The Erased Message

[Memory Reconstruction – Unlocked by Shard 02]

Play Fragment: YES

Location: PRE-GAME INITIATION NODE | 00:03:14 before Entry

The girl stands in a sterile white hallway, flanked by blinking monitors and humming servers.

She's typing rapidly, her voice shaking as she records.

"My name is Dr. Keira Nash, Senior Protocol Engineer for Project Borderline.

If this message is playing, then the corruption reached the gateway nodes."

She looks back, nervously.

"The game's original design was to simulate consequence, not to enforce death.

But someone—something—injected a foreign system into it. A Designer."

"It used the Dead or Alive interface to insert its own players.

It chose them specifically."

She brings up three profiles on the screen:

MATTHEW // RIN // SORA

Their faces flicker.

"They've all played before.

But their memories were fragmented. Reused. Rewritten.

They think this is the first game."

Suddenly—an alert blares. The lights shift red.

She turns sharply.

"No—no, they're already in. I didn't finish the purge!"

She slams a button.

"If you can hear me—this isn't the first cycle.

You are the error.

The system's trying to correct you.

Don't follow the rules. Outsmart them.

The game ends only if—"

The screen flickers.

Behind her, something moves—a shape of tangled wires and flesh.

A mask with no face.

It touches her shoulder.

She vanishes in static.

[END OF FILE]

[Fragment Incomplete: 89% Corruption]

Back in the present, the screen in the chamber shuts off.

Rin's voice is cold.

"She tried to save us."

Matthew clenches his fists.

"And the system erased her like a glitch."

Sora turns to the open door.

"Then we make this the last cycle."

***

In the dark corridor ahead, three names light up in violet:

PLAYER: RIN

PLAYER: MATTHEW

PLAYER: SORA

And underneath:

GAME ERROR: MANIFESTATION