Chapter 30: The First Trial - Selfless Act
Aiden was drawn irresistibly toward the mirror, toward the warm, brown eyes of his Forgotten Oracle self. That self had peace, that self had love, and that self had never had to watch the life drain from Rin's body in a past timeline.
"It is the only escape, Rin," Aiden murmured, his voice thick with a yearning Rin had never heard. "To be free of the crime…"
Rin saw the strategy in the temptation: if Aiden embraced the Oracle self, the Chronos power—the necessary weapon—would dissolve, leaving the Tower vulnerable to Nyx, but saving Aiden's soul from the painful path of lies.
Rin's new-found love roared to the surface, demanding he let Aiden go, demanding he let the Arbiter find peace.
But the Tether of Silence flared, not with emotional feedback, but with raw tactical urgency. The data flow screamed: Mission integrity compromised. Chronos failure equals 99% global failure.
Rin's love was now intrinsically tied to the mission. To save Aiden, he had to force the Arbiter back onto the path of pain.
Rin stepped in front of Aiden, blocking the reflection of the Forgotten Oracle. He then deliberately turned his back on his own peaceful reflection, the Forgotten Blade, and faced Aiden directly.
"Stop your self-pity, Arbiter," Rin said, his voice cold, projecting the strategic lie over his emotional turmoil. "The existence of this reflection means you failed to secure the mission objective in the first life. The man you see smiling in that glass allowed Nyx to win. Your current identity—the Arbiter of Chronos—is the successful variable. To embrace that failure is to commit the ultimate strategic error."
He pressed his hand firmly against Aiden's chest, directly over the scar where his core was once shattered. He wasn't trying to break the tether; he was trying to use their physical connection to ground the strategist in the current reality.
"You sacrificed the man you wanted to be for the mission, Aiden," Rin continued, his eyes fierce. "If you step onto that mirror, that sacrifice was for nothing. You must honor the cost. You must honor the crime. You must continue to be the villain the mission requires."
Rin was forcing Aiden to choose pain over peace, not out of hatred, but out of a selfless act of protective love.
Aiden looked at Rin, his Chronos eyes wide with the realization of the emotional torture Rin was inflicting on himself. Rin was deliberately reinforcing the lie to save the Tower, sacrificing his own peace and accepting his role as the partner of the 'villain.'
Aiden slowly shook his head, the yearning receding. The Chronos blue in his eyes solidified, the cold mask snapping back into place.
"Analysis confirmed, Hunter Rin," Aiden stated, his voice flat. "The Forgotten Oracle is a mission failure state. We maintain the current identity profile."
Aiden stepped back from the mirror, and the reflection of the peaceful Oracle vanished. Rin's own Forgotten Blade reflection dissolved simultaneously.
The Edict nodded, the silver armor shimmering. "Trial One: Passed. You have accepted the burden of your current identity over the salvation of your past self. You have chosen necessary pain."
A collective sigh of relief passed through the Vanguard, but Wei watched Rin with a complex sorrow, recognizing the depths of the lie the Blade had just committed to.
The black mirror pulsed again. "Trial Two: The Lie of the Past."