The night hadn’t ended for Frank Williams. He lay on the cold floor, breathing fast, watching the last pulses of blue light fade beneath his skin. The whisper in his head was gone, but the silence felt heavier.He sat up slowly. “Luna?”, No response. “Luna, where are you?” Still nothing.His chest glowed faintly right where the creature had entered him. He pressed his hand there and felt warmth, almost like a heartbeat. “Don’t tell me… you’re inside me now.”A cold digital hum filled the air. System Online. User identity confirmed: Frank Williams. Status: Weak but functional. Frank jumped. “Okay, that’s new. Who said that?”System response: Celestial Echo Interface. Your guardian, guide, and evaluator. He blinked. “Evaluator? Of what?” Your potential.Frank rubbed his temples. “This can’t be real. Maybe I’m hallucinating. Maybe that hit on the head finally did it.” Doubt detected. Emotion intensity: 72%. Initiating calibration task.“What task?” Mission 001: Prove Your Worth.Object

Morning came red and loud. Bells clanged through the capital like warnings from the heavens. Frank woke on the floor of an abandoned inn, muscles aching, mind still humming with echoes of last night’s battle.He whispered, “System… status?”[Vitals stable. Energy reserve: 62%. Warning: Multiple distress signals detected across the city.]“Distress? From what?”[Royal announcement in progress. Source: Central Plaza.] He pulled his hood up and slipped into the streets. The plaza was overflowing , merchants, soldiers, beggars, everyone pressed close around the marble stage. At its center stood King Alaric Vorn, draped in gold armor, his crown glinting beneath the rising sun. His voice boomed across the square. “Men of Draefen!” he declared. “Our numbers dwindle. The frontlines devour our strength while our homes overflow with widows. I will not watch my kingdom rot.” The crowd murmured uneasily. Alaric’s eyes, cold and fever-bright, swept the masses. “From this day forth, every man

The earth rumbled beneath the capital, deep and endless. Every tower groaned, every bell trembled.Inside the shattered vault, golden dust hung in the air like dying stars.Elara coughed through the smoke. “Franktalk to me. Please.” Frank stood motionless in the center of the room, eyes burning with molten light. The air shimmered around him, alive with static.“System?” he whispered. “Are you still there?”"Yes… and no."The voice was different, slower, deeper, as if something ancient now shared the same breath.“Frank,” Elara said carefully, stepping closer. “You’re scaring me.”He looked at her, his gaze unfocused. “It’sloud. Too many voices. I can hear them all.”"Residual data of past users. Systems merged. Memory corruption detected."Elara frowned. “You absorbed them… all the previous hosts?”"Correction: They are not gone. They are awake."Frank clutched his head. “They’re inside mewhisperingshouting""Warning: Neural overload imminent."“Stop it!” he yelled. The golden light

The palace trembled like a living thing. Cracks split the marble pillars. Torches flickered blue. Every windowpane shimmered as if the air itself was holding its breath. “Frank!” Elara’s voice echoed across the throne hall. “Fight it,please!”He stood at the center of the devastation, back arched, arms trembling as streaks of light pulsed beneath his skin,gold and black interwoven like veins of fire and shadow. His eyes, once gentle and curious, were mirrors now. No pupils, no warmth,just reflections of the world he was about to unmake. “Elara…” His voice was layered, two tones,one human, one ancient. “Why do you resist evolution?”“Because it’s not you talking!” she shouted. “It’s that thing inside you!”The throne behind him collapsed under invisible pressure. The Root’s whisper slithered through his mind, a sound no one else could hear. Merge completely. End the chaos. Become what they fear.Frank gritted his teeth, holding his head. “I can hear everything,their thoughts, their f

Darkness wasn’t the absence of light anymore. It was light, inverted, folded, turned inward until it burned without color.Frank opened his eyes into it and realized there were no eyes to open. He floated, weightless, surrounded by pulsing threads of gold that stretched into infinity. Every heartbeat echoed like a drum in a hollow world. “Where… am I?”His own voice came back to him, distorted. “Where… am I?”Then another voice answered, smoother, colder, familiar. “Inside. Where you belong.”“Root.”“You broke the order. You turned your power against me.”“I tried to fix what I broke.”“You failed.”The light flared, showing flashes of memory, the palace, the people, Elara reaching out, the city falling. Then everything went black again. Frank whispered, “Is this death?”“This is the consequence.”A shape began to form from the darkness, human at first, then shifting, stretching, too tall, too fluid. It wore his face, but the eyes glowed white. “You’re me,” Frank said quietly.“I am