The aftermath of the obelisk's destruction left a quiet unease among the group. Nexus-01's cryptic warnings weighed heavily on everyone, particularly Elliot, who spent days scouring game logs and encrypted fragments for clues.
---
The Guild in Disarray
At the Guild Nexus, tensions were high. With Arcane Junction's economy recovering from Draven's attack, players scrambled to rebuild their lost wealth and power. Arden had her hands full mediating disputes among guild members.
"Everyone's on edge," she said to Elliot during a rare moment of calm. "The market's stabilizing, but people don't trust the system anymore. They're hoarding resources like the apocalypse is coming."
"They're not wrong to be cautious," Elliot replied. "We still don't know what's coming next."
Arden gave him a sharp look. "And do you?"
Elliot hesitated, his mind replaying Nexus-01's words. "Not yet. But I'm working on it."
---
A New Glitch Appears
That evening, a new glitch emerged in the game. Players reported seeing strange, shadowy figures in high-level zones—spectral avatars that moved unnaturally fast and attacked without warning.
Liam burst into the Guild Nexus with a grim look on his face. "You've seen the forums? People are calling them 'Wraiths.' They're not normal NPCs."
Elliot checked his interface, pulling up a video someone had posted. The footage showed a group of players fighting a Wraith, only for their attacks to pass through it harmlessly. The Wraith retaliated with devastating force, reducing their avatars to code fragments in seconds.
"It's not just a glitch," Elliot said. "These things are using corrupted code. They're tied to Project Paradox."
---
Tracking the Wraiths
Elliot and his team decided to investigate the Wraiths. Based on player reports, the creatures were concentrated in The Shardlands, a shattered region of the game world that was rarely explored due to its harsh terrain and lack of valuable resources.
The team geared up for the mission, with Arden taking the lead as their strategist.
"Stick together," she said. "These things are unpredictable. Don't engage unless we know what we're dealing with."
As they entered the Shardlands, the environment around them grew increasingly unstable. Floating islands of jagged crystal reflected distorted images of the team, and the air shimmered with stray code.
---
Encounter with the Wraiths
It didn't take long for the Wraiths to find them. The first attack came from above—a blur of motion as one of the spectral creatures descended. Its form was humanoid but featureless, its body radiating a faint, glitching aura.
"Spread out!" Arden shouted as the Wraith lunged toward them.
Elliot activated his Developer Tools, trying to analyze the creature's structure. What he found shocked him: the Wraith wasn't just corrupted code—it was partially made of human input data.
"These things are using player data!" he yelled. "They're pulling from AR profiles!"
"What does that mean?" Liam asked, dodging an attack.
"It means they're hybrids," Elliot said grimly. "They're part of the game and part of us."
The battle was fierce, with the Wraith displaying abilities that mimicked player skills but at enhanced levels. It took everything the team had to bring it down, and even then, the Wraith dissolved into corrupted code that resisted Elliot's attempts to capture it.
---
A Disturbing Revelation
After the fight, the team regrouped in a safe zone. Elliot replayed his scans, searching for answers.
"They're not random glitches," he said. "Someone is creating them—using player data as a template."
Arden's face was pale. "You're saying someone out there is harvesting our data and turning it into these… things?"
Elliot nodded. "And whoever it is, they've tied it into Project Paradox. The Wraiths aren't just glitches—they're soldiers. Test subjects for something bigger."
---
A Message from V
As they planned their next steps, Elliot received another encrypted message from V.
The Wraiths are the beginning. If you want to understand their purpose, meet me in the Forgotten Annex.
The Forgotten Annex was another abandoned zone, rumored to be a staging ground for scrapped content during the game's beta phase. It was dangerous, filled with unstable terrain and corrupted NPCs.
"Another trap?" Liam asked when Elliot told the group.
"Maybe," Elliot said. "But if V knows something about these Wraiths, we need to hear it."
---
Foreshadowing the Architect
The team prepared to enter the Forgotten Annex, knowing that the stakes were higher than ever. The Wraiths were just the beginning, and with each step forward, the line between the game and the real world blurred further.
Elliot couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched—by the game, by Nexus-01, or perhaps by something even more dangerous.
"Let's move," he said, leading the way into the shadows of the Forgotten Annex.