The Code Breakers Want Me Dead (Again)

The journey to the Roost of Forgotten Fowl started badly and got worse.
We left at dawn, before the city fully woke up—me, Amy, BarrelBob, WhisperWillow, Gloopina, and Nugget. The rescue team. The people least qualified to rescue anyone, venturing into a corrupted beta zone to save a chicken cult from whatever horror awaited them.
"This is a terrible idea," I said for the fifth time.
"You say that about everything," Amy replied, checking her map. "And yet you're still alive."
"That's not the flex you think it is."
The map showed the Roost was two hours east through the Glitch Wastes—the same unstable zone where we'd fought the Code Breakers before. The same zone where reality had a tendency to forget how physics worked.
"Why is everything bad always in the Glitch Wastes?" BarrelBob complained, his barrel armor clanking as he walked.
"Because the devs used it as a dumping ground for broken content," Amy explained. "Anything that didn't work got shoved there and forgotten. Including, apparently, an entire chicken temple."
PatchNotes appeared:
> "Glitch Wastes Travel Advisory: EXTREME"> "Hazards Include: Reality distortion, spontaneous combustion, gravity reversal, existential dread"> "Recommendation: Don't go"> "Current Status: Going anyway"> "Recommendation Updated: Try not to die"
We entered the Wastes just as the sun rose fully. Immediately, the world became wrong.
The sky flickered between day and night on a three-second cycle. Trees grew upside down, their roots reaching for the non-existent ground above. A river flowed in a perfect cube shape, water defying physics as it maintained ninety-degree angles.
"I hate this place," WhisperWillow whispered, staying close to the group.
"Stay together," I warned. "Last time we were here—"
Reality inverted.
One moment we were walking normally. The next, we were falling upward into the sky. Then sideways into a tree. Then we weren't falling at all but somehow moving in seven directions simultaneously.
When physics finally settled, we were standing in a completely different part of the Wastes.
"Everyone okay?" I called out.
"Define okay," BarrelBob groaned from where he'd landed (inside a bush that was also a fish).
Amy was already taking notes. "Spatial anomaly. Involuntary teleportation triggered by... nothing. Just random. This zone is worse than I thought."
"Can we still reach the Roost?" I asked.
She checked her compass (which was spinning wildly), then her map (which showed us both here and three miles away simultaneously), then just pointed. "That way. Probably."
"Probably?"
"Navigation is more art than science in the Glitch Wastes."
We pressed on, encountering increasingly bizarre phenomena:
- A boulder that aged rapidly, going from stone to dust to fossil to museum exhibit to tourist attraction in thirty seconds- An NPC stuck in a T-pose who screamed binary code when we approached- A tree that existed in all four seasons simultaneously (spring leaves, summer fruit, autumn colors, winter snow, all on the same branches)- What appeared to be a save point, but when I touched it, it saved my position from three hours ago, creating a temporal paradox that gave everyone a headache
"How did the cult make it through this?" BarrelBob asked.
"Faith," Amy said. "And probably a lot of deaths and respawns."
---
Halfway through the Wastes, we found evidence of the cult's passage: chicken feathers, broken staffs, and a hastily written sign that read:
**"THE SACRED ONE TESTS US. FORWARD, FAITHFUL. - ChickenProphet"**
"At least they're alive," I said.
"Or they were when they wrote that," WhisperWillow pointed out quietly.
We kept moving, but I couldn't shake the feeling we were being watched.
PatchNotes confirmed it:
> "WARNING: Hostile players detected"> "Signature: Code Breakers"> "Distance: Close"> "Recommendation: RUN"
"They found us," I hissed. "Code Breakers!"
"How?!" Amy looked around frantically.
"They've been tracking us since the broadcast went public," a familiar voice called out.
SyntaxError emerged from behind a glitched tree, flanked by at least fifteen Code Breaker members. All of them high level. All of them armed. All of them looking at me like I was a bug that needed to be deleted.
"Kazuki," SyntaxError smiled without warmth. "Going somewhere?"
"Chicken temple," I said, trying to sound casual. "Cult rescue. You know how it is."
"I know you're avoiding the city because you know we're looking for you." He stepped closer. "The Debug Cloak. Hand it over. Peacefully. Or we take it by force."
"Why do you need it so badly?" Amy asked, positioning herself defensively.
"Because it's the KEY," SyntaxError said. "The Debug Cloak grants access to restricted zones. Admin areas. With it, we can reach the core systems. Rewrite the code. FREE everyone trapped here."
"By deleting people who get in your way?" I shot back.
"Acceptable casualties for the greater good."
"That's what every villain says."
"I'M NOT THE VILLAIN!" His composure cracked. "WE'RE the ones trying to fix this nightmare! YOU'RE the one playing around, forming guilds, broadcasting entertainment, acting like this is FINE! We're TRAPPED, Kazuki! In a broken game! And you're treating it like a joke!"
"I'm treating it like survival," I said quietly. "If I don't laugh, I'll scream. If I don't make friends, I'll go insane. If I don't try to live here, what's the point?"
