shadows beneath codes

ch 2: lines in the code

John Doe's perspective

John Doe stood alone atop a crumbling rooftop overlooking Forsaken’s shattered skyline. The city below was a tangled web of neon veins and flickering shadows, a fractured reflection of a world hanging between existence and oblivion.

He pulled his cloak tighter around him, the digital wind whispering cold secrets through the ruined towers. Every pixel of Forsaken screamed in chaos—a chaos he was sworn to control.

But controlling chaos was like holding water in his hands.

His mind replayed the fight from the alley—the way 1x1x1x1 had moved, so fluid, so unpredictable. There was a spark beneath the glitch’s fury, a pain John recognized all too well.

Why do I feel like I’m chasing a ghost from my own past?

John’s jaw clenched. He couldn’t afford distraction—not with the system crumbling and forces beyond their comprehension probing the edges of Forsaken’s fragile code.

Yet, beneath the relentless chase, something unspoken lingered. Every encounter with 1x1x1x1 stirred a mix of anger, frustration… and something dangerously close to curiosity.

His mission was clear: find the glitch, end the threat, restore order.

But deep down, John wondered if order was just another kind of cage—one he’d built around himself long ago.

Suddenly, a flicker of movement caught his eye—a whisper of corrupted data drifting near the city’s edge.

John’s senses snapped to alert. Could it be another breach? Or worse, a trap set by the glitch himself?

Without hesitation, he vanished into the digital mist, shadows wrapping around him like armor.

Forsaken was more than code. It was a battlefield of broken souls. And John Doe was about to face more than just an enemy—he was about to confront the pieces of himself he’d long buried.

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1x1x1x1 perspective

1x1x1x1 crouched in the shadows of a forgotten server hub deep within Forsaken’s core, fingers tapping rhythmically against a cracked console. The faint hum of corrupted data pulsed around him like a heartbeat—fragile but alive.

He wasn’t just a glitch. He was the rebellion encoded into the system’s very DNA.

Every byte of Forsaken carried scars from the past—broken promises, lost identities, erased histories. The system was built on lies and control, and 1x1x1x1 had made it his mission to tear it apart, piece by piece.

But tonight’s fight with John Doe had shaken something inside him. The sentinel was no mindless enforcer—there was purpose in his cold gaze, pain lurking beneath the mask.

He fights for this broken world just like I do, 1x1x1x1 thought bitterly. Only his way chains it in shadows.

His eyes glowed faint red as he hacked into the mainframe, ripping through firewalls like paper. He wasn’t here for destruction—not really. He was searching for something: a fragment of code, a secret buried deep within Forsaken’s forgotten archives.

Something that could change everything.

As the digital walls around him pulsed with warnings, a whisper echoed in his mind—an echo from the system’s heart.

“1x1x1x1… you’re not alone.”

He froze, fingers hovering over the console. Was it a glitch? A trap? Or something else?

Before he could decide, the screen flickered—and a face appeared. Not John Doe’s mask, but something… different. Familiar, even.

“Trust no one,” the message crackled before vanishing into static.

1x1x1x1’s heart pounded. The lines between enemy and ally blurred in Forsaken’s broken code. And somewhere deep inside, he felt the first crack in his carefully built walls.

(Cliff hanger smth 🤭)