There was no sky anymore.
Only the Black Sun.
It hung above Je like a rotting heart, radiating not light, but hunger. Every breath he took felt stolen from something else — as if existence itself resented his right to live here.
[Trial Commencing…]
[Rule One: You are not the only one being tested.]
Figures emerged from the crimson haze. Some were human. Some were… close enough to human to be unsettling. All of them stared at Je with hollow eyes, their bodies twitching like marionettes pulled by unseen strings.
[Rule Two: Only one may leave.]
"System," Je whispered, "is this you or—"
[Silence Protocol Initiated.]
The figures moved in unison. Their steps echoed with the sound of bones breaking — but none of them fell. The tallest of them, skin stretched too thin over its face, spoke with his own voice.
> "If you survive… you'll understand the Third Rule."
Je's heartbeat was a war drum. The Black Sun pulsed once, and the ground became a labyrinth of shifting stone, each path lined with black spires whispering in a tongue older than time.
A faint memory tried to surface — a warning he couldn't fully grasp. Something about doors. About never answering the third call. But the moment he reached for it, the Black Sun pulsed again… and the trial truly began.
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