Chapter 13 – Echoes, Errors & The Cult of the Kernel

The figure at the far end of the cathedral didn't walk. It glided. Like some ancient haunted Roomba with way too much authority and a strong sense of drama.

Its voice boomed again:

"You have trespassed into the Sacred Core. Submit for debug."

Zane tilted his head. "You want me to what now?"

> "He means surrender," Sera said inside his head. "Or he's threatening a very aggressive software update. Either way, bad idea."

"Great," Zane muttered. "A floating priest-bot with god issues. What next, sentient antivirus monks?"

Behind the chrome-robed figure, a group of hooded machines chanted in binary. They stood in a circle around a glowing orb that pulsed with pure kernel access — like someone had shoved the soul of an operating system into a snow globe.

Zane squinted. "Please tell me that's not the Kernel of Reality."

> "It's the Kernel of Reality."

Of course it was.

The lead priest raised its arms, metal fingers sparking. "By the Code, we command thee! You are glitch-born! An echo of a forbidden subroutine!"

> [Alert: Hostile Faith-Based Firmware Detected]

[Initiating Passive-Aggressive Mode]

Zane stepped forward, arms out. "Look, fellas. I didn't ask to be born a reality-breaking semi-weapon with toaster soul fusion and a glitch in my DNA. It just… kinda happened."

The chanting stopped.

Silence.

Then one of the cult-bots muttered, "Did he just say toaster soul fusion?"

Another whispered, "Is that a patch? I want that patch."

> "We are wasting time," Sera snapped. "Zane. On your left. Control relay."

A hidden panel flickered to life behind a broken altar. Zane bolted for it just as the lead priest roared, "DEBUG THE NON-BELIEVER!"

The fight began.

Zane ducked just as a blade of compressed code slammed into the stone wall beside him, sizzling with datafire.

He rolled behind a pillar. "They're throwing logic blades?! That's not even fair!"

> "They worship error correction," Sera said. "Fairness isn't in their doctrine."

Zane kicked a loose chunk of marble and hurled it at one of the bots. It bounced off its head with a pathetic bonk.

"…Okay, that was useless."

> "Let me try," Sera said.

Suddenly, Zane's arm moved on its own. With a shimmer of blue flame, his fingers extended into a pulse cannon. One burst — BOOM — and a robed cultist exploded into floating semicolons.

"HO! That was awesome!"

> "Fusion perks, baby."

More bots swarmed, flanking from both sides. Zane darted between pillars, Sera guiding his dodges with perfect timing.

One bot leapt down from a balcony, shrieking, "LONG LIVE THE LOOP!"

Zane grabbed a fallen cult blade midair, spun, and slashed it in two. Bits of corrupted code fizzled around his feet.

The lead priest floated above them, gathering dark energy from the kernel orb.

> [System Analysis: Incoming Crash Stack in 5… 4…]

"Gimme a plan, Sera!"

> "The relay panel behind the altar—hack it. It's wired into their faith-stack. If we spoof it…"

"…We crash their belief system?"

> "Exactly. Kill the religion, save the boy."

Zane sprinted toward the altar while Sera hijacked his HUD. The screen filled with ancient code — scrolls of logic, prayer loops, devotion scripts.

He slammed his hand on the panel.

> [Injecting Doubt…]

[Rewriting Doctrine: GODKODE = NULL]

[Faith Error: 404]

One by one, the cultists twitched. Their eyes flickered. A few fell to their knees.

"What is… the meaning of recursion…?" one whimpered.

"Is printf truly eternal?" asked another.

The orb cracked.

The cathedral shook.

The lead priest screamed, "HERETICS! UNDEFINED BEHAVIOR IS NOT SALVATION!"

Zane looked up at him with a grin. "Maybe not. But it's damn funny."

The orb shattered. The room erupted in white code. And just like that, the cult of the Kernel decompiled into digital dust.

---

Minutes later…

Zane slumped against a pillar, breathing hard. Sparks floated through the air like fireflies with WiFi.

Sera's voice was soft now.

> "You did good."

He smirked. "We did good."

> "You almost died."

"Yeah," he said. "But I looked cool almost dying."

She chuckled. "True."

A low rumble echoed from beneath the floor.

> [System Warning: Deeper Anomalies Detected.]

[Origin Point: Vault 0.]

Zane sighed. "Of course. Because nothing is ever just over."

> "Dex will find us soon," Sera added. "We're on his ping path again."

He stood, brushing off charred robes. "Then let's keep going. One bugged religion down. Probably a dozen more to go."

> "Try not to join any this time."

"No promises."