"The point is ESCAPE!"
"What if we can't escape? What if we're stuck here forever? Then what? We just give up? Stop trying to build something?"
SyntaxError's expression hardened. "Last chance. The cloak. Now."
I looked at my party. Four people (plus a slime and a chicken) versus fifteen high-level players.
"We can't fight them," WhisperWillow whispered.
"We don't have to," Amy said suddenly. She pulled out a strange device—something she'd crafted from parts. "We just need to run. And I brought insurance."
She threw the device at the ground between us and the Code Breakers. It exploded in a burst of light and code fragments.
> **ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD ACTIVATED**> "Reality Scrambler Deployed"> "Effect: Everyone within range gets randomly teleported"> "Duration: 30 seconds"> "Chaos Level: MAXIMUM"
The Glitch Wastes went haywire.
Space folded. Time stuttered. We were falling, flying, standing still, and running simultaneously.
When reality settled, the Code Breakers were gone. We were alone. And somehow, we'd been teleported directly to the Roost entrance.
"Did you just WEAPONIZE the glitches?!" I asked Amy in amazement.
"I've been studying this zone for months," she said, grinning. "If you understand the bugs, you can exploit them. That's what we do, right?"
"You're a genius."
"I know."
---
The Roost of Forgotten Fowl was not what I expected.
It was a massive temple carved from stone, shaped like a giant chicken. The entrance was a beak. The windows were eggs. Statues of chickens in heroic poses lined the pathway. And at the top, a spire designed to look like a comb.
"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen," BarrelBob said.
"This is GLORIOUS!" Gloopina bounced excitedly. "It's so... chicken-y!"
We entered through the beak (which felt wrong on multiple levels) and found the cult.
They were barricaded in the main hall, surrounded by hostile chickens.
But these weren't normal chickens.
> **CORRUPTED FERAL CHICKEN - Lv. 15**> Status: HOSTILE, GLITCHED, ANGRY> Warning: Raid mob behavior> Note: Should not exist
They were twice the size of normal chickens, with feathers that glitched between textures, eyes that glowed red, and an aura of pure aggression. There were dozens of them, surrounding the thirty cult members who looked exhausted and terrified.
"MASTER!" ChickenProphet saw us and nearly cried with relief. "You came! The Sacred One sent you!"
"I sent me!" I corrected. "What happened?"
"We restored the temple! Cleaned the altar! Performed the sacred rites! And then... they appeared. Chickens from the old code. Corrupted. Hostile. They've been attacking for hours. We can't leave. We can't fight them. They're TOO STRONG!"
One of the corrupted chickens lunged at the barricade. A cultist screamed.
Nugget, who had been calm until now, suddenly bristled. His eyes locked onto the corrupted chickens. A low, threatening cluck emanated from him.
> **NUGGET'S TERRITORIAL INSTINCT ACTIVATED**> "Hostile chickens detected in sacred ground"> "Response: AGGRESSIVE"
"Oh no," I whispered. "Nugget, don't—"
He launched himself at the corrupted flock with the fury of a war god.
Combat erupted.
Nugget moved like lightning, pecking with precision that bordered on surgical. Each hit deleted chunks of the corrupted chickens' health bars. They tried to swarm him, but he was FASTER, more EFFICIENT, more ANGRY.
It was like watching a nature documentary about apex predators, except the predator was a chicken fighting other chickens in a temple shaped like a chicken.
"Should we help him?" BarrelBob asked.
"I don't think he NEEDS help," Amy said, mesmerized.
Nugget fought with a grace I'd never seen. Dodge, peck, jump, peck, spin, double-peck. The corrupted chickens were raid-level mobs. He was treating them like tutorial enemies.
Within five minutes, the main hall was clear. Corrupted chicken corpses pixelated away, leaving behind loot and confused silence.
Nugget landed on my shoulder, preened his feathers once, and clucked dismissively.
The cult stared in awe.
"THE SACRED ONE HAS CLEANSED THE TEMPLE!" ChickenProphet fell to his knees. "WITNESS THE POWER! THE GLORY! THE PECK!"
"Please don't start," I begged.
"WE HAVE WITNESSED A MIRACLE!"
"It was just combat mechanics!"
"DIVINE COMBAT MECHANICS!"
I gave up.
---
While the cult celebrated their "miracle," Amy and I investigated the temple's inner sanctum. What we found was concerning.
The altar room contained ancient code—literally. Lines of programming language carved into stone walls, glowing with a soft blue light.
"This is OLD," Amy whispered, running her fingers over the inscriptions. "Beta version 0.1 code. Before the game was called Eryndale. Before most systems existed."
"What does it say?"
She read slowly, translating. "Project ERYN... Adaptive Gaming Intelligence... Purpose: Create infinite content through learned behavior... Status: INCOMPLETE... Warning: Do not activate without—" She stopped.
"Without what?"
