The hooded figure's words echoed in the still air.
"They become something else."
Ezekiel held their gaze—or at least, where their eyes should have been beneath the heavy hood. His body was tense, ready for an attack, but the stranger made no sudden moves.
Still, something about them felt… wrong.
Not in the way the enforcers did, nor the way anomalies like him were labeled. This was different.
It was as if they weren't fully real.
Like they were slipping between the cracks of existence, the same way Ezekiel himself had.
The silence stretched before Ezekiel finally spoke. "What do you mean by that?"
The figure tilted their head slightly. "Tell me, Anomaly—do you know where you are?"
Ezekiel frowned. He had theories, but no certainty. He glanced around at the endless obsidian-like ground, the swirling cosmic sky, the eerie absence of the system's influence.
"This place exists outside the system," he said. "That much I know."
The hooded figure nodded. "Yes. But more than that—it exists outside of reality as you understand it."
Ezekiel's eyes narrowed. "Meaning?"
The figure took a step closer, and for the first time, Ezekiel felt something from them—pressure.
Not a system suppression. Not a power trying to crush him.
But something far more fundamental.
A presence that didn't belong to the system's world at all.
Ezekiel didn't step back, but his fingers twitched slightly, ready to react.
The figure's voice remained calm. "Every existence is bound by a framework—a set of rules. The system is one such framework, dictating the limits of those within it."
They gestured to the space around them. "But this place… it is where those who step beyond that framework find themselves. And those who linger here too long?"
A faint smile played at the edge of their lips, just barely visible beneath the hood.
"They are no longer the same."
A Dangerous Truth
Ezekiel processed the words carefully. The implications were clear.
This wasn't just some hidden space.
It was a place that altered those who stayed.
And he had no idea how much time had already passed since he arrived.
He clenched his jaw. "Then why are you here?"
The stranger exhaled, almost in amusement. "I am here because I have long since stepped beyond the system's reach."
That answer didn't satisfy him. "You were once part of it." It wasn't a question. It was a statement.
The hooded figure's smile deepened. "Yes."
Ezekiel's mind raced. What was this person? An anomaly like him? Something else entirely?
More importantly—what did that mean for his own future?
His gaze sharpened. "And what did you become?"
The figure's amusement faded slightly. A pause. Then, they said:
"A mistake."
The Nature of Anomalies
Ezekiel didn't speak right away. He had already accepted that the system considered him a mistake, something that shouldn't exist.
But hearing those words from someone like him carried a different weight.
"Then what happens to me?" he asked, his voice steady.
The hooded figure was silent for a moment before answering. "That depends. Will you leave?"
Ezekiel frowned. "Leave?"
"This place does not bind you. Not yet. But the longer you stay, the harder it will be to return."
Ezekiel's mind reeled. He had thought this place was a temporary escape, a safe zone beyond the system's grasp.
But now he understood—it was a trap.
Not because someone was keeping him here.
But because staying meant changing.
He had already defied the system's rules once. But if he lost his humanity in the process…
That wasn't victory. That was erasure of a different kind.
His fists clenched. "Then how do I get back?"
The figure nodded, as if satisfied by the question. "Good. You still wish to return."
Ezekiel didn't respond. Of course, he did. He had unfinished business in the real world. He wasn't going to fade away here.
The hooded figure raised a hand, and the space around them shifted.
A crack formed in the endless horizon—a jagged tear in reality itself. Through it, Ezekiel glimpsed something familiar.
A world of light and structure.
The world of the system.
"The choice is yours," the stranger said. "Step through, and you will return. But be warned—the system will not ignore your return."
Ezekiel already knew that.
The system had tried to erase him before. It would not stop now.
But he wasn't the same as before.
And he wasn't afraid.
Without hesitation, he stepped forward.
And the void shattered around him.
---
Light exploded around Ezekiel as he stepped through the rift.
For a split second, his entire body compressed, as if he were being squeezed through an impossibly tight space. His vision blurred, his senses distorted—he felt weightless and too heavy at the same time.
Then, suddenly—he fell.
The sensation of gravity slammed into him, and Ezekiel's body hit cold, hard ground. A sharp, biting wind cut across his skin as his lungs seized up, struggling to breathe in the thin, stale air.
Coughing, he forced himself upright, his muscles aching from the transition. The void's suffocating stillness was gone, replaced by something far more unsettling.
Silence.
Not the silence of a dead world, nor the peaceful quiet of an empty place. This was the kind of silence that waited.
Watched.
Ezekiel's heartbeat steadied as he took in his surroundings. He had returned, but—where was he?
The last place he had been before stepping into the void was a ruined city, surrounded by enforcers trying to erase him. But this?
This was different.
The buildings were still ruined, but not in the way he remembered. They weren't fresh wreckage caused by battle. These were old ruins, abandoned for what seemed like years.
A shiver ran down his spine.
How long had he been gone?
The System's Response
A notification flashed across his vision.
[ System Reconnection Attempted… ]
[ Warning: Anomaly Detected. System Authority Restricted. ]
His heart pounded as more lines of text flickered in and out of his vision, faster than he could process.
[ Analyzing… ]
[ Error. Paradox-Class Identifier Detected. ]
[ Reintegration Failed. ]
[ User Exists Outside System Parameters. ]
Then, the final message appeared:
[ Welcome Back, Aberration. ]
Ezekiel inhaled sharply. Aberration. Not anomaly. Not error.
Something had changed.
The system recognized him now—but not as a user. As something entirely separate.
Was this what the hooded figure meant? That stepping beyond the system would make him no longer the same?
His fingers curled into a fist. Whatever the system thought he was now, he wasn't going to let it define him.
He needed answers.
A City Forgotten by Time
He pushed himself to his feet, taking a more careful look at his surroundings. The architecture looked similar to where he had been before—but everything was wrong.
The air felt thinner. The ground was drier, cracked. Structures that had only been partially damaged before were now entirely collapsed.
Ezekiel moved cautiously through the ruins, his instincts on high alert. There were no signs of people. No system notifications. Nothing.
Had the enforcers abandoned this place? Had it become a dead zone after his disappearance?
Or… had something else happened while he was gone?
A flicker of movement caught his eye.
Ezekiel froze, his body shifting into a defensive stance.
In the distance, past a collapsed building, something moved.
Not a person. Not an enforcer.
Something else.
It crawled through the wreckage, its body low to the ground, shifting unnaturally. It wasn't mechanical, nor entirely organic.
And it was watching him.
His breath slowed. He had fought enforcers, he had survived the system's erasure attempts. But this?
This was new.
And Ezekiel had no idea what it was.
---