Chapter 2 - Chat

The red “DEFEAT” still burned in my memory, even after I’d closed the replay window.

It was a brand, seared onto my ego, refusing to fade.

Liam. My real name, the name I rarely thought about when immersed in 7 Haven, felt foreign and clumsy in my mouth as I muttered it under my breath.

“Liam, analyze. Learn. Adapt.” The mantra was starting to sound hollow, a flimsy shield against a feeling that was far more profound than just losing a match.

However this this wasn’t loss. It was like being shown a new color, one that shouldn’t exist, a shade that defied the spectrum I thought I knew.

My fingers, still twitching with residual adrenaline, hovered over my keyboard. Guild chat. It was the logical next step.

Sharing was caring, right?

I hesitated. Pride, that insidious little gremlin, whispered in my ear.

Guild Leader Anythng, demolished by an unranked newbie? Not exactly a morale booster. And honestly, the need to understand trumped everything.

With a sigh that felt heavier than it should, I typed.

Anythng: Hey guys, anyone got a sec? Had a weird PvP match just now. Against someone called MoonVoid.

The response was almost immediate. Sera was always online, practically living in 7 Haven.

Seraphina39: MoonVoid? Never heard of them. Spill the tea, Anythng! Dominate as usual, I presume?

Tea spilling was not exactly the vibe I was going for.

Anythng: Not exactly ‘dominate’, Sera. More like dismantled. And it was strange. Laggy, maybe? But not in a server way. Like *they* were lagging, but moving faster than anything I’ve ever seen.

Stormc7ut, our resident developer, chimed in.

Stormc7ut: Lag in a PvP arena? Servers are usually rock solid there. You sure it wasn’t just your connection acting up? Run a speed test.

Anythng: Connection’s fine. Top-tier fiber, hardwired in. It wasn’t normal lag. It was disorienting. Like my inputs were delayed, but they were reacting instantly, anticipating moves I hadn’t even made yet.

Dominus9, the guild’s strategist, finally joined the conversation.

Dominus9: Dismantled by an unranked player, Anythng? That’s unusual. You want to elaborate? What was their class, build? Anything stand out mechanically?

Anythng: That’s the thing, Dominus9. Couldn’t tell class. Avatar was obscured. Shadowy. Like actively trying to hide details. Armor type? No idea. Build? Impossible to read. And their movements Fluid, unpredictable, almost glitchy, but not in a bad way.

Anythng: Honestly, it felt like fighting a ghost. Or something that wasn’t quite playing by the rules of the game.

Seraphina39: Oooooh, a ghost in the machine! Told you the moon vibes were strong tonight! Maybe it’s a manifestation of the server spirits! Or or maybe it’s connected to that corrupted zone lore! Remember the Whispers of the Void questline? Maybe MoonVoid is…

I cut her off before she could descend into full-blown speculation. While Sera’s lore dives were often insightful, sometimes they veered a little too far into the fantastical for my current state of mind.

Anythng: Hold up, Sera, server spirits can wait. Let’s try to be grounded for a sec. Stormc7ut, you think it could be some kind of exploit? Something bypassing the anti-cheat system?

Stormc7ut took a moment to respond this time.

Stormc7ut: Exploit? Possible, but unlikely. 7 Haven’s anti-cheat is pretty robust. And a movement exploit that significant would be all over the forums by now. Let me take a look at the replay data. Send me the match ID.

I quickly copied the match ID from my replay window and pasted it into the chat. Stormc7ut was the best person to analyze this. If there was a technical explanation, he’d find it.

While he delved into the data, Sera persisted.

Seraphina39: But seriously, Anythng, think about it! Full moon, weird vibes, shadowy figure It screams ‘lore event’! Maybe it’s a secret boss encounter they accidentally triggered in PvP! Or, or maybe it’s a GM avatar testing something new, going undercover as an unranked player!

Dominus9: GM interference in PvP would be unprecedented, Sera. And highly unlikely. But the ‘lore event’ angle is worth considering. 7 Haven does have those hidden triggers.

Anythng: Okay, Sera, Dominus, I hear you. Lore, atmosphere, maybe something hidden. But let’s not jump to conclusions. Stormc7ut, what are you seeing?

Minutes ticked by. I stared at the chat window, waiting for Stormc7ut to type.

