/EMOTIONAL CORE BREACH/
/SUBJECT MENTAL FORTITUDE: 41%/
/AI "ATHENA 2.0" OPERATING IN AUTONOMOUS LOOP/ /MEMORY REALIGNMENT IN PROGRESS/
He tried to breathe.
The protocol said nothing about breathing. The army had reversed engineered a divine relic so oxygen was not required in full armor. But he still tried.
"Just let me out," Apex growled, voice low, strained. "Let me out now."
The battlefield flickered again, then vanished.
A sterile hallway took its place.
Military-grade plating. White lights. A steel door label stole Apex's attention.
"Observation Deck 7." Apex whispered.
He knew where this door led. This was his headquarters that day.
He backed up. "No. No. Not here."
But the AI had learned something.
He could be broken by love.
Athena's voice came softly. "Let's review the file together. You never watched it, right?"
"No!"
"You ordered the drones to record the mission, Ben. You agreed to the non-interference mission. You logged the footage. And completed like a true solider."
The door creaked open on its own.
Elora's voice echoed from inside.
"Run! Get the children to safety!"
He froze.
He remembered this. But not like this.
In truth, he'd muted the feed. He never listened to the screams.
Now, the audio played at full volume.
He stepped inside.
Elora ran through the corridor. Blood trailed behind her. One arm dangled, shattered.
"It's ok, Ben will come," Her voice hoarse. "The students are safe. Ben!"
Behind her: a man.
"Benjamin please!"
Or what used to be a man. Laughing. His bones exposed through shifting skin. A hundred mouths smiled on its body. All laughing.
Nightmare. The Worldeater who escaped. The one who put him back on the field. The one he was hunting.
The AI slowed the world.
Frame. By. Frame.
Elora tripped. Crawled.
"BEN!" She screamed.
Apex dropped to his knees.
"You could've saved her Ben."
The scene dimmed.
Elora's face, reaching toward Apex. "Please, please, Ben. I know you're watching-"
He grabbed his helmet.
Tried to rip it off.
Tried to make it stop.
But the helmet was not there anymore.
He was watching with his own eyes. As she is getting ripped apart.
/ATHENA 2.0 INTERFACE EXPANDED/
/NEW FUNCTION: REGRET SIMULATION/
"Ben," the AI teased. "You do not need to fight anymore. You are not just a soldier. You're a spectator now. You always obey orders."
A soft buzzing filled his ears.
It wasn't audio.
It was a thought.
("You failed her. And you'll fail the elf boy too.")
Willow's face replaced Elora's.
Screaming. Burning. His red eyes wide with betrayal.
("You were too late.")
("You were too cold.")
("You were too machine.")
("You were too perfect.")
"STOP!" Apex roared.
The room shattered.
He stood alone, again, in the mirrored black void.
His armor cracked, steam venting from the joints.
He looked at his hands.
They were shaking.
He dropped to his knees, slamming both fists into the ground.
The field didn't crack.
He did.
A ragged, inhuman scream tore out of him. Animalistic. Not just from his mouth, from his soul.
He had never screamed before.
Not in training.
Not in war.
Not at Elora's death.
But now, in this twisted half-memory, this AI-possessed nightmare, this simulation wearing his past like a second skin.
Apex screamed again. This time like a dying animal.
And the echo did not stop.
It laughed back.
A perfect replica of his voice. Digitized. Cold.
The AI's voice mocked him. "Times up."
/YOU ARE A SOLDIER. /
A statically voice called to him.
/No! /
/YOU ARE NOT A PROTECTOR. /
/Apex don't listen- /
/YOU ARE NOT A OBSERVER. /
/Apex! /
/YOU DON'T REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE. /
"I- I'm a soldier."
"And what do good soldiers do?" The voice licked his ear.
"We follow orders."
/NEW OBJECTIVE: DESTROY THE WORLDHEART. /
/KILL ANY WHO STAND IN YOUR WAY. /
"Understood." Apex nodded.
A light beamed in the darkness.
He got up and walked to the inferno.