I stood on the shattered overpass.
The chasm wind whipped through my new armor.
It tore at the edges.
The distant roar from below grew louder.
It shook loose pebbles.
They rattled across the cracked concrete.
The glowing waypoint for the First Trial pulsed insistent in my vision.
Like a heartbeat.
Demanding I accept.
Or run.
I glanced at the team.
Lyra had her swords half-drawn.
Her visor scanned the ruins below.
Kira clutched her staff tight.
Her eyes darted between shadows.
Elara stood closer to me than before.
Her hands still trembled from the fresh freedom.
But her jaw was set.
Determined.
"That roar is the trial guardian," Elara said.
"It always spawns when someone triggers the old backdoor paths.
I died to it a hundred times before the loop reset.
So we either fight it head-on.
Or we slip through the side vents.
I know where they are.
But they're narrow.
And unstable."
Lyra cut her gaze to me.
"Your call, anomaly boy.
The waypoint's bait.
But ignoring it means the System keeps escalating purges.
Until we're cornered anyway.
So do we take the trial?
Earn whatever twisted rewards it's dangling?
Or play it safe and risk bigger heat later?"
I felt the weight of their stares.
Every choice now cost something real.
Stability already low at twenty-one.
One bad fight could zero me again.
Erase another piece I couldn't get back.
But running felt like admitting the System owned me.
"We take it," I said.
"But smart.
We use your shortcuts, Elara.
Lead us to those vents.
We flank the guardian.
Hit weak points before it fully spawns.
Kira—you keep us alive.
No heroics.
Just steady heals.
Lyra—you and me on damage.
We end this fast."
Elara nodded quick.
She pointed to a collapsed section of the overpass.
Twisted rebar formed a makeshift ladder down into the ruins.
"Follow close," she said.
"The vents open into the guardian's arena from the underbelly.
It's how I used to watch players die.
Before the loop took me back."
We moved fast.
Climbing down single file.
The metal groaned under our weight.
Until we dropped into a dark service tunnel.
Narrow enough that my shoulders brushed both walls.
Glowing fungi provided faint blue light.
The roar echoed closer now.
Vibrating through the stone.
Making dust sift from the ceiling.
Kira whispered, "This place feels wrong.
The air's thicker.
Like the System's watching every step."
Elara answered quiet.
"It is.
The trials are personalized.
They pull from your fears.
Your data.
The guardian will look different for each of us.
But it always hits where it hurts most."
Before I could ask what she meant, the tunnel opened.
Into a massive sunken arena.
Circular pit.
Ringed by broken skyscraper remnants.
Vines hanging like curtains.
In the center, the guardian coalesced.
From black code and neon shards.
A towering thing.
Twenty feet tall.
Humanoid but wrong.
Limbs too long.
Face a shifting mask of my own features.
Distorted.
Screaming silently.
Smaller versions of Kira, Lyra, and Elara flickered around it.
Like ghosts trapped in its aura.
Lyra hissed.
"That's messed up.
It's pulling from our profiles.
Making us fight twisted copies of ourselves."
The guardian roared again.
The sound layered with echoes of our own voices.
"Failure.
Anomaly.
Contain.
Erase."
It charged.
Swinging a massive arm.
It cracked the ground where we stood.
Forcing us to scatter.
I yelled, "Vents now!
Use the side paths!
Hit the joints!
It's slow on turns!"
Elara darted left.
Leading us along a crumbling ledge.
While the guardian tracked us.
Its mask flickering between our faces.
Faster now.
We reached the first vent opening.
A narrow grate.
Half-collapsed.
Elara squeezed through first.
"The underbelly has weak points," she said.
"Glowing cores in the legs.
Take them out.
It staggers.
Then we go for the head."
I followed.
Dropping into the dark space beneath the arena floor.
Massive pistons and cables hummed with energy.
The guardian's legs loomed above.
Like tree trunks.
Pulsing red at the knees.
