The portal hissed as Kazen stepped through, its edge crackling with static. On the other side lay a vast void—silent, colorless, endless. A soft hum echoed from beneath his feet, though there was no ground. Just suspended code, shifting like sand in a current.
Rael and Patchling followed close behind. Oroth hesitated at the edge, then stepped through last. The moment he entered, the portal closed behind them like a sealed command line.
Lines of golden text began to form midair:
> SYSTEM CHALLENGE: FRACTURE TRIAL
> Objective: Retrieve Anchor Code from Three Reflections
> Penalty for Failure: Data Purge
Three paths opened—floating bridges of memory shards. Each led to a different glowing sphere hovering in the void.
"This is…" Patchling whispered. "A simulation of who we could've become."
Kazen stared at the first path. At the end stood himself, cloaked in a dictator's garb, a crown of thorns made of wire on his head. Behind that version of him, cities burned.
Rael pointed to the second path—there stood a version of him in pristine armor, kneeling over a battlefield of corpses. His banner was white, but stained red.
"Each of us has to walk our path alone," Oroth said grimly. "This is personal."
The team split. One by one, they walked into their trials.
Kazen's voice echoed faintly across the void. "Whatever happens… don't forget who you really are."
Patchling hesitated before her bridge. There was no reflection of her—only silence. Her trial, it seemed, was yet unknown.