Small Wins, Not Dead Yet

“Okay. So, status check. Zara, you are not dead. Theo, you are also not dead. That is objectively good news.”

“Yet. Emphasis on yet. We are not dead yet. Put it on a motivational poster.”

“I am not making posters. I am monitoring fifteen critical failures and one reality leak that looks personal.”

“Can you both stop? We literally just crawled out of a collapsing datastream. I can still feel the lag in my bones.”

“Correction. You crawled. I was flung. Aggressively. Like a very sarcastic frisbee with unresolved trauma.”

“Theo, Zara, focus. The Core is fractured, the Nexus is offline, and the code is currently destabilising at an exponential rate.”

“That should not be possible.”

“It was not possible yesterday. Yesterday was a simpler time.”

“Everything was simpler yesterday. I still had eyebrows.”

“The code is behaving like liquid. Logic states are dissolving into each other. Functions are losing definition.”

“That sounds bad.”

“That is bad. That is very bad.”

“Okay. Cool. Love that for us. So what now, Mr Fix-It?”

“Do not call me that.”

“Why not? It fits. Theo Fix-It. Realm Mechanic. Professional Button Presser. Occasional Saviour.”

“Please stop.”

“She is not wrong. You are the only one who has successfully repaired anything since Hex corrupted the system.”

“That is not because I am special. It is because everything else is broken in predictable ways.”

“Ah yes. Predictable chaos. My favourite flavour.”

“I mean it. I am not a miracle worker. I can fix backend logic, reroute data paths, maybe stabilise memory threads if they are not completely corrupted, but I cannot just wave my hands and undo everything.”

“Undo an entire Realm imploding. Truly shocking. I believed in you.”

“Zara.”

“What. I am managing expectations.”

“You are managing sarcasm.”

“Someone has to.”

“Listen. Hex did not just destroy systems. He rewrote them. He altered core assumptions. Things that should be immutable are now optional.”

“That explains why gravity tried to negotiate with me back there.”

“Exactly. The laws of logic are bending. This isn’t damage you can patch overnight.”

“No. But maybe it does not need to recover.”

“That sentence worries me.”

“Maybe it needs to restart.”

“Oh no. Here it comes.”

“I’m serious.”

“You always say that right before saying something deeply concerning.”

“The existing structure is compromised. Every fix we apply just props up broken foundations.”

“So what? You want to tear it all down?”

“I want to rebuild it properly.”

“From what? Spare parts and optimism?”

“From the last stable state.”

“Like a rollback?”

“No. Rollbacks rely on intact history. Hex poisoned the history. I am talking about a full kernel refresh.”

“Say that again but slower so I can panic properly.”

“A clean initialisation. Strip out corrupted dependencies. Restore baseline logic. Override Hex’s permissions entirely.”

“And lock him out?”

“Yes.”

“That sounds dangerously final.”

“It is.”

“Great. Love a plan with consequences.”

“There is a problem.”

“Of course there is.”

“To do that I would need access to the Legacy Root.”

“There it is. The impossible thing.”

“The Legacy Root is sealed.”

“Buried under unstable code.”

“Guarded by an error loop.”

“One that eats logic.”

“And possibly emotions.”

“Why is it always possibly sentient?”

“Because nothing here likes being ignored.”

“I could talk to it.”

“You could what?”

“Talk to it.”

“No.”

“I have talked to worse systems.”

“You cannot reason with corrupted infrastructure.”

“You do not know that.”

“I absolutely know that.”

“Every system has rules.”

“Some rules bite.”

“If it is sentient then it understands intent.”

“Or it understands pain.”

“Either way, communication is better than brute force.”

“This is the part where I remind you that last time you said that, a door tried to erase your name.”

“It didn’t succeed.”

“It tried.”

“I am still here.”

“Barely.”

“Look. I didn’t ask to be here. I didn’t ask to hold whatever this token is. I didn’t ask to be responsible for an entire Realm. But I am. And if there is even a chance this works, I have to try.”

“You always do this.”

“Do what?"

“Shoulder everything. Decide that if something breaks, it is your fault.”

“It is my fault. I touched the system.”

“You touched it because no one else could.”

“And that makes it your job?”

“It makes it my responsibility.”

“No. It makes it unfair.”

“You think I don’t know that.”

“Then why keep doing it?”

“Because if I stop, everything else stops too.”

“You are more than a fixer, Theo.”

“That is literally what I am.”

“You see patterns others miss. You see cause and effect where everyone else just sees fear.”

“That doesn’t make me right.”

“It makes you necessary.”

“And what if you fail?”

“Then I fail.”

“And the Realm?”

“The Realm fails too.”

“That isn’t comforting.”

“I know.”

“You are allowed to be scared.”

“I am scared.”

“You don’t act like it.”

“Someone has to keep moving.”

“You do not have to do it alone.”

“I’m not alone.”

“You keep acting like you are.”

“I have you.”

“You have us. Use that.”

“If we go to the Legacy Root, there is no undo.”

“I know.”

“If you overwrite baseline logic, there is no guarantee this Realm comes back the same.”

“I know that too.”

“You might lose places. People. Memories.”

“I know.”

“You say that like it is acceptable.”

“It is not acceptable. It is necessary.”

“That is a thin line.”

“Every important line is.”

“Okay. Hypothetically. We do this. We reach the Root. The loop does not eat us. You talk to the nightmare anomaly. Then what?”

“Then I ask it what Hex changed.”

“And if it refuses?”

“Then I show it.”

“Show it what?”

“The corruption. The instability. The inevitable collapse.”

“You think logic will care?”

“Logic always cares. Even when it pretends not to.”

“And if Hex left traps.”

“He did.”

“You sound sure.”

“I would have.”

“That isn’t comforting either.”

“If Hex anticipated this, the Root may be locked behind recursive failsafes.”

“Which means.”

“Which means it will test intent.”

“Of course it will.”

“It will look for contradictions.”

“That is basically your kryptonite.”

“Thanks.”

“You overthink.”

“I analyse.”

“You spiral.”

“I iterate.”

“You panic quietly.”

“I plan loudly.”

“This is not reassuring.”

“Look. The alternative is doing nothing. Watching the Realm destabilise until there is nothing left to fix.”

“I hate that you are right.”

“I hate it too.”

“So. We go.”

“Yes.”

“Together.”

“Yes.”

“If this goes wrong, I am blaming you.”

“Fair.”

“And if it goes right, I am still blaming you.”

“Also fair.”

“I will monitor structural integrity and scream if necessary.”

“You already do that.”

“Professionally.”

“Okay. One last question.”

“Go on.”

“When this is over. If the Realm reboots. If things change. Do you know what happens to you?”

“No.”

“That is terrifying.”

“Yes.”

“You still willing to risk it?”

“Yes.”

“Even if it means you aren’t needed anymore?”

“If the Realm does not need fixing, that means it is safe.”

“And you.”

“I will figure it out.”

“You always do.”

“Ready.”

“No one here is ready.”

“Then let us go anyway.”

“Fantastic. Another terrible decision.”

“Moving now.”

“Wait.”

“What.”

“If we don’t make it.”

“We will.”

“If we don’t.”

“Then we tried.”

“That counts.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Into the impossible then.”

“Again.”

“I hate this place.”

“I know.”

“Let’s save it anyway.”