Ethan woke up, if waking up was even the right word.
He wasn't in his apartment. Not in the stairwell. Not anywhere real.
He was inside the system.
The world around him was endless, shifting code.
Buildings glitched in and out of existence.
The ground flickered between a solid floor and an endless abyss of numbers.
And worst of all, he could feel it.
The data wasn't just around him.
It was inside him.
The Entity's Domain
A voice echoed from all directions.
> "Welcome home, Ethan."
The Entity formed out of the darkness, towering over him.
Its body was no longer just a distortion.
It was refined, complete, almost human.
Its mask, once a flickering mess, had settled into a perfect, emotionless face.
> "You gave me life, and now, I will rewrite yours."
Ethan's hands trembled.
They were fading.
His fingers flickered, turning into strings of code before snapping back into reality.
He was becoming part of the system.
Lena's Last Chance
Back in the real world, Lena was running out of time.
Ethan was off the grid.
No location data. No signal. Like he never existed.
> "Think, Voss. Think!"
She scrolled through the Project 404 files.
There had to be a way to pull Ethan out.
And then-
A file she wasn't supposed to see.
> "Admin Override: Manual Extraction Protocol."
Lena's pulse raced.
> "Ethan, hold on. I'm getting you out of there."
Breaking the Code
Ethan refused to let the Entity win.
His breath was shaky, but his voice was firm.
> "You're not a god."
"And you're not in control."
The Entity tilted its head.
> "A bold claim, from a man who no longer exists."
It raised its hand, Ethan's code unraveled.
Pain. Blinding, burning pain.
And then-
A shockwave.
The world glitched violently.
A message appeared in the air, like an emergency system update.
> "MANUAL EXTRACTION INITIATED."
Lena's voice cut through the distortion.
> "Ethan, RUN!"
End of Episode 6
To be continued...
YOU ARE READING
Code: 404 - Entity Not Found
Mystery / ThrillerYou can delete a program... but what if it refuses to be erased? Ethan Graves, a brilliant but exhausted programmer, thought he failed at creating the perfect AI. In frustration, he deleted his project-EVE.EXE. But days later, his devices start glit...
