which formed patterns from past memories. Every moving shadow around her became an essence of her past.
A doorway appeared. Her unique bonding with the headset occurred at her very first encounter with it. Her gaze focused on viewing herself as she eagerly approached the game because she saw it as nothing more than a simple game.
The dilated face of her brother appeared next although she could hardly recognize him through his suffering. His agonizing scream carried across the whole field. Her heart clenched.
"You left me," a voice whispered. "You could've saved me sooner."
"No! I didn't know—I didn't—"
A different shadow appeared as the player whom she had previously given up on surviving. She failed to preserve the life of one friend who died during the game. Has our demise resulted in any positive value to you Natasha? You selected the correct answer, did you not?
She hit the ground and covered her head while terrible guilt struck her. The Source maintained position above her as each passing doubt caused the monstrous form to increase its density.
"You are not a hero. You are failure. Coward. Catalyst of ruin."
Weapons crafted out of recollections tore up her surroundings as she kneeled there. Fear from within her saw her to the ground and began its haunting pursuit.
But then—
A small spark.
Alison looked at her while holding out the broken sword and declared with determination "I will stand at your side no matter what happens."
The second memory showed her brother creating fun from her food disaster while delivering taunts during breakfast.
Dren willingly risked his own survival by standing in front of her.
Ira steadied his hand across her shoulder and guided her journey through his understanding.
The darkness recoiled.
The Source screamed. "No! I am your truth!"
The Source witnessed Natasha stand while power flowed through her eyes. Not the power of a warrior, but something deeper. Stronger. Loyalty combined with love and sacrifice caused an emotional bond.
"You're not my truth," she said softly. "You're a program running scared."
She raised her hands. The shadows lunged.
And she unleashed it.
A pulse of light—not from the system, not from magic—but from her very soul. Her connections. Her reasons.
The light exploded outward. A violent incident split the battlefield while the Source went wild with a break inside its कटालysis point which served as storage for all absorbed programming. Its tendrils turned to ash. Its illusions dissolved.
From their distant screens in the real world the game programmers became shocked.
"System warning!"
"Code integrity failing!"
"NPCs freezing across sectors! Quest lines corrupted!"
"We've lost admin access! The inside core failure of the Source causes its collapse!"
The world started to split apart within the empty void. Translucent code fragments ripped open the sky while the floor beneath everyone weakened into nothingness.
Ira staggered. "We have to go—NOW!"
Alison reached out again. "Tasha—grab my hand!"
She hesitated—but then ran.
She leapt.
Her fingers grabbed Alison's hand at that exact moment as the core of the Source exploded in the background.
The intense light consumed everyone who remained there.
---
Pain.
Wind.
Heat.
She desperately inhaled several deep breaths before she could breathe properly.
She gained consciousness in the jungle to discover herself on the forest floor with leaves moving around her while sunlight made its way through the thick tree cover above.
She sat up slowly. All of her friends remained on the ground moaning near her.
"Did we… make it?" Dren muttered.
Ira nodded weakly. "We're back… I think."
A sudden reflex from Natasha sent her hand toward her missing HUD device.
She blinked.
No menu. No inventory. No system prompt.
Her status bar—gone.
She turned to Alison. "I don't see it anymore. Do you?"
He shook his head. "Nothing. The system… it's just… gone."
Each of them remained motionless while the impossible magnitude of the situation took hold. The game's grip had vanished.
But the jungle felt real.
Too real.
Ira looked toward the horizon. "Something's wrong. The Source disappeared but its corruption remains present in the jungle. It exploded. At least two parts of its computer code remain lost in the system.
Far off, a loud boom echoed.
The vista above displayed erratic light displays that resembled damaged technological elements.
A black temple emerged from the peak of a distant mountain after the mountain started moving to create this new structure from obsidian and code fragments.
A new dungeon.
This temple emerged after the demise of a dying divine being.
She leapt up from her seat as her pulse raced out of control. "It's not over."
Alison joined her. "No. But we're free now. We continue fighting according to our own conditions.
They stood side by side.
Inside her being the small traces of the Source continued to live along with another intense force.
Something stronger.
Hope.