He exhaled. A glitch. Just a glitch.

He sat in the dark for a long time. Then, slowly, he opened the lid.

He went to delete the ISO. But the file was gone. In its place was a single text document, timestamped just now.

The stage loaded: The Pyramid of Argus.

A shiver ran down his spine. The Wii menu sound didn’t chime. Instead, a low, guttural hum emanated from his laptop speakers. The framerate counter in the corner flickered between 59 and 61—stable, but… nervous.

Javier laughed nervously. "Corrupted texture. Classic Dolphin quirk."

One line, in Spanish: