Night had fallen over the Village of Mirrors, but Neo no longer felt fear. The Shadow walked silently beside him, as if the struggle between them was gone, replaced by a silent understanding.
Before them, two paths opened.
One climbed toward the silent mountain, where it was said that time did not flow. Those who reached it saw everything but remained prisoners of their knowledge.
The other descended into an abyss from which no one returned, but the legend said that "everything that seems to end, begins there."
Neo stopped.
"Where would you go?" the Shadow asked.
"You are me. The question is where have I already been," Neo replied.
Then he closed his eyes.
He saw the mirrors. He saw the child. He saw the face of the Shadow. He saw the spiral. They were no longer separate. They were all a part of him.
When he opened his eyes, he took a step forward. He had chosen.
"It doesn't matter if it's the end or the beginning. I must create it."
The Shadow no longer followed him. Not because it was leaving him, but because... it was entering him.
Neo walked toward the unknown, but for the first time, he was not running. He was not searching for the answer; he wanted to become it.
End of Chapter 12