We didn't sleep.
You don't sleep in this place. You just close your eyes and hope the nightmares don't come from the outside in.
The chapel was cold, but quiet. Adrian had dozed off against a cracked statue of an angel with no face. Harper stood watch at the broken doorway, one hand on her blade, the other clenching a coin etched with a demonic symbol.
I sat alone on the stone floor, staring at my reflection in a pool of rainwater dripping from the ruined ceiling.
It didn't look like me anymore.
Then the system whispered.
---
[DEVIL PATH INITIATION TRIAL – ACTIVATED]
Candidate: Kai [Identity Partially Reconstructed]
Current Sin Level: 0.8
Eligibility: Confirmed
Trial Type: Moral Branching Event
Path Choice Required: Redemption or Corruption
Failure to choose within time limit will result in Forced Assimilation.
Time Remaining: 30 minutes.
---
A deep rumble shook the chapel.
Adrian jolted awake.
Harper cursed and drew her blade.
The floor beneath me opened.
I was falling—again.
But this time, there was no landing.
I floated.
Suspended in a black void lit only by shifting crimson glyphs. I couldn't move. Couldn't scream. Could only listen.
The system's voice was everywhere. Inside my bones. Inside my memories.
> "Every sinner must choose. Redemption… or corruption."
Two symbols hovered in front of me. One glowing silver. The other deep, pulsing red.
But this wasn't some morality test.
This was personal.
The system began replaying my past. Not memories—I still didn't have those. But fragments. Echoes. Guilt in audio form.
---
> "You saw her crying, and walked away."
> "You lied to protect yourself. And she paid the price."
> "You forgot your mother."
> "You forgot yourself."
---
The silver glyph pulsed.
> "Redemption Path: Suffer for your sins. Face your guilt. Regain what you lost. Forgive others. Forgive yourself."
Difficulty: Extreme. Reward: Humanity."
The red glyph pulsed.
> "Corruption Path: Embrace your sins. Forget guilt. Seize power. Rewrite memory. Become the hunter."
Difficulty: ??? Reward: Freedom."
My chest burned. The air felt like acid.
Choose to suffer… or choose to forget.
And then I heard a third whisper.
Soft.
Not the system.
A girl's voice.
> "You already chose once. Before you lost your name."
My heart nearly stopped.
What did that mean?
---
The system voice returned:
> "Trial Override Detected."
Choice Deferred. Custom Path Pending.
New Trial: Memory of the Choice.
---
The blackness shattered.
I landed in a field of ash.
A burning tree stood in the distance.
Beneath it—me.
Or a version of me.
I stood across from myself, and this other me smiled.
"Redemption?" he said. "That's what you said last time. How'd that work out?"
He stepped forward. "You want to remember your past? What if you were a monster in it?"
I didn't answer.
Because I wasn't sure I wanted the truth.
"You don't get to be the hero," he said. "Not in this story. The system made sure of that."
He lunged.
---
We fought.
Not with fists—but with memories.
Every strike he landed flashed visions through my skull. A girl on a rooftop. A boy in a wheelchair crying. A funeral where no one cried for me.
Every time I hit him back—I lost something.
I felt the truth bleeding out of me.
By the end, we were both on our knees.
And he whispered:
"You can't walk both roads."
---
I woke up in the chapel.
Sweat poured from my skin. Blood trickled from my nose.
Harper was at my side. "You were out for twenty minutes."
Adrian stared. "You were talking in your sleep. Something about a tree."
I said nothing.
Then the system message appeared in front of us all.
---
[PATH STATUS: UNDEFINED]
Custom Route Unlocked: "Sin Split: Dual Fate Candidate"
Kai's System Updated: Future Missions Will Involve Red vs Silver Decisions
Each decision will tilt your path. Each action will define your end.
WARNING: One wrong choice may make the path irreversible.
---
Harper leaned in, stunned.
"No one's ever gotten that."
"What is it?" I asked.
"A split fate," she whispered. "You can walk both paths—for a while. But eventually, you'll be forced to choose what you become."
Adrian looked disturbed. "That sounds like a curse."
"It is," Harper said. "But it means the system doesn't know what you are yet."
She turned to me slowly.
"Be careful, Kai. You're either its weapon—or its greatest threat."