Chapter 1: A delusional glitch

Chapter 1: A Delusional Glitch

(Rewritten)

March 5th, 2026

One night… far away from any Western country, in a city that wasn’t very well known outside the people who lived within or near it.

It was late—very late at night—when a young man sat close to his old-school TV, a bulky, grandma-style television.

The boy had messy dark hair and crystal-blue eyes that reflected nothing but anger. He wore a black jacket over a thin blue hoodie, along with black pants that matched the rest of his dark clothing.

The room itself was dark—darker than a void. The only thing lighting it was the faint glow of the old television.

The light was weak, almost fading.

The only sound that could be heard was the clicking of the controller buttons in the young man’s hands. The sound seemed unusually loud, while the boy’s own breathing was strangely quiet.

His focus never wavered.

Until he reached the final level of the video game he was playing.

The final boss displayed on the small pixelated screen was a bizarre figure.

The TV itself was only displaying in black and white, yet the boss appeared as a strange mixture of colors—blue, purple, and green.

“Wait… I don’t remember seeing whoever this guy is. I’ve beaten this game over thirty times…?”

The boy finally spoke, breaking the silence of the room.

The moment his words ended, the screen suddenly began flickering.

But it wasn’t a normal flicker.

The entire screen distorted and blinked erratically—everything except the glitch-like figure.

The boy narrowed his eyes at the television, slightly creeped out by the strange behavior of the screen.

Then the entire room faintly lit up from the corners with an unnatural glow.

Distorted noises filled the air.

Static crackled violently around the room.

Something was happening in the air—something impossible to explain.

Suddenly—

The television screen shattered.

A hole punched straight through it, leaving the TV lifeless.

“Wha—”

A terrible pain suddenly gripped the boy’s wrist.

He quickly jerked his head downward and looked at his left wrist.

Several shards of glass had stabbed straight into it.

Red blood began seeping wildly from the wound, the sharp glass cutting mercilessly into his skin and veins.

The boy screamed and quickly ran out of his room, rushing toward the bathroom.

The sound of the door slamming open was loud enough to shake the leaves of a nearby tree.

Terror gripped him tightly.

He rushed inside the bathroom and shut the door without even looking at the mirror.

As he reached to turn on the lights—

They suddenly switched on by themselves.

?!!

The boy slowly looked up at the mirror.

The first thing he noticed was a hair tie.

One side was green.

The other side was purple.

The second thing he noticed was far more shocking.

The wound on his wrist had completely vanished.

It was as if it had never existed.

The teenage boy stood there panting heavily, his chest rising and falling rapidly from the sudden surge of adrenaline brought on by everything that had just happened.

Then suddenly—

A voice echoed inside his head.

It sounded glitchy and distorted, like listening to a damaged tape from the 1980s.

The voice rang painfully through his mind, giving him a headache so intense that he clutched his head and shut his eyes tightly.

In the mirror, the left side of the boy’s body began flickering.

Transparent glitch-like colors—blue, green, and purple—cascaded across him like a thin curtain.

Despite all of this, the boy remained silent.

But the pain was clearly visible on his face.

The voice finally spoke again.

Distorted. Static. Glitching.

“Harith Khraba… you’re one interesting person. You definitely have potential…”

Harith suddenly reached toward his hair, trying to yank off the strange hair tie.

The moment he touched it—

A small burst of green electricity shot out from it.

The shock stunned him instantly, forcing him to freeze in place as his face turned pale.

“Oop… not yet, Harith Kharba. I decide when you’re allowed to touch that.”

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the left side of Harith’s body, appearing over his shoulder.

It looked exactly like the strange figure from the video game he had been playing.

It seemed to be smirking.

Although the expression wasn’t completely clear, the figure had no eyes at all.

It was a simple humanoid shape composed entirely of pixelated glitches.

Harith quickly grabbed a pair of small scissors and shoved them toward the figure.

The scissors passed straight through it.

Then they completely disappeared into the figure.

When Harith pulled his hand back, his wrist had turned completely green.

“Pathetic.”

Without warning, Harith’s body suddenly lifted into the air.

An invisible grip tightened around his neck, almost choking him.

(This… this is terrible! T-this thing’s going to kill me and I can’t even tickle it!)

Harith desperately tried to think of something—

But before he could act, he was violently slammed into the bathroom wall.

Chunks of the wall broke apart and fell on top of him.

The impact knocked him unconscious.

…

The figure slowly stepped out of Harith’s body and hovered above his unconscious form, which lay buried beneath the rubble.

“You see… I would have already killed you. But I sense great potential within you, my friend.”

The figure snapped its fingers.

Instantly, the rubble vanished.

The shattered wall rebuilt itself as if nothing had happened.

The figure then lifted Harith’s unconscious body into the air, bringing it closer.

“So… I’ve decided to give you just a tiny fraction of my power.”

The figure placed its hand on the center of Harith’s chest.

Suddenly—

Intense electricity burst across the right side of Harith’s body, crackling violently as it spread through him.

The entire side of his body sparkled with powerful energy.

As all of those intense events were occurring all at once..

To be continued…

⸻

At a distant place, within a mansion that felt almost haunted and unknown to the outside world.

A figure covered entirely in shadows was speaking. The only visible feature of the man was his long wolf-cut hair.

In front of him, resting upon a luxurious desk that was equally swallowed by darkness, lay the faint outline of a book with an old, hardened brown leather cover.

Someone else sat across from him.

A young girl with navy-blue hair.

The man finally spoke, the heavy silence in the room shattering beneath his deep voice.

“So, Nadiana. I suppose we have a deal now, do we?”

