Chapter 5: The Trial of Chewed Wires

Chapter 5: The Trial of Chewed Wires

The lift groaned like it hated its job.

Ethan and Milo stood in a rickety basket made of old wood, new bolts, and a faint humming enchantment that definitely didn’t meet any safety standards. It was pulled skyward by tension cables anchored to a floating platform above — the kind of sky station built before anyone cared about gravity, regulations, or common sense.

Below them, District 7 faded into fog and spiritual noise. Ethan swore he saw a kid juggling fire runes on one rooftop and a goat wearing a monocle on another.

He pointed. “Did that goat just give me side-eye?”

“No,” Milo muttered. “It gave you academic disapproval.”

“Even worse.”

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The lift stopped two platforms short of the main mountain gates.

A broken alert crystal pinged once. Then hissed.

A barely readable sign read: “TRIAL NODE — UNDER MAINTENANCE. DO NOT ENTER.”

Naturally, Ethan stepped off immediately.

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The moment his boots hit the stone, the ground flickered. Runes flared beneath the surface like backlit cracks. The temperature dropped. Milo grabbed Ethan’s arm and whispered, “That’s a spiritual trigger grid.”

“No way,” Ethan grinned. “I’ve always wanted one of those.”

“You’re going to get us—”

CHIME.

The world glitched.

One blink and the platform was gone.

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Ethan found himself standing on a floating ring of fractured stone surrounded by sky and static, nothing but gray clouds and ancient code waterfalls tumbling into the void. Dozens of broken totems floated midair, flickering in and out of reality like someone forgot to finish rendering them.

A voice echoed across the void.

> “Node BETA-9 has entered Trial Sequence: System Integrity Evaluation.” “Preparing scenario… loading candidate…”

>

>

> You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

A creature assembled itself from junk.

Literally.

Armor plates. Doll limbs. Smashed golem cores. A wooden mask with half a frown and random cables for hair. It stood ten feet tall and jittered every time it moved, like a skipped video frame come to life.

It shrieked.

Ethan winced. “Well, that’s friendly.”

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> “To pass the trial,” the voice continued, “the user must survive for 180 seconds against a malfunctioning spiritual echo.” “Please refrain from dying.”

>

> Begin.

The creature lunged.

Ethan dodged just in time, skidding across hex-lit tiles that cracked beneath his boots. A doll hand grazed his arm, sending a jolt of weird through his ribs.

> “You’ve got this,” Whisp said, hopping onto a pillar. “You’re agile. Clever. Deeply unqualified.”

“Appreciate the faith!”

He countered with a side-lash — not a punch, not a kick, just raw core feedback spat through his fingertips like a spiritual taser. The echo shuddered.

> [Ability Used: Core Sync Pulse] [Cooldown: 120 seconds]

“Two minutes?!” Ethan yelled. “This is why we can’t have nice things!”

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The fight was ugly.

He ducked. Rolled. Took a shoulder check that made his vision blur. He activated Sidestep Rewrite on instinct and vanished just before a club hand smashed where his skull had been.

Reappeared midair.

Landed badly.

> “Thirty seconds,” Whisp called. “You’re still alive. Technically.”

> “I’ve had worse scrapes with vending machines!”

The echo screamed again — a broken data loop of someone else’s pain. It charged. Ethan knew he couldn’t dodge in time.

So he didn’t.

He absorbed it.

Reached out with the junkcode trait like he was opening a trapdoor in his own shadow and fed the feedback loop back into itself. The creature twitched. Stumbled. Started folding inward like a bad origami spell.

> [Junkcode Manipulation Lv. 1 → Lv. 2]

>

> > New Effect Unlocked: Recursive Feed – Can destabilize hostile spiritual echoes during active glitch events.

Ethan exhaled.

The platform dimmed.

The creature vanished into static.

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> “Trial complete.” “Node BETA-9 has not died. Minimal success logged.” “Compiling update…”

> [SYSTEM SNAPSHOT – NODE BETA-9] User: Rourke_Ethan Node Class: Recursive – Developer Access (Unstable) Soul Integrity: 68% Permission Tier: Graybox Experimental Location Tag: Trial Layer / Echo Vault 3 Observer Status: [FLAGGED]

>

> TRAITS: • Adaptive Echo Core – Lv. 1 • Junkcode Manipulation – Lv. 2 • Illicit Frame Access – [BETA] • Trait Slot (2) – Empty

>

> ABILITIES: • Sidestep Rewrite – Charges: 1/3 • Core Sync Pulse – Cooldown: Active • Recursive Feed – NEW

>

> ISSUES: ⚠ Memory Bleed – Moderate ⚠ Soul Instability Detected ⚠ Observer Eyes: 1 Active, 3 Dormant

>

> Note: Trial success has elevated Node profile visibility. Note: You may be hunted. Again.

>

> Node Response: “Try me.”

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The world snapped back to the trial gate platform with a bang and a puff of ozone. Milo nearly fell off the edge as Ethan reappeared beside him, breathing hard and slightly on fire.

“…What just happened?” Milo said.

“I think I passed a test,” Ethan replied, brushing smoke off his sleeves. “Also, I might be legally someone else now.”

“Nothing you say ever makes sense.”

“That’s the charm, Milo. That’s the charm.”