Chapter 17 – The Boy Who Remembered the Code
Elias dreamed of cities that weren't supposed to exist.
Each night, when he closed his eyes, he walked streets that breathed. The air shimmered with numbers; windows whispered stories; and the stars rearranged themselves to form words he almost understood.
He didn't know why he could read them — or why, when he woke, the letters sometimes followed him into reality.
That morning, when sunlight hit his room, he saw them again — faint symbols etched into the glass. Lines of text in a language no one had ever written.
He wiped them with his sleeve. They didn't fade.
Instead, they shifted.
[Dream Engine Sync: 61%]
[Subject Status: Stable]
Elias froze.
He'd seen those words before — once, in a nightmare that didn't feel like a dream at all. A voice had whispered through static, calling him by a name that wasn't his.
"Anchor."
He had no idea what it meant. But lately, the world had started reacting to him — lights flickering when he walked by, people repeating sentences he hadn't said aloud, reality echoing his thoughts for half a second before correcting itself.
He told himself he was imagining it.
Until today.
His phone buzzed, the screen flashing blank white.
Then words appeared — not a message, not a call. Just a single line:
[They're coming for you.]
Elias's throat went dry. "Who?"
No answer.
The power in his apartment flickered. The walls rippled like disturbed water.
And then—
The world stopped.
Not slowed. Not glitched. Stopped.
Raindrops froze midair outside the window. The sound of traffic cut off in a single instant. Even his heartbeat echoed, too slow, too loud.
A shadow formed in front of him — a human outline, tall, faintly glowing from within. It wasn't solid. It was written.
"Elias."
He stumbled back. "Who—who are you?"
The figure's voice carried both distortion and sorrow. "You don't remember me. But part of me is you."
Elias's pulse hammered. "That doesn't make sense."
"It will," the figure said. "The world you know is an echo. You're the last connection between what was written… and what can still be rewritten."
"Rewritten?"
The figure tilted its head. "You dream in code. The Engine listens to you. That's why the Architects fear you."
"Architects?"
"They built the first world," it said. "Now they want to erase the next."
The figure stepped closer. Its face flickered into clarity for a moment — a man with calm eyes, strands of silver hair, and a faint scar running down one cheek.
Elias's breath caught. "You…"
Rael smiled faintly. "I need you to remember."
Before Elias could speak, the door exploded inward.
Light poured through like liquid fire. Figures emerged — human-shaped, but their bodies were woven from geometry and flame. Their eyes glowed with judgment.
"Target located," one of them said. "Human anchor confirmed. Termination authorized."
Rael's form glitched violently. "They found you too soon."
"What do I do?!" Elias shouted.
"Run."
"But—"
"Don't think, Elias! Move!"
The window behind him shattered. Without understanding why, Elias leaped through it — and the world folded.
He didn't fall.
He dropped through layers of light, through letters and symbols spinning around him, each one whispering fragments of memory — wars, creation, gods.
When he hit the ground, he wasn't in his city anymore.
He stood in a place of shifting clouds and broken spires. Runes hung in the air like constellations.
And ahead of him — walking through the fog with a sword of light burning faintly in her hand — was a woman.
Lysara.
She stopped when she saw him. Her eyes widened, not in recognition, but realization.
"You," she whispered. "You're the anchor."
Elias stumbled back. "Who are you? What is happening to me?"
Before she could answer, the sky above them split open.
Dozens of golden constructs descended, wings like suns, voices booming in unison:
"PURGE SEQUENCE ENGAGED. HUMAN ANCHOR COMPROMISED."
Lysara drew her sword, her voice sharp and commanding. "Stay behind me!"
"I—I don't even know you!" Elias stammered.
"You will."
She raised her blade. The runes across her armor flared to life, red and gold mixing in violent harmony. The air itself screamed as light met shadow — the two forces colliding in patterns that bent reality into storms.
Elias covered his ears. But under the chaos, he heard Rael's voice again — faint, buried in static:
"Don't run from it, Elias. Dream it."
"What?"
"Shape it!"
Something inside Elias snapped — or awakened.
The constructs froze midair. The light around them bent, distorted — then reversed. They shattered into fragments of data that whirled into Elias's palm, fusing into a glowing mark that burned across his skin.
Lysara turned, staring at him in awe. "What did you just do?"
"I… I don't know."
Rael's voice echoed again, stronger now, filled with both pride and warning.
"You just rewrote reality without permission."
The world trembled.
[Dream Engine Sync: 87%]
[New Administrator Detected.]
Elias looked up, eyes wide. "What does that mean?"
Rael's voice came like thunder.
"It means, Elias… the Engine just chose its new god."
Next: Chapter 18 – God of the Rewrite
Elias begins to realize the Dream Engine is alive — and it's bonded to his imagination. Rael and Lysara must choose whether to guide him or stop him before he becomes something the world can't contain.