The True Veil
The staircase shone like glass forged from moonlight, its steps humming faintly beneath their boots. Every step they climbed should have brought them higher — yet the air grew heavier, the light dimmer, as though they were descending instead of ascending.
When they reached the landing, the world had changed again.
They stood within a circular chamber suspended in darkness. The walls pulsed faintly, alive, like the inside of some great living being. Crimson veins of energy ran through them, throbbing in rhythm with their own hearts.
Zero's eyes narrowed. "This isn't the exit."
The Tower's voice filled the chamber — deeper than before, resonating through the floor and their bones.
"You have faced the memories of others.Now face the one you denied."
The air split apart. A ripple of distortion spread outward, and from it stepped a figure.
For the first time since the beginning of the climb, Zero froze.
The figure was him.
The Reflection
The second Zero stood calmly, identical in every way — from the gray eyes and scar across the cheek to the faint, emotionless precision of movement. The only difference was the aura: darker, heavier, suffused with power that made the air vibrate.
Arven instinctively reached for his sword. "What in the hells…"
The reflection smiled faintly. "He can't fight me."
Zero's expression didn't change. "You're not real."
"Neither are you," the doppelgänger said softly. "Not anymore."
Before Arven could react, the Tower's energy surged, forcing him back as the floor separated them. Transparent walls of crimson light sealed him away, leaving only Zero and his mirror in the center.
The reflection tilted his head. "Do you know why the Tower remembers you, Zero?"
"I climbed before," Zero said evenly. "I failed. You told me that."
The reflection chuckled. "You didn't fail. You succeeded — and that's why you were erased."
Echoes of the First Climb
The chamber flickered. Images filled the air like ghosts: vast battlefields, endless staircases, faces long dead. Zero saw himself — standing atop a mountain of light, holding a blade that shone like a star. Around him were others — allies, friends, and an army that had climbed with him.
The reflection stepped beside the memory. "You reached the top once. You stood before the heart of the Tower. You won."
"Then why am I here again?" Zero asked quietly.
"Because you made the wrong wish."
The reflection's eyes glowed red. "You asked the Tower to erase everything — every memory, every soul, every failure. You couldn't bear what you'd become."
Arven's muffled voice came from beyond the barrier. "Zero— what's he talking about?"
Zero's voice was low. "He's lying."
The reflection laughed. "Am I?"
The memory above them shifted again — showing Zero kneeling before a colossal door of white fire, speaking words that echoed even through the void:
"Erase it. All of it. The Tower, the climb, the pain.Let there be silence."
Then light consumed everything.
The Cycle Revealed
The reflection circled him slowly, movements fluid and precise. "You broke the cycle once, but the Tower is a living thing. It remembers what you tried to destroy. So it remade you — as its instrument."
Zero gripped his sword. "The Tower doesn't control me."
"Then why do you never die?"
Silence.
The reflection's tone grew sharper, crueler. "Every climber you kill, every test you survive — their souls feed the Tower. And through it, you. You're not climbing to escape, Zero. You're climbing to sustain it."
The truth hit like a physical blow.
Zero staggered, memories flooding his mind in flashes: lifetimes, ascents, faces he didn't remember but had once loved. The blood, the endless killing, the endless resurrection.
He fell to one knee, gripping his head as the world tilted.
The reflection knelt beside him, whispering, "You are the Tower's will made flesh. The perfect climber. The eternal ascendant."
The Breaking Point
Arven slammed his fists against the barrier, shouting. "Zero! Don't listen! It's manipulation — that thing's part of the test!"
But inside, Zero's control was fracturing.He could feel the truth vibrating inside his bones — that the Tower's presence had always felt familiar, almost intimate. That every floor, every trial, had been designed specifically for him.
He raised his gaze, cold fury returning to his eyes. "If that's true… then I'll destroy it from within."
The reflection smiled — and drew a blade identical to Zero's. "Then prove you still exist."
They clashed.
The impact split the chamber in two, waves of crimson energy rippling outward. Steel met steel, each strike faster than the eye could follow. Sparks of light burst like stars, carving cracks into the living walls.
Zero fought with lethal precision, but the reflection mirrored every move perfectly. Every strike, every feint, every step — duplicated, anticipated, countered.
"You can't kill what you are," the reflection taunted.
Zero's blade locked with his double's. "You're wrong."
With a sudden burst of power, he twisted his stance — deliberately breaking his rhythm, shifting his grip to strike not with the blade, but the hilt. The impact shattered the reflection's guard, and in a blur, Zero's sword pierced its chest.
The reflection froze. "You still… remember…"
Zero whispered, "I never forgot. I only buried it."
The reflection smiled faintly as it began to dissolve into light. "Then perhaps… this time… you'll reach the true summit."
The Collapse
The chamber began to shatter. The crimson walls split open, revealing the infinite void beyond. The Tower's voice echoed through the chaos — deeper now, almost… reverent.
"The memory has returned. The cycle resumes.The climber awakens once more."
Arven broke free from the collapsing barrier, running toward him. "Zero! We have to move!"
Zero stood still, the world disintegrating around him. His hand trembled — the same tremor from before, stronger now.
Arven grabbed his arm. "Whatever that thing said — it doesn't matter. You're not the Tower. You're you."
Zero looked up slowly, eyes glowing faintly silver. "If that's true… then the Tower's about to learn it."
The staircase reappeared ahead — no longer of light, but of shadow.
Without looking back, Zero stepped onto it.
The Veil of Memory crumbled behind him, consumed in white fire.