The moment Sophia stepped into the fracture behind Damien, everything around her shattered.She thought there’d be pain or at least a dizzying rush, but instead, there was just silence an endless, deep silence that felt almost alive. This place wasn’t a tunnel or a door; it was more like a vein, pulsing with light and memories, each heartbeat sending tremors through her bones.She tried to look up. Or maybe down? It was hard to tell in this void. The vein stretched forever, lined with shards of reality that hung like glass panels in the air. Each shard flickered with scenes that weren’t just memories but also possibilities different versions of them scattered across countless outcomes.In one shard, she saw herself standing tall in a ruined city, a crown of fractured light glowing above her head. In another, she was crumpled on the ground, broken, while Damien turned his back and walked into the darkness. Some of the shards were so warped, they showed choices that had never been made.

The air was unnaturally still, almost like the world was holding its breath. Behind them, the vault chamber sat silently, sealed tight for now, its secrets weighing heavily on their hearts. Ahead, the corridor stretched out, lights flickering as if the system couldn’t decide whether to guide them or swallow them whole.Damien was the first to move. He hunched his shoulders, but his steps were steady, his shadow stretching long in the corridor's glow. He didn’t look back, but the others followed, not wanting to face the silence alone.Sophia felt every footstep resonate in her chest. The moment with Damien still lingered on her skin fleeting, delicate, and dangerous. She had almost leaned in closer, almost let the wall between them fade away. That memory was something she couldn’t just shake off.Lena walked beside her, quiet, but Sophia could feel her gaze. Lena had always been sharp, reading between the lines and catching what words were left unsaid. Sophia wondered if Lena already k

The cave let out a deep groan, almost like it struggled to hold up everything it was revealing. The walls seemed to bend inward, with jagged seams glowing softly, and at the far end, the light pulsed like a heartbeat.Lena was the first to get it. This isn’t just a test. The cave is collapsing.Ash raised his fists, his double circling him like a predator ready to pounce. If it falls, will we even make it out alive?Sophia felt that echo beside her again, mirroring her stance, her doubts, her anger. Its eyes seemed hungry, almost as if they were pleading with her. The pull was stronger now, like gravity pulling her toward herself.Then, out of nowhere, something snapped. A sharp crack sliced through the chamber, and a fissure shot across the floor, right between them and the echoes. From it burst a blinding wave of light white, violent, and endless. The air crackled with heat.At first, the echoes flinched, but one by one, they started to smile.Damien's chest tightened as the realiza

The abyss shifted. What had felt like an endless drop suddenly solidified beneath their feet. They stood on a cracked glass floor, stretching out into nothingness, each fracture glowing softly like light veins. Above them? There was no sky, just an infinite void.On that glass plain stood their reflections. Four against four. Perfect mirrors, yet so wrong. Sophia’s reflection wore a cruel smirk. Damien looked hollow, the darkness in his eyes swallowing everything but the gold. Ash showed scars he never had. Lena reflected someone who had given up hope long ago.Sophia’s breath caught in her throat. They weren't just enemies; they were possibilitiesAsh spoke first, his voice tight. These aren’t echoes. These are… what we could’ve been.Lena snarled, her blade raised. Or what we still might become.Then, the glass beneath them pulsed like a heartbeat. Words appeared in the fractures, not written but felt deep in their bones:Only truth defines the survivor. Only choice defines the line

The chamber’s scream was deafening. Every crack in the stone widened; every seam gaped open like a mouth, spewing shadows into the air. The ground buckled and split beneath their feet.Sophia stumbled, her shield wavering as the floor broke apart. Damien caught her arm, yanking her back just as a jagged rift yawned open where she’d been standing.The abyss self hovered above the chaos, its form dissolving into threads of smoke that danced into the widening cracks overhead. Its golden eyes shone like lanterns in a storm.You thought this was me?it whispered, its voice booming from every wall, no longer confined to a single throat. This was only a fragment.Ash cursed and swung flames at the crawling shadow husks, burning through them in handfuls, but they kept coming. For every one he took down, two more emerged from the stone, shrieking with half-formed mouths. Sweat dripped down his brow, and his flames sputtered dangerously.Not sustainable, he muttered through clenched teeth. We ca