Aria didn't land this time.
She floated, suspended in a tunnel of swirling, shattered memories, each fragment glowing faintly as it rushed past her.
Images.
Voices.
Bits of data.
Childhood moments she didn't recognize.
Screens she HAD seen but never remembered touching.
Warnings she couldn't possibly have understood.
She tried to scream—
but her voice vanished inside the vortex.
A figure appeared at the far end of the swirling tunnel.
Small.
Childlike.
Fading in and out like a corrupted file.
The glitch-child.
"I told you," he whispered.
"This memory is yours."
Aria's heart hammered painfully.
"I don't want it."
He floated backward, motioning her forward.
"Then why did you bury it?"
The vortex snapped—
And Aria was thrown into darkness.
---
THE HIDDEN MEMORY BEGINS
A single spotlight flickered on.
Aria stood in a small, cluttered bedroom.
A younger version of herself sat at a desk, tapping an old computer screen.
Aria choked.
"I… I know this room."
The child appeared beside her.
"You should. It's yours."
The younger Aria clicked a strange file on the screen—
one the real Aria didn't remember opening.
A symbol flashed on the monitor:
THE SAME SYMBOL NOW ON HER WRIST.
Adult Aria covered her mouth in shock.
"No. That symbol didn't exist back then. It didn't—"
The child interrupted softly.
"It did.
You just forgot."
The younger Aria leaned toward the screen.
The computer glitched.
Static crackled.
A door-like image appeared—red and pulsing.
Young Aria whispered,
"What are you?"
And the computer replied—
ACCESS GRANTED.
The symbol on young Aria's wrist glowed the first time.
Adult Aria staggered backward.
"Why… why was I shown this? Why did I open something like that?!"
The child floated to her side.
"You didn't open anything."
He paused.
"You answered a call."
Aria's voice cracked.
"A call from WHO?"
The vortex behind them roared like a storm.
And a voice—
deep, layered, distorted—
echoed through the memory:
"HOST DETECTED."
Aria froze.
"Host…?"
The child nodded.
"That's what you are.
A host.
A doorway.
A bridge the game needed."
Aria felt nauseous.
"You're saying the game chose me because of some… code in my childhood?"
The child smiled.
"There was never a code.
There was YOU."
The tunnel twisted violently—
And Aria was thrown into the next part of the memory.
---
THE ERASURE MOMENT
She landed in a blank white space.
Young Aria stood in the center—
crying, shaking, clutching her wrist.
The symbol on her skin glowed so bright it hurt to look at.
Voices surrounded her:
"HOST UNSTABLE."
"BEGIN MEMORY ERASURE."
"PROTECT THE DOOR."
"SHE MUST NOT REMEMBER."
Adult Aria staggered.
"Memory erasure…?
They erased my memory of opening the door?!"
The child hovered above her.
"The game erased the parts of you that were dangerous…
but it couldn't erase everything."
He pointed at her wrist.
"Some marks stay."
Young Aria screamed as the symbol dimmed—
and suddenly she collapsed, unconscious.
The memory flickered.
Adult Aria fell to her knees.
"I didn't betray my friends…"
Her voice broke.
"I was used."
The child's expression softened for the first time.
"I know."
Aria sobbed,
"Then why won't you tell them that?! Why make them doubt me?!"
He floated backward, fading into the swirling darkness.
"Because doubt reveals truth faster than trust."
Aria tried to grab him.
"Tell me who corrupted the game! Tell me why you're doing this!"
The child whispered—
"I'm not the corruption."
He paused.
"I'm the warning."
The vortex shattered—
And Aria was thrown out of the memory.
---
THE GROUP ABOVE – DIVIDING LINES
Meanwhile, the others were arguing—
loudly, painfully, desperately.
Zoya paced anxiously.
"What if Aria IS the doorway? What if she opened it without knowing?!"
Ravi whispered,
"She might be the key… but that doesn't mean she's the enemy."
Dev glared at him.
"No. Aria wouldn't hurt us. The game forced her!"
Rhea looked torn.
"I trust her… but the symbol was real."
Kian ran both hands through his hair.
"So what?! We just wait here and hope she's not possessed?!"
Mira stepped forward.
"We go after her."
Yuvan nodded quickly.
"YES. Aria would come for us."
Zoya hesitated—
but finally whispered…
"I'll trust her."
But then—
A tremor shook the platform.
A giant fracture ripped open the floor.
A deep voice echoed…
"THE HOST RETURNS."
Dev's eyes widened.
"She's coming back!"
The group rushed to the edge of the fracturing ground—
And Aria shot out of the abyss, landing hard.
Dust swirled around her.
Her wrist still glowed faintly.
And her expression—
Was shattered.
Ravi stepped forward cautiously.
"Aria… what did you see?"
Aria raised her head slowly.
Eyes glassy.
Voice trembling.
A truth she could barely speak.
"I didn't open the game."
Her voice cracked.
"The game opened… me."
Silence.
Pure shock.
Dev whispered urgently, "Aria, what does that mean?"
Aria looked at all of them—
fear in her eyes for the first time.
"It means the game chose me before any of you ever knew me."
The realm around them darkened.
The child's voice echoed from everywhere—
"Round Four: Truth Complete."
A new portal tore open.
Cold.
Black.
Waiting.
The child whispered one last line:
"Next round… reveals the one I'm hiding."
Aria's eyes widened.
"The one you're hiding…?"
The child's giggle echoed—
"The one who isn't supposed to be in the game."
The group froze.
ONE OF THEM
wasn't meant to be there.
Before they could ask—
The floor vanished.
And Round Five swallowed them whole.
---