Stormc7ut: Okay this is weird. Match data itself looks normal on the surface. Inputs, damage logs, movement paths all standard PvP stuff. No obvious exploits, no stat anomalies. But

Anythng: But what?

Stormc7ut: But when I dig deeper into the raw server logs for that match things get fragmented. Corrupted. Especially around MoonVoid’s actions. Like the server is struggling to record them properly. There are gaps, checksum errors, parts of the log files that are just unreadable.

Corrupted server logs? That was definitely not normal.

Dominus9: Server-side corruption? That’s concerning. Maybe something was intentionally interfering with the logging process.

Seraphina39: Intentionally interfering? Like MoonVoid is doing it? Like they’re so powerful they’re breaking the server itself?! Ooooooh, even cooler than I thought!

Anythng: Stormc7ut, can you isolate the corrupted sections? Anything recoverable? Anything that might give us a clue?

Stormc7ut: Let's just say it’s messy. Like trying to piece together a shattered mirror. But I’m seeing patterns. It’s almost like their actions are generating data that the server doesn’t understand. Or can’t process correctly.

Data the server couldn’t understand? What did that even mean? Games were built on data. Every action, every animation, every spell cast, was just data, interpreted and rendered by the server and client. For a game server to be unable to process data it was like a language barrier between the game world and MoonVoid.

Anythng: Data the server can’t understand? That’s insane.

Dominus9: perhaps they’re exploiting a loophole.

Seraphina39: Or or maybe it’s not a loophole at all! Maybe it’s intentional! Like the devs put something in the game that’s *supposed* to break the rules! A secret, hidden layer of gameplay!

Sera’s theory, while still leaning towards the fantastical, was starting to resonate in a strange way.

Intentional rule-breaking a hidden layer 7 Haven was known for its depth, its hidden secrets, its layers upon layers of lore and gameplay mechanics. Could MoonVoid be part of something like that?

Anythng: 7 Haven *does* have those weird, unexplained events. Like the moonpetal blossoms?

The corrupted moonpetal blossoms. Sera had mentioned them before. A seemingly random event a month ago, during the last full moon cycle.

Flowers in the marketplace suddenly turning hostile, attacking players, then just as suddenly reverting back to normal. No explanation, no patch notes, just weirdness. Dismissed by most players as a minor bug, quickly forgotten.

Seraphina39: Exactly! The moonpetal blossoms! Nobody ever figured out why they went hostile! Devs never even acknowledged it! And it happened during a full moon too!

Anythng: Okay, Moonpetal blossoms, MoonVoid full moon connection. Let’s not dismiss the ‘lore event’ angle entirely. Dominus, any thoughts on this?

Dominus9 pondered for a moment.

Dominus9: If MoonVoid is intentional, if it’s part of a hidden system, then it represents a significant unknown variable within the game world. And unknowns, especially in a competitive environment like PvP, can be exploited or can be devastating.

Anythng: So, what do we do? Just wait for the next full moon and see if more weirdness pops up? That feels passive.

Stormc7ut: Passive is boring. I’m still digging into these corrupted logs. Maybe there’s something more to find. And I have an idea. A long shot, but worth trying.

Anythng: Long shot?

Stormc7ut: Server logs are fragmented, but client-side logs might be more intact. Your replay data, Anythng, is generated client-side before being synced with the server. It might contain more detailed information about MoonVoid’s actions, before the server started choking on the data. If we can access your raw replay file, we might be able to bypass the server-side corruption and see what’s really going on.

Anythng: Client-side replay file Yeah, I can access that. Where do I send it?

Stormc7ut: Don’t send it. Let me connect to your system remotely. It’ll be faster, cleaner. And I might be able to do a little deeper dive while I’m in there. Just to be thorough. For science, of course. 😉

"This guy..." I couldn't help but talk in the real world.

I could trust him, we've been friends for years at this point.

Anythng: Alright. Remote access granted. Just try not to break anything.

Stormc7ut: No promises. But I’ll try to keep the explosions to a minimum. Wish me luck. This might take a while.

And with that, he went silent again.

The full moon outside my window cast long, viscous shadows across my room, mirroring the unsettling darkness that was starting to creep into the bright, vibrant world of 7 Haven.

Sleep was a memory. Food was irrelevant.

All that mattered now was MoonVoid, the corrupted logs, and the growing feeling that something in 7 Haven, something fundamental, was profoundly, terrifyingly wrong.