I targeted the nearest core.
Overwrite flashed in my vision.
Changing "Reinforced Joint" to "Fragile Connection."
The leg buckled with a metallic groan.
The guardian stumbled.
Roaring louder.
Stability dropped to nineteen.
The buzz in my head turned sharp.
Lyra dropped beside me.
Swords igniting blue.
She slashed the exposed cable.
Sparking wildly.
"Nice hack," she said.
"But it's adapting.
Look."
Sure enough, the core reformed.
Glowing brighter.
Forcing me to Rollback quick.
Rewinding the slash that would have missed.
Stability hitting seventeen now.
Whispers screaming:
"You can't keep stealing time, Aren."
Kira's voice came from above through comms.
"I'm holding the top side.
Throwing barriers.
But mana's low.
Hurry."
Elara appeared next to me.
Pointing to another core.
"There.
That one's tied to the mask.
It controls the copies.
Hit it hard."
I charged the second leg.
Dodging a stomping foot.
It cratered the floor beside me.
Triggered Overwrite again.
Shifting "Armored Core" to "Exposed Weakness."
But the System contested hard.
Red flash.
"Override Partial."
Stability minus three.
To fourteen.
The guardian screamed my name.
"Aren."
In my own distorted voice.
Swinging wild.
Catching Lyra across the chest.
Sending her flying into a wall.
Health bar dropping fast.
Kira yelled, "I've got her!
Healing!
But she's bleeding bad.
Real bleed, I think."
Lyra coughed.
Pushed up.
"I'm fine.
Keep going, anomaly boy.
Finish it before it copies us completely."
The guardian's mask split open.
Revealing a dozen smaller faces.
All mine.
All screaming.
It unleashed a wave of black code.
Sweeping the underbelly.
Forcing us to dive behind debris.
Elara shouted, "The head core!
It's exposed now!
When it opens—strike together!"
I nodded.
Heart pounding.
Stability fourteen meant one more big push could zero me.
Erase something I couldn't afford to lose.
But I said, "On three.
We hit it with everything.
Rollback if it counters."
We burst out.
Lyra's swords blazing.
Kira's heals landing hot on all of us.
Elara throwing a makeshift dagger she'd scavenged from the ruins.
We converged on the guardian's chest.
As the mask fully split.
The core glowing bright red inside.
I Overwrote one last time.
Changing "Final Core" to "Critical Fracture."
Success.
But the backlash hit like a truck.
Stability crashing to nine.
Hallucinations flooding in.
Dead faces from erased memories.
Whispering my name.
The guardian staggered.
Roaring.
Then exploded in a cascade of code shards.
That rained down harmless now.
The arena lights dimming.
The roar fading to silence.
We stood panting in the settling dust.
The waypoint notification chimed.
"Trial One Complete.
Rewards Unlocked.
New Skill Fragment Unlocked: Echo Theft.
Steal one emotion or memory from target once per day.
High Stability cost."
My knees buckled for a second.
The world tilting.
As the new skill settled into my hotbar.
Elara caught my arm.
Steady.
"You did it.
The guardian's down.
The path ahead is open.
But your Stability—it's too low, Aren.
You need to rest.
Or the next thing will break you."
Lyra limped over.
Wiping blood from her lip.
"She's right.
We find a safe pocket hub.
Rest.
Recover.
Because the System's not done.
It just threw us a bone to keep us hungry."
Before I could answer, a new private message flashed.
From the unknown sender.
Clean and cold.
"Well done, anomaly.
You survived the mirror.
Now face the chorus.
Phase One escalating.
Team flagged for group testing.
Log out if you still can.
Or watch them pay for your error."
Attached was a split feed.
One side showing my real apartment door.
Cracked open.
Collectors waiting.
The other showing Elara's old village.
NPCs resetting in loops again.
Eyes blank.
Waiting for the next death.
The message ended with a single line.
"Choose who breaks first."