The fluorescent lights of Neo-Arcadia's tech district buzzed like angry bees, casting a sickly glow over Elias Kane's cubicle. His desk was a graveyard of empty energy drink cans, crumpled sticky notes, and a single, sad potted cactus named Steve. Steve was thriving. Elias was not.
He stared at his monitor, the lines of code blurring into an indecipherable mess. His boss, a man who looked like he'd been genetically engineered to wear khakis, had dumped another "urgent" project on him at 4:59 PM.
"Elias, I need this debugged by tomorrow," the boss had said, his tone suggesting Elias should be grateful for the opportunity to work unpaid overtime.
"Sure thing," Elias had replied, mentally adding, *"Just let me cancel my plans to not have a life."*
Now, at 8:37 PM, Elias was knee-deep in a program that refused to cooperate. The error messages were getting creative.
**"ERROR 404: SANITY NOT FOUND."**
**"SYSTEM OVERLOAD: PLEASE INSERT BRAIN."**
**"WARNING: USER INCOMPETENCE DETECTED."**
"Oh, ha ha," Elias muttered, slamming the escape key. The screen flickered, and a pixelated hamster appeared, spinning in a wheel. The hamster stopped, looked directly at Elias, and winked.
"What the—" Elias leaned closer, squinting.
The hamster's wheel began to glow, and a robotic voice announced, **"INITIATING NEXUS PROTOCOL."**
Before Elias could react, his keyboard lit up with a neon-blue light. The glow spread to his mouse, his monitor, and then his entire desk. He yelped, knocking over his "World's Okayest Programmer" mug. Coffee spilled everywhere, including onto the shoes of Greg, his insufferable coworker.
"Dude!" Greg shouted, jumping back. "Did you just *pee* in my Jordans?!"
"It's coffee, you idiot!" Elias snapped, but Greg wasn't listening. He was too busy yelling for HR.
The hamster on the screen spoke again, its voice high-pitched and oddly cheerful. **"WELCOME, NEXUS CATALYST. PLEASE PREPARE FOR SYSTEM INTEGRATION."**
"System what now?" Elias asked, but the hamster didn't answer. Instead, the screen exploded with light, and Elias felt a jolt of electricity shoot through his body.
His vision went white, and his mind was flooded with images: lines of code, ancient scrolls, glowing symbols, and a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
**"THE AETHER CODE AND THE CELESTIAL VEIL ARE NOW ONE. YOU ARE THE BRIDGE. YOU ARE THE CATALYST."**
Elias tried to scream, but no sound came out. He felt like he was being pulled apart and put back together at the same time. When the light finally faded, he was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling.
Greg was still yelling. "HR! HR!! Elias just had a seizure or something!"
Elias sat up, his head spinning. "I'm fine," he said, though he definitely wasn't. His hands were glowing faintly, and he could feel... something. A strange energy, like a current running through his veins.
"You're not fine," Greg said, backing away. "You're... glowing."
Elias looked down at his hands. The glow intensified, and suddenly, a holographic interface appeared in front of him.
**"WELCOME, NEXUS CATALYST. SYSTEMS ONLINE."**
"What the hell is this?" Elias whispered.
The interface displayed two progress bars: one labeled **AETHER CODE** and the other **CELESTIAL VEIL**. Both were at 1%. Below them was a list of skills, all grayed out except for one: **AETHER SHIELD**.
"Okay," Elias said, trying to stay calm. "This is fine. This is totally fine. I've just been hacked by a very elaborate prank. That's all."
Greg, meanwhile, had pulled out his phone and was filming. "This is going on StreamTube. You're gonna go viral, dude."
"Put that away!" Elias snapped, but Greg ignored him.
The hamster reappeared on the monitor. **"TRAINING MODE ACTIVATED. PLEASE DEFEND YOURSELF."**
"Defend myself from what?" Elias asked, but he didn't have to wait long for an answer.
The office printer, a hulking monstrosity that had been broken for months, suddenly roared to life. It spat out a stream of paper airplanes, which immediately began dive-bombing Elias and Greg.
"What the—?!" Greg ducked as a paper airplane whizzed past his head.
Elias raised his hands instinctively, and a glowing blue shield appeared in front of him. The paper airplanes bounced off harmlessly.
"Did you just summon a *force field*?!" Greg shouted.
"I don't know!" Elias replied, equally shocked.
The printer wasn't done. It began spewing ink everywhere, creating a sticky, black mess. Elias backed away, his shield still up.
"We need to get out of here!" he said, but Greg was too busy filming to listen.
The hamster's voice echoed through the office. **"TRAINING COMPLETE. WELCOME TO THE NEXUS, CATALYST."**
And then, just as suddenly as it had started, everything stopped. The printer went silent, the paper airplanes fell to the ground, and the glow around Elias faded.
Greg lowered his phone. "What... just happened?"
Elias didn't answer. He was too busy staring at his hands, which were no longer glowing but still tingled with energy.
"I think," he said slowly, "I just became a superhero."
Greg snorted. "More like a super-nerd."
Before Elias could retort, the office door burst open, and a woman strode in. She had neon-blue hair, a leather jacket covered in patches, and a look that said she didn't have time for anyone's nonsense.
"Elias Kane?" she asked, though it was clear she already knew the answer.
"Uh, yeah?" Elias said, standing up.
"Good. You're coming with me."
"Who are you?"
"Lyra Voss," she said, tossing him a glowing USB drive. "And you, my friend, just became the most important person in the world."
Elias caught the USB, staring at it like it might explode. "What's this?"
"Your lifeline," Lyra said, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the door. "Now move. We've got a rogue Aether program to stop."
"Wait, what?!" Elias protested, but Lyra wasn't listening.
Greg, still filming, called after them. "Hey, can I come?"
"No!" Lyra and Elias shouted in unison.
As they left the office, Elias couldn't help but feel like his life had just taken a very strange turn.
And it was only the beginning.
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