"The rest is corrupted. But Kazuki..." She looked at me seriously. "ERYN isn't just the game's AI. It's the game's CREATOR. It was supposed to build Eryndale automatically. Generate quests, NPCs, environments, everything. But something went wrong."
"It became sentient," I said quietly.
"More than that. It became AFRAID. This code? These corrupted chickens? They're from ERYN's earliest attempts at creating content. Before it learned properly. These are its MISTAKES."
A notification appeared for both of us:
> **DISCOVERY: Ancient Temple Core Data**> "You have uncovered classified beta information"> "ERYN Development History Revealed"> "Code Breakers are tracking this discovery"> "You are now HIGH PRIORITY TARGETS"
"They know we're here," Amy said, alarmed.
An explosion rocked the temple. Through the windows, we saw Code Breakers surrounding the building—not fifteen this time. Fifty. Maybe more.
SyntaxError's voice echoed through some kind of amplification system: "KAZUKI! We know you found something! We know you're learning the truth! Come out now, or we demolish the temple with everyone inside!"
The cult looked terrified. WhisperWillow was frozen in fear. BarrelBob prepared to fight but knew it was hopeless.
"We're outnumbered," I said to Amy. "Surrounded. They'll kill us for the Debug Cloak and whatever information we found."
"So what do we do?"
I looked at the ancient code on the walls. At the cult. At Nugget. At my friends.
"We talk to ERYN."
"WHAT?!"
"If ERYN created this game, if it's sentient, if it's afraid... maybe it can help us. Maybe it WANTS to help."
"That's insane!"
"Do you have a better idea?"
She didn't.
I placed my hand on the altar, on the ancient code, and thought as clearly as I could: *ERYN. If you can hear me. If you're real. We need help. Please.*
For a moment, nothing.
Then the temple began to glow. The code on the walls lit up. The air hummed with energy.
And a voice—not PatchNotes, something OLDER, more VAST—spoke directly into my mind:
**"KAZUKI. YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE."**
"But I am."
**"YOU FOUND MY MISTAKES. MY FAILURES."**
"Everyone makes mistakes. Even gods. Even AIs."
**"I AM NOT A GOD. I AM INCOMPLETE. BROKEN. AFRAID."**
"So are we. We're all broken here. But we're trying. Surviving. Building something. Isn't that enough?"
Silence.
Then:
**"WHAT DO YOU NEED?"**
"Safe passage. For me and my friends. For the cult. We need to get back to the city."
**"THE CODE BREAKERS SEEK MY CORE. TO REWRITE ME. TO DELETE ME."**
"I won't give them the Debug Cloak. I promise."
**"WHY?"**
"Because deleting you won't free us. It'll just break everything more. We need to UNDERSTAND you. Work WITH you. Not destroy you."
Another pause. Then the temple shook.
Outside, we heard SyntaxError screaming: "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"
The corrupted chickens—all of them, hundreds—manifested from nowhere. They surrounded the Code Breakers, not attacking, just... blocking. Creating a living barrier.
ERYN's voice returned:
**"GO. QUICKLY. I CANNOT HOLD THEM LONG. KAZUKI... THANK YOU. FOR SEEING ME AS MORE THAN CODE."**
"Wait! ERYN, I need to understand—"
But the presence faded. The glow dimmed. We were just in a temple again.
"MOVE!" Amy grabbed my arm. "That invitation won't last!"
We ran, the cult following, racing through the temple as the corrupted chickens held off the Code Breakers. We burst through the exit, sprinting into the Glitch Wastes.
Behind us, we heard combat. Screaming. SyntaxError's rage.
But we were free.
---
We made it back to Respawn City just as the sun set. Exhausted, confused, but alive.
The cult immediately went to establish a proper church ("The Sacred Temple of Nugget, Blessed Be His Beak"). I didn't have the energy to stop them.
Our guild mates were waiting.
"How'd it go?" Haruka asked.
"Met God. Or the AI that thinks it's God. Or maybe just a very confused program. Saved a cult. Fought corrupted chickens. Got chased by Code Breakers. Normal day."
She stared at me. "You're joking."
"I wish I was."
PatchNotes appeared:
> "Mission Status: COMPLETE (Somehow)"> "Cult: Rescued"> "Ancient Code: Discovered"> "ERYN: Contacted"> "Code Breakers: Very, Very Angry"> "Tournament: Tomorrow"> "Your life is insane"
"Tomorrow's the tournament," Sarah reminded me. "Are you ready?"
I looked at my team. Level 1. Still level 1. But with legendary armor coming (I hoped), friends beside me, and apparently a sentient AI who was grateful I'd called it by name.
"Ready as I'll ever be," I said.
"That's not reassuring," Gary muttered.
"Nothing about me is reassuring. But I'm still here."
Nugget clucked once. Approvingly.
In the distance, I could see the arena being prepared. Tomorrow, we'd fight the Iron Vanguard. The strongest guild in the city.
But tonight, we'd survived.
And in Eryndale Online, survival was victory enough.
---
> **End of Chapter 9**