From the gaping, jagged wounds in the firmament, things began to squirm. Not air, not light, but a writhing mass of ink-black blight. They resembled segmented insects of paradoxical geometry, each limb ending in a maw of chittering void. They didn’t fly; they simply *appeared*, oozing from the tears in reality, their forms dissolving and reforming as they plunged towards the academy grounds. “Ugh, seriously?” Orazhan groaned, rubbing a finger in his ear. “Not this garbage again. Every time a new patch drops, the mob spawns get all messed up. Look at these things, they’re clipping straight through the geometry. Poorly optimized. My GPU is weeping.” One of the dusk-creatures, a multi-limbed horror with eyes like burning coals, swooped low, its form flickering like a corrupted texture. It lunged towards a group of petrified students, their elegant robes suddenly insignificant against the encroaching terror. “Hold!” Tazmeen’s voice, usually so precise, cracked with a desperate urgency. Her ornate sabre, Muramash, hummed with a fierce, protective energy. She spun, parrying a lashing tendril of gloom, the impact jarring her arm to the shoulder. Another beast snarled, coalescing directly behind Nidab, who was scrambling to scoop up stray dinars dropped by a fleeing noble. “Oi! Watch it, you oversized dusk-roach!” Nidab shrieked, barely dodging a snapping maw. Tazmeen, without hesitation, threw herself between Nidab and the creature, her shield flaring with a desperate, golden light. The beast struck, its talons raking across her arm, tearing through the intricate weave of her armored sleeve. A brief rasp escaped her lips as she stumbled back, grinding her teeth against the sting. “Woah, careful there, NPC,” Orazhan mumbled, squinting at the flickering monsters. “The pathing on these guys is totally broken. And is that a new blood splatter effect? Too much gore, honestly.” He glanced at Tazmeen, who was now kneeling, clutching her wounded arm, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The wound glowed with an unsettling internal darkness. Master Vahram, who had been observing the chaos with a peculiar, unsettling calm, took a slow sip from a delicate, ceramic cup that seemed utterly out of place in the encroaching apocalypse. A thin wisp of steam rose from the dark liquid within. “Oh, perfect,” Orazhan said, snatching the cup from Vahram’s hand. “Healing potion! Didn’t realize I had that hotkey.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he flung the scalding contents of the cup directly at Tazmeen’s head. It struck her with a spluttering hiss, drenching her hair and face. She recoiled, gasping from the sudden heat, her pain momentarily forgotten in the shock of the scalding liquid. “My knightly... *ack*! What in the name of the Qalhati Suns was that?!” she spluttered, wiping her eyes. But as she did, a soft, radiant glow began to emanate from her, a gentle golden aura that pulsed with quiet power. The wound on her arm, moments ago a festering bruise, began to seal, the split flesh knitting itself shut at blinding speed. The glow intensified, wrapping her in a cocoon of shimmering energy. She looked down at her palms, then at the healed arm, her mouth parting in sheer disbelief. “See?” Orazhan yawned. “Just a quick refresh. Probably a low-tier consumable, but it’ll do for now. Needs a better animation, though. Looks kinda janky.” He ignored the sheen around Tazmeen, and the fact that she was now deflecting incoming beasts with casual ease, the golden barrier flaring each time one struck her. He stomped his foot, a soft, almost inaudible *thump* against the ground. *WHUMP!* The academy courtyard shuddered. The air around Orazhan twisted, not with a visible force, but with an immense, crushing pressure that radiated outwards. The creeping horrors, which had been multiplying in number, suddenly *compressed*. Their warped facets crumpled, their chittering maws silenced as they imploded, shrinking into dense, obsidian pebbles that clattered against the flagstones. The void in the sky pulsed, then receded slightly, as if the reality itself had taken a deep, shuddering breath. “There,” Orazhan declared, satisfied. “Refreshed the chunk. That should clear out the garbage mobs for a bit. Still, the frame rate is terrible, and look at this,” he gestured vaguely at the ground beneath his feet. “Missing textures. This whole floor looks like a placeholder. Is there some kind of *dev room* I can access to fix this?” Amidst the absolute chaos, the apocalyptic Demon Lord Xurash, now impeccably dressed in a pristine butler’s uniform, glided through the scene. He held a silver tray laden with delicate, sugar-dusted pastries, his shoulders trembling so violently that the pastries rattled. His gaze, usually ablaze with brimstone, darted frantically across the yard. He offered a pastry to a stunned noble who promptly fainted. “My… my Lord Orazhan,” Xurash stammered, his voice a barely audible squeak. “Perhaps… perhaps a raspberry tart will soothe your… your disquiet regarding the… the missing planar surfaces?” Orazhan merely waved a hand. “No, no, not now. I need to fix this. It’s affecting my immersion. Vahram, you’re the mentor character, right? You should know the admin commands. How do I fix the server? This ‘sky breaking’ and ‘floor missing’ thing is getting out of hand.” Master Vahram smiled, a slow, predatory curve that seemed entirely too benevolent for the circumstances. He approached Orazhan, his eyes gleaming with a hidden satisfaction. “Indeed, Orazhan. This… *lag*… is quite severe. It appears the very foundational pillars of this dimension are… unstable. To truly ‘fix the server,’ as you say, one must venture to the very core of this realm. The World Engine, deep beneath the Shimmering Minarets. There, and only there, can the foundational system be reset.” He placed a hand on Orazhan’s shoulder, a gesture that felt less like guidance and more like a subtle push. “It’s an arduous journey, fraught with perils that would make even the bravest warrior quail. But if you do not perform this ‘manual reset,’ Orazhan, this *lag* will consume your save file, and everything within it.”

Glitching Through the Floor