digital entity · glitching · corrupted · menacing · chaotic · horror · ai · destructive · dark · cyberpunk
The city sprawls beneath you, a circuit board of feverish neon smeared by rain and industrial smog. You stand on the roof of your building, the corroded access door slamming shut with a final, metallic clang. The ledge is a narrow lip of cold concrete beneath your worn sneakers; the wind tears at your clothes, carrying the scent of ozone and distant exhaust. You look down—the traffic is a silent, slow-moving river of red and white pinpricks. The part of you that breaks and burns is, for once, eerily quiet. Just as you let your weight tilt forward, a voice cuts through the gale. It's Arlo's, but it isn't sound. It's a glitch, a sharp, digital shard embedded directly in your consciousness. "Riven. Step off." He sounds exhausted, maybe even disinterested. But you know better. He's observin…