Chapter 27 — When the System Acts
The split widened.
Kael lost his footing and dropped to one knee, stone sliding away beneath him like it had been scraped clean. Lira clung to his arm, nails digging in.
The system didn't hesitate.
Light tore through the chamber from above, sharp and white, cutting straight through the darkness like it had been waiting for permission to be violent.
> FORCED STABILIZATION INITIATED
The air screamed.
The dark thing recoiled—not in pain, but in irritation. Its outline blurred, edges fraying as the light pressed in.
"So predictable," it said calmly. "You always choose force."
The light slammed down harder.
Symbols burned into the floor around Kael, forming a circle. Not the clean lines from before—these were harsh, angular, meant to hold, not guide.
Kael felt it lock onto him.
Not his body.
His position.
"Kael!" Lira shouted. She was dragged backward as the floor reformed under her, snapping her out of the circle like she didn't belong there.
"No—" He reached for her, but the light surged between them.
The system text flooded the space, overlapping, aggressive.
> ANOMALY ISOLATION
ROLLBACK DENIED
EXTERNAL ENTITY SUPPRESSION: PARTIAL
The dark thing laughed softly. "Too late."
It leaned forward despite the light, eyes fixed on Kael.
"You don't have to come with me," it said. "Not yet."
The chamber began to compress, walls folding inward as if trying to crush everything into a single point.
Kael clenched his teeth. "Then why show up at all?"
The thing's eyes narrowed.
"Because now you know there's an outside," it said. "And that knowledge never goes away."
The light spiked.
The dark thing was torn backward, its form unraveling into strips of shadow that vanished into the collapsing tear.
Just before it disappeared, its voice reached Kael one last time.
"When they break you," it said quietly, "I'll be there."
The tear sealed.
The chamber snapped back into shape—smaller, tighter, colder.
Silence hit hard.
Kael lay on the floor, gasping.
The system text hovered above him, clean and final.
> CONTROL REASSERTED
NEXT TRIAL PREPARED
Lira rushed to his side, grabbing his shoulders. "Kael. Kael, look at me."
He did.
The second heartbeat was still there.
Steady.
Waiting.
And far beyond the chamber, something that was never meant to touch the system at all was still watching him, patient as gravity.