The book suddenly printed a photo of Harith Khraba onto an empty white page.

From beneath the shadows, several black tentacles resembling drawn arrows slid forward, pushing the book closer to Nadiana while the man remained perfectly still.

Nadiana narrowed her eyes at the picture.

She reached forward to grab the book—

But instantly, a smaller arrow-shaped tentacle shot forward at lightning speed and grabbed her wrist.

The grip was tight… almost crushing her arm, though it didn’t quite break it.

“If you change your mind about seeing your family, then touching this book would be the best decision you could make.”

The man then released the arrows.

The girl’s expression remained strangely carefree, as if she were already used to this sort of treatment.

Her face stayed completely stoic.

Then she spoke.

“I won’t touch your little damned book. You just want me to cut this boy’s head off?”

“Now, now… I wouldn’t exactly want your hands to be drenched in blood. But I’d appreciate it if you brought him to me dead or alive. It really doesn’t matter.”

“And why do you want him dead so badly? Why not do it yourself?”

The man sniggered from beneath the shadows.

“You know… you’ve got some spunk in you. I like that.”

“But I’d respectfully say… this doesn’t concern you at all. Bring me this man dead or alive… or you already know what happens.”

At those last words, the careless girl shivered slightly.

Without asking another question, she stood up and prepared to leave.

⸻

The next morning…

The sun shone brightly over the city. Birds chirped in the distance, and a gentle breeze passed through the streets.

All of it was suddenly ruined by the sound of an annoying alarm.

Beep… beep… beep!

Harith lay sleeping on his stomach, one arm dangling lazily off the side of the bed.

The moment he heard the alarm, he jolted awake.

“W-wait… something happened… I can’t remember properly… I was smashed against the bathroom wall… and now suddenly I’m in my bedroom?!”

Harith pinched himself, trying to check if he was dreaming.

“Ow… yeah… this definitely isn’t a dream. I’ve got real trouble now… with whatever thing is inside me.”

Harith reached over to slam his phone like he normally would.

But the moment his hand touched it—

Electricity violently surged through his arm.

The phone instantly exploded into fragments, along with parts of his nightstand, leaving black scorch marks behind.

“THE FUCK?!”

Harith shouted in pure shock.

(I destroyed my phone with… electricity? Wait… something’s off.)

Harith immediately got up and stared at the damage his hand had caused.

(It’s… electricity. And burning, too?)

He looked down at his right hand.

Small sparks of electricity swayed around his fist, blinking slowly.

“I… have superpowers now?! From playing video games?!”

“That’s… that’s fucking amazing!”

Harith raised his fist into the air in excitement.

Immediately, the electricity shot upward and blasted into the ceiling, leaving a small hole with charred edges.

“Oh… damn it. I guess I need to learn how to control this.”

“Wait—before I celebrate with my powers… I’m already late for school. Damn it!”

Harith quickly began throwing his things together.

He didn’t even bother washing his face.

He grabbed his backpack and ran out of the house as fast as he could.

As he rushed through the streets toward school, several cars nearly ran him over before slamming on their brakes, honking loudly while drivers shouted curses at him in Arabic.

But Harith didn’t seem to care.

(Pfft… you guys would get crushed by my new powers. Just try me.)

Harith thought with a delighted grin.

Eventually, he reached his school and bent over, panting heavily.

“T-there we are…”

He said breathlessly before straightening up.

Both hands rested at his sides as he looked proudly up at the school building.

“Those new powers are gonna be awesome… it’d be a shame if I didn’t get to fight someone today.”

Just as he said that, someone deliberately shoved him by the shoulder, making Harith stumble forward.

“Hey! Watch it, asshole!”

The large-bodied guy dropped his backpack and turned around, wearing a cocky smirk.

“What are you gonna do about it, loser?”

Harith felt slightly intimidated.

A bead of sweat slid down his face as his heart started beating faster.

But he steadied himself and stood his ground.

“I know exactly what I’m gonna do about it, asshole!”

Harith pointed his finger like a pistol, aiming it at the bully.

Several students nearby began laughing.

The bully laughed too.

“Guys, look! The loser thinks his finger is gonna magically—”

But he never finished his sentence.

A thin flash of whitish-blue electricity shot forward from Harith’s finger.

Something clicked within Harith,

Uncontrollably, his finger shoots an extreme bolt of pure lighting, not even electricity anymore.

The strike was huge, it was immediate, it took the bully and a few innocent people next to him.

Big parts of the school was charred out, no different between the scene and a darkened night.

The bully and the other people were annihilated by the immense impact, no trace were left of them.. none at all.

Did it stop at that? No, the victims were erased and the strike went with more force and burned a big part of the school.

Thought, the burning progresses faster than it should, and ends up burning parts of the school.

Harith was frozen in place. A few seconds pass, each feeling like a hundred years.

(No way.. that was far too much, I have zero control over it at the moment..)

A sweat runs down his forehead.

Then a sudden realization struck him.

(Wait… now everyone knows I have some sort of superpower… and I’m not sure if that’s something I should be worried about.)

(If it’s already done.. then I can’t do anything about.)

Harith relaxed his stance slightly.

He looked at the destruction in front of him, parts of the school were charred, this wasn’t normal.

He felt uneasy, looking at it for a few seconds.

He looked down at his right arm, which was still crackling with whitish-blue electricity.

He looked at it with a proud smile.

“I’ll call this bad boy…”

He paused for a moment, remembering the strange events from yesterday.

His expression darkened slightly.

“I’ll call this bad boy… Glitchricity.”

The electricity suddenly stopped crackling.

Then it sparked again—this time even stronger.

Almost as if the power itself approved the name.