The Dungeon Watches
Hesperia pressed a hand to her ribs, steadying her breath.
The glow from the System alert had faded, but the weight of it lingered.
[SYSTEM ALERT: ANOMALY DETECTED.]
[Player: Hesperia Oatrun – Classified as Glitched Entity.]
[WARNING: Unstable Time Distortions Detected. Adjustments in Progress.]
Adjustments.
She didn't like the sound of that.
She had spent years studying adaptive enemy AI, watching how digital opponents recalibrated to counter players' strategies. But this wasn't a game.
The System was learning from her.
And now?
It was changing the rules.
She exhaled, scanning the space around her.
The stairway had led into another ruined corridor—narrower than the previous chamber, but just as ancient. The walls were covered in intricate carvings, their edges worn smooth by time. The air smelled different here. Stale, but not abandoned.
Something still lived in this place.
She ran a hand along the wall, feeling the faint hum of energy beneath the stone. The System was woven into this dungeon, not just controlling it but integrated into its very foundation.
Was the whole world like this?
She shook the thought away. Focus. She had escaped the creature, but she wasn't safe yet.
Hesperia took a careful step forward, testing the ground.
The moment she did—the runes along the walls flickered.
She stopped, tensing.
The carvings shifted, realigning themselves into new patterns, as if reacting to her presence.
A second later, a new System message blinked into existence.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: ENVIRONMENTAL ADJUSTMENTS IN PROGRESS.]
[ANOMALY DETECTED – MODIFYING PATHWAYS.]
Her pulse spiked.
The hallway behind her collapsed instantly, sealing off the stairway she had just come from.
Dust exploded into the air.
Her stomach twisted.
It wasn't just monsters.
The dungeon itself was changing to trap her.
She backed away from the sealed passage, forcing herself to breathe through the dust cloud.
She needed to move. Now.
The air felt thicker than before, charged with something unseen. It wasn't just the walls that were shifting—it was the space itself.
Hesperia's fingers curled into fists.
The System wasn't going to let her play the same trick twice.
She turned toward the corridor ahead. No choice but forward.
The stone felt different beneath her feet—smoother, more artificial. The further she walked, the more the architecture shifted. The ruins were no longer just a forgotten temple.
They were an evolving labyrinth.
Her vision adjusted to the dim glow of the runes lining the walls. Ahead, the passage split into three paths.
She slowed her steps, scanning the openings.
One of these was the wrong choice.
She didn't know how she knew. She just did.
Her gut twisted.
She had walked this path before.
A flash of something—a faint, distant memory—the echo of a previous life, another attempt.
Something had killed her here.
But she couldn't remember what.
Her throat went dry.
If the System was deleting her past mistakes, then every reset was making her easier to kill.
Hesperia swallowed hard, forcing herself to focus.
If she had died here before, then the answer wasn't in her memory.
It was in the environment.
She studied the pathways carefully.
The left corridor was too clean. The dust hadn't been disturbed in a long time.
The right corridor was worse—it smelled wrong. Metallic, like old blood.
That left the middle.
The air there felt… different. Not safer. But less unnatural.
She took a slow breath.
Trust the instincts that are still yours.
She stepped forward.
The new passage stretched ahead, longer than she expected.
The air grew colder.
Her breath curled in the dim light, misting in the chilled air.
That wasn't normal.
The temperature had dropped too fast.
Another trick.
Hesperia pressed forward, footsteps light. The sound barely echoed—muted, like the space itself was swallowing it.
That was when she heard them.
Voices.
She stopped.
They were faint, but real—human voices echoing from further in the ruins.
She exhaled slowly.
Other survivors.
For the first time since she had woken up in this nightmare, she wasn't alone.
A part of her almost felt relieved.
Almost.
But she had made that mistake before.
She wasn't stupid enough to trust blindly.
Hesperia moved toward the sound, careful to keep herself hidden. She reached the edge of a broken archway, peering through a gap in the stone.
There they were.
A group of five.
They were gathered near the entrance to what looked like another chamber, their expressions tense, weapons drawn.
Hesperia's gaze flicked over them quickly, memorizing details.
The leader—broad-shouldered, with a scar across his jaw and military posture. His stance was defensive, like he was used to commanding others.
A woman with red hair—lightweight armor, a scouting type. Her hands twitched near the daggers at her waist.
A stocky man with a wounded leg—injured. Wouldn't survive another encounter.
And then—
Her breath caught.
One of them was just a boy.
Maybe fourteen, fifteen at most.
She swallowed.
What the hell was a kid doing here?
The leader—Denzel, she guessed—was speaking in a low, urgent voice.
"We need to keep moving. The System's already adjusting. If we waste time—"
The red-haired woman shook her head. "We don't even know where the next safe zone is. Running blind is going to get us killed."
Safe zone?
Hesperia's mind clicked into place.
The System operated in zones—that meant they were looking for the next checkpoint or transition area.
She inhaled slowly.
They knew something she didn't.
That made them useful.
But it also made them dangerous.
If they realized she was a glitch, would they see her as an ally?
Or as a problem to be eliminated?
Hesperia exhaled, stepping back from the broken archway.
She wasn't going to approach them.
Not yet.
She needed more information first.
As she turned away, another notification flickered across her vision.
[SYSTEM ALERT: ANOMALY SIGNAL DETECTED.]
[TRACKING ACTIVE – COUNTERMEASURE DEPLOYING.]
Hesperia's stomach dropped.
She had lingered too long.
The System wasn't just watching her anymore.
It was sending something after her.
She clenched her fists, steadying her breath. She had to move.
But as she took her first step away from the survivor group—
The red-haired woman's head snapped in her direction.
"Wait."
Hesperia froze.
The group had noticed her.
And now?
She had to decide—run, or face them?