The moment I stepped forward, the Archive reacted.
A pulse of light radiated from beneath my feet—arcs of translucent circuitry racing outward, illuminating the marble floor like a living diagram. The path ahead unfolded like a puzzle, sections of the ground rising and falling to form a staircase that hadn't existed seconds before.
The objective still blinked in my UI:
[Objective: Interface with Memory Beacon Node-AX3 | Time Remaining: 14:42]
I ran.
The deeper I went, the less the space resembled anything real. Hallways looped in impossible geometry. Gravity shifted on a whim. Once, I turned a corner and ended up back at the same junction—but mirrored. I wasn't just walking through a space—I was navigating logic itself.
Whispers echoed along the walls. Not voices, but residual thought—like corrupted data trying to remember what it once was.
At one bend, a triangular door split open, revealing a chamber lined with monoliths—each with frozen snapshots: battles, cities, faces. They shimmered like water. Some I recognized. Others felt... familiar, though I'd never seen them.
Suddenly:
[ALERT: Interference Detected - Thread Stability Dropping]
The ground shook. One of the monoliths shattered—shards flickering into red code. A figure stumbled out. Hunched, armor cracked, helmet sparking.
Another player?
No. An NPC—probably one of the system's memory guardians.
It looked up. Eyes glowing beneath the broken visor.
"Echo... active. Anchor... rejected. Intrusion... unresolved."
Then it lunged.
I barely blocked the first strike with my spear. The NPC moved like a corrupted combat script—predictable but unrelenting. Every hit made the floor beneath us flicker.
I fought, adapting. One, two, feint. Counter.
Then I saw the opening and struck straight through its core. The figure spasmed, emitted a distorted tone, and collapsed into code.
[Combat Log: System Guardian Disrupted][Stability Restored +12%]
A doorway appeared behind it, glowing in soft amber.
My timer read 02:19.
I sprinted.
Beyond the door was a long platform suspended in an endless void. At the center, atop a pedestal of shifting data, floated a fractured crystal: the Memory Beacon.
[Node-AX3]
As I approached, it flickered. Then spoke—not in words, but emotion.
Loneliness. Fragmentation. Hope.
I reached out.
[Interface Established]
My vision flooded with images—not mine, but someone else's. Dozens of cycles. Dozens of KaiMorens? No... echoes. Versions of me that never survived. Fractured threads of failed loops. Each dying in different ways. Each reaching this point... and failing.
One was caught in a collapsing dungeon. Another betrayed by allies. One simply vanished mid-quest, marked as corrupted data. And one... one died the moment they touched this Beacon.
Each thread ended in silence. Erased. Forgotten.
Then—one thread diverged. One survived. One reached the next layer.
And it had a message:
"The Cycle can be broken. But only from within."
The beacon dimmed.
[Legacy Directive Updated: Access Inner Core via Phase Gate-Ω]
A new portal opened behind the pedestal, humming with raw energy. But I didn't move right away.
For the first time, I felt something more than curiosity—fear. Not of dying, but of failing again. Of becoming another echo lost in some forgotten thread. Was I truly different?
I clenched my fists. I had to be.
As I turned toward the portal, a shadow peeled itself from the wall behind the Beacon. It didn't speak. It didn't move. But it was watching.
Observer?
I narrowed my eyes. "You saw everything?"
The shadow didn't reply—but in the air, a flicker of text appeared:
[Passive Surveillance Confirmed - Thread 041: KaiMoren Status = Unresolved Anomaly]
So I was being logged. Tracked.
"Then watch this," I whispered.
And I stepped through the gate.