[CURRENT ZONE: STONEHENGE HEATSINK TERMINAL] [API REFRESH IN: 04:12:00]

  The massive, grey rectangular block slammed into the Salisbury Plain with the kinetic force of a meteor, landing barely thirty feet from where Kai and Walter were standing.

  The ground bucked. Mud and wet grass sprayed into the air. As the dust cleared, the block sat perfectly flush against the earth. It was fifteen feet long, perfectly smooth, and pulsing with a dull, grey, data-wiping light.

  [DEFRAGMENTATION IN PROGRESS. MONUMENT INTEGRITY: 98%]

  "Kai!"

  Kai whipped around. Bursting through the back doors of the Visitor Centre were Grom, Maya, Gideon and Pigglesworth.

  Behind them, Kai noticed something completely absurd. Pressed up against a shimmering, translucent blue forcefield just outside the Visitor Centre were at least two hundred confused tourists in matching plastic ponchos.

  A glowing sign floated above the crowd: [FREE-TO-PLAY VIEWING BARRIER. UPGRADE TO PREMIUM TO ENTER THE INNER CIRCLE.]

  "Why aren't they running?!" Kai yelled over the wind, pointing at the tourists who were casually taking photos of the massive crater.

  "The System is filtering their perception!" Walter shouted back. "To the non awakened users, this just looks like a highly immersive, taxpayer-funded Augmented Reality exhibit!"

  "Keep off the grass, please!"

  Stepping right through the glowing blue forcefield was Brenda. The elderly National Trust volunteer dusted a clump of mud off her high-vis yellow jacket, completely ignoring the apocalypse.

  "Excuse me!" Brenda called out pleasantly to the violently swirling sky. She clicked her pen and wrote on her clipboard. "You can't park a monolithic structure there without a permit! Health and Safety will have a field day!"

  "Walter, she's a real person!" Kai panicked. "Why isn't she reacting to the physics engine breaking?"

  "I'm looking at her code!" Walter gasped, pulling up a frantic blue overlay. "The System tried to inflict the [MORTAL TERROR] debuff on her, but it failed! Her psychological dedication to British Health and Safety regulations is mathematically denser than the System's horror protocols! It just granted her invulnerability to avoid a crash!"

  Before Kai could process the sheer power of an unbothered British pensioner, a cheerful ding echoed across the grass.

  Four Monetizer Sales Reps in neon gold tracksuits popped out of stealth camouflage.

  "Good morning, premium users!" the lead Rep smiled, holding up a clipboard. "Due to orbital debris, we’ve converted the inner circle into a VIP Zone. For just three thousand Engagement Shards, you can shelter under our Premium Umbrellas!"

  "Look out!" Maya screamed.

  The digital horn blasted again. Tumbling out of the grey clouds was a second massive block. This one was shaped like a giant, glowing 'L'. It was plummeting directly toward the center of the heatsink formation.

  "Not on my watch," Grom roared.

  The Orc sprinted past the Monetizer's velvet rope and planted his massive boots into the mud. He looked up at the falling, 10 ton 'L' block, bent his knees, and raised his arms.

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  "Grom, you can't catch a building!" Kai panicked.

  The 'L' block hit Grom. The impact drove the Orc waist-deep into the wet earth. The sheer physical weight of the Purist code ground against Grom's strength stat, generating a shower of red error sparks. Grom let out a deafening roar, physically holding the block above his head. His health bar began to rapidly drain.

  A Monetizer Rep immediately stepped up to the edge of the crater, sliding a golden card reader toward the struggling Orc.

  "Struggling with your carry weight limit, sir?" the Rep asked brightly over Grom's roars. "For a monthly subscription of just ￡49.99, we can apply a [SPONSORED STRENGTH VOUCHER] to that block! Or, we can drop a Premium Golden Pillar to hold it for you!"

  "Away, foul merchant!" Sir Gideon bellowed, stepping forward and smacking the card reader out of the Rep's hand with the flat of his spoon.

  "Support!" Grom grunted through gritted teeth, his knees buckling. "Stamina depletion imminent!"

  Maya sprinted forward. She pulled a blue Crispy Mint M&M from her pocket and tossed it perfectly into Grom's mouth.

  [BUFF APPLIED: SUGAR RUSH. STAMINA REGENERATING.]

  "Kai!" Grom yelled. "Geometrical assistance required! Where do I put it?!"

  Kai stared at the 4x1 block already on the ground, and the 'L' block in Grom's hands. He looked toward the center of the monument. Walter was frantically wiping moss off a flat altar stone with a square indentation. Fifty feet away, a loose, 20 ton Sarsen stone sat on a carved stone groove leading straight to the altar.

  "It's a block pushing puzzle," Kai realized. "But we can't push that rock. We need the server to do it for us. Grom! It's an L-block! Rotate it ninety degrees and drop it flush against the straight piece! Leave a vertical gap!"

  With a mighty heave, Grom twisted his torso. The massive grey shape slowly rotated in mid-air. He let it fall, slotting it perfectly into the dirt to form the base of a wall right next to the Sarsen stone's groove.

  A severe, blaring siren cut through the air. The golden ley lines beneath their boots suddenly flickered, turning a sickly, corrupted grey.

  [WARNING. MONUMENT INTEGRITY: 82%... 78%...]

  "Kai, hurry!" Walter shrieked, watching his datapad. "If that integrity hits zero, the Purist hard wipe triggers! The whole county gets formatted!"

  Another horn blasted. A massive, glowing, straight 4x1 block the holy grail of Tetris plummeted from the sky.

  "Line it up with the gap!" Kai screamed. "Slam it down!"

  Grom leapt out of the crater, launching his massive green frame into the air. He caught the massive pillar of data.

  But he had pushed the physics engine too far.

  As the 10 ton block hit Grom's hands, a sickening CRACK echoed across the plain. The system couldn't calculate the physical strain. Grom’s left arm violently flickered, the solid green muscle tearing away into a wireframe of red code.

  [STRENGTH STAT OVERLOAD: MUSCLE MESH TORN.] [DEBUFF APPLIED: -20% MELEE DAMAGE (REQUIRES REBOOT TO HEAL)]

  Grom let out a roar of absolute agony, but he didn't drop it. Pushing through the code-burn, the Warlord drove the pillar straight down into the gap.

  It clicked into place. The bottom horizontal row of the grid was completely filled.

  For a split second, there was absolute silence.

  Then, a triumphant, nostalgic retro jingle echoed across the grass.

  [LINE CLEARED]

  The bottom row of blocks violently detonated into a massive, horizontal shockwave of kinetic pixels. The localized explosion slammed directly into the side of the 20 ton Sarsen stone.

  The ancient rock screeched against the earth, rocketing down the groove and slamming perfectly onto the altar’s pressure plate.

  Da-da-da-DAAA!

  A classic, triumphant chime played from the earth itself. The center of the monument split open with a hiss of pressurized coolant, revealing a glowing, fiber optic terminal.

  Hovering above the keyboard was a projection of a System Druid. But it wasn't cute. The holographic figure wore ancient, tattered robes, but its face was entirely missing, replaced by a blank, spinning grey loading wheel.

  When it spoke, its voice was a stitched together, automated corporate nightmare, echoing from multiple directions at once.

  "User_Admin_Recognized," the faceless Druid droned, the audio clipping unpleasantly. "To format the Earth partition, press any key. To initialize multiversal sync, prepare for localized deletion."

  Kai stared at the terminal, his heart pounding. The 24-hour cooldown on his Sudo tag still had four hours left.

  He dove for the keyboard anyway.