The further we descended, the more the world fell silent.
It was not the kind of silence that brings peace.
Rather, it was a silence that felt wrong—the kind that envelops you like a vice until your heartbeats are the only thing left and they sound too loud, too exposed. The ruins that were once under the transit spire were not only deserted but completely wiped out.
The walls had literally melted into the ground like wax left too close to a flame. Deep scrapes on the metal were considered vandalism; perhaps the one who did it was even afraid of the memory of that symbol.
Rei was moving slowly, with her light zigzagging ahead in very small arches. It no longer spread like it did before. It was almost like it was afraid, so it just surrounded her, dimmer and tighter.
"My scans are not making any sense," she said in a whisper. "Space here is folded. Distances are mixed up. If this was a trial zone, the system would have stabilized it."
"But it didn't," I replied.
Because you are not supposed to enter this place
It was meant to be forgotten.
Another level down we went, the sound of boots cracking over something crisp and dry. I looked down.
Bones.
Not for monsters.
Too regular to be mere chance.
Humans.
Rei held her breath for a moment. I felt it next to me.
"This has not taken place on a battlefield," she carefully pointed out. "No impact marks. No collapse damage. They were... placed."
Executed.
Before I even realized what my shadow was doing, it had already reacted vigorously; it slid over the floor, made contact with the remains, and then retracted as if it had been burned.
That was something new.
Shadows were not scared.
They were still in pain.
The system made a sound again, this time softer and almost hesitant.
[WARNING]
INTERACTION WITH RESTRICTED DATA ZONE MAY CAUSE IRREVERSIBLE ALIGNMENT SHIFT
Alignment shift.
A courteous term for the fact that you won't be the same after your return.
Nevertheless, I moved one step closer.
An anti-hero? Perhaps.
But the concept of permission had long ceased to be a part of my belief system.
All of a sudden, the chamber opened up—a wide, circular one, and it looked as if it had been carved right through the earth.
A black obelisk broken into two pieces at its center; easily recognized as the only thing that was out of place; inside, the heart-like shape of dull fleshy light-maroon colored veins pulsating.
The obelisk was encased in chains, which were real and not just a part of the virtual system. All the chains had been broken, melted, and torn from the obelisk.
Rai was looking with a mixture of curiosities. "This...is not coded. I cannot interpret it."
The system was not capable of reading it either.
And that was what scared it the most.
At that moment, I experienced the pull—not physical, but rather of a recognition kind. It was like gazing into a thing that had already known my name, even before I did.
My shadow moved toward the obelisk.
This time, it did not withdraw.
It was respectful.
"Kuro..." Rei said with a command tone. "Your shadow is responding."
I did not reply.
Because the obelisk was responding as well.
A fissure opened more widely. The light got released, and along with it, a voice came—not auditory, but rather psychologistic. A connotation forced straight into my brain.
—WRATH ACCEPTS WHAT FEAR REJECTS—
I stumbled.
Rei caught me. "React in some way!"
I chuckled.
The noise that came out was a cruel and laugh-less one.
"So this is it," I whispered. "Not a trial. Not a reward."
A prototype.
The black obelisk was not a tool of destruction.
Rather, it was a sieve.
It served as a test before the system could classify power into classes, ranks and so on, with the notifications being so clean and easy to read. It tried out unrefined ideas like rage, hunger, despair and obedience.
Wrath was not the one that got deleted.
It had just been laid down.
The system now broke out a violent and chaotic response; its alarms ringing and overlapping, and the warnings cascading like a panic reaction.
[ERROR]
[RESTRICTED ENTITY RECOGNITION FAILED]
[HOST COMPATIBILITY: CONFIRMED]
Rei's grip on my arm became stronger. "Kuro, the word confirmed makes me feel uncomfortable."
I felt the same way.
The obelisk exploded into pieces.
Not in the direction of the outside.
But rather, in the direction of the inside.
The light was drawn to a single spot, then at once, it expanded. My shadow was like an explosion, it not only widened over the chamber, encasing every element including bones, walls, chains, and finally withdrawing back to its place.
Then came the pain.
Not tangible.
Existential.
Each time I had swallowed my anger. Each moment I had preferred survival to morality. Each step where I allowed part of me to decay rather than get destroyed.
It was not the anger that caused those things to come into being.
Anger just acknowledged them.
I was on one knee in no time, panting.
The whole system ceased to function.
No warnings.
No notifications.
Nada.
Rei was the one to shake me. "Kuro! I need your voice!"
I cast my gaze toward her.
The universe appeared… clearer.
More intense.
Less warm.
"I believe," I said with caution, "the system has lost its right to determine my identity."
A new interface came up, not blue, not white, but black.
The letters were like wounds.
[UMBRAL ALIGNMENT: WRATH]
STATUS: UNCHAINED
NOTE: THIS PATH DOES NOT SEEK HEROES
Rei was looking at the computer screen, then at me.
"You are smiling," she said in a low voice.
I had not realized.
"I am," I said.
Because the system was somehow far above us and busy recalculating.
The Collectors were soon going to understand that something had gone wrong.
And BLACK LOTUS—
BLACK LOTUS was no more being safeguarded by my presence.
It was safe because of my absence.
I got up with my shadow weighing heavy on me.
"Let's get out of here," I told her. "Before the world goes back to forgetting that this place still exists."
Rei was unsure. "Kuro… who or what did you turn into?"
I looked her in the eye.
"Something truthful," I replied. "And that should terrify everyone."