The sun rose over the village, painting the cobblestone streets in golden light. Kyle stretched, letting his sword hang loosely at his side, sparks flickering faintly from his hands.
A year of training had passed—or at least it felt that way to him. He could now control magic reliably, summon fire and light with ease, and his swordsmanship had become precise and fluid. Today, he felt ready to venture beyond the village.
Lira joined him in the churchyard, her expression calm but curious.
"Going out today?" she asked.
Kyle nodded. "I want to see more of the kingdom… and maybe test myself."
Lira raised an eyebrow. "You've never left the village for long before. Be careful."
"I'll be fine," Kyle said confidently, though a faint flicker of unease tickled his mind.
The road out of the village led through dense forests and rolling hills. Kyle felt the wind on his face, the warmth of the sun, and a thrill he hadn't felt before. He raised his hands, summoning a small flame that danced on his palm, then swung his sword through a practice cut in the air. Sparks and light wove together beautifully—a dance of steel and magic.
As he walked, something odd caught his eye. A group of crows circled unnaturally above a small clearing. The wind seemed to twist strangely around the trees. Kyle frowned.
"Lira… do you see that?"
Lira glanced over, her brow furrowed. "Nothing unusual. Maybe just birds."
Kyle shook his head. Something felt… wrong. His Fluctlight, the soul inside him, stirred strangely—an unfamiliar sensation he couldn't name. A sharp headache flickered behind his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Lira asked, noticing his pause.
"I… think so," Kyle said, waving it off. "Maybe just nerves."
They continued toward the hills, practicing along the way. Kyle tested his magic, combining fire with precise sword strikes, creating sparks that lit the ground in patterns. He began to feel a strange pull, almost as if the world itself responded to him differently.
"Your magic is… shifting?" Lira said, stepping back, genuinely puzzled. "I've never seen it act like that."
Kyle didn't answer. He felt it too—the subtle tremors in the air, the way fire seemed to linger longer than it should, and the way his sword hummed with energy when he swung.
He didn't know it yet, but his damaged Fluctlight—hurt long ago by the real-world incident—was beginning to manifest. Small distortions, glitches in the way magic responded, flickers of something that wasn't quite real.
Meanwhile, far away in the real world, the USA team had entered the main control room, overriding some of the AI world's outer security. Monitors flared red as alarms rang out across the system.
Dr. Vale and his team were safe in the secondary command room, but their screens flickered under the assault. Systems that had always been stable now showed tiny anomalies.
Back in the AI world, these anomalies manifested subtly: a tree that shimmered for a second, a bird that froze mid-flight, a spark of magic that lingered too long. To Kyle, it was confusing—but exciting.
He couldn't know it was interference from the real world.
As the sun began to dip behind the hills, Kyle and Lira returned to a small clearing. There, they practiced one last spell combined with sword swings. Flames leapt from his hands, sparks danced along the blade, and he landed a perfect cut on a training dummy.
"Not bad," Lira said, genuinely impressed. "You're learning fast."
Kyle smiled faintly. "I feel… stronger. But… something's different today."
Lira glanced around, shrugging. "The wind? Maybe the forest? You've been practicing a lot—maybe it's just your imagination."
Kyle nodded, hiding the strange feeling in his chest. For now, he was still safe. For now, the AI world remained the only world he knew.
But somewhere far away, alarms blared, buttons were pressed, and the first ripples of intrusion began to spread. Kyle had no idea that the very world he trained in was beginning to feel the touch of the real world—and that these small distortions were only the beginning.