Chapter 14: The Saint's Proposition
The world didn't end with a bang; it ended with the sound of a closing file.
As the Golden Gate snapped shut, sealing Emily and the Saint within the Eternity Realm, the Labyrinth began to dissolve into silent, grey static. The "Bridge of Souls" crumbled beneath David's feet, but he didn't fall into the abyss. He stepped into the Backdoor.
[Simulation Exit: 100% Complete]
[Status: Candidate 20 (Masked)]
[Transitioning to Earth-Prime...]
The transition was violent. It felt like being squeezed through a needle's eye. David's skin felt like it was peeling away, the fake data of the Cradle being stripped from his soul. His Ancestral Blessings—the Heart, the Wind, and the Flame—screamed in agony as they were forced to adapt to a reality that wasn't made of code.
Then, he hit the ground.
It wasn't marble. It wasn't gold. It was cold, damp, and smelled of wet ash and rusted iron. David gasped, his lungs burning. For the first time in five years, the air didn't taste like "nothing." It tasted like the world.
He looked up. The sky wasn't blue, and it wasn't purple. It was a bruised, swirling grey, lit by the faint, dying glow of a sun obscured by a permanent cloud of Void-dust. He was in Lagos, but it was a skeletal version. The skyscrapers were jagged husks, and the streets were choked with a black, thorny vegetation that pulsed with a faint violet light.
[Location: Earth-Prime - Sector 01 (Old Lagos)]
[System Notice: You are now 'Unlinked'. The Ancestors cannot see you. The Saint cannot find you.]
David clutched his chest. The Primal Heart was beating slowly, heavily. It was no longer a "cheat" in a game; it was his literal life support.
Thump... Thump...
"I made it," David wheezed.
Suddenly, a phantom image flickered in front of his eyes—a lingering connection to the Cradle's broadcast.
In a realm of golden light and marble pillars, Emily stood before the Saint. She looked beautiful, her wounds healed, her gear replaced by flowing white silk. But she looked terrified.
The Saint loomed over her, his face still a featureless mask of light. "Rank 4. You have entered the Eternity Realm. You have sacrificed the 'Glitch' to claim your seat."
"Where is he?" Emily asked, her voice trembling. "Is he... is he in the archive?"
The Saint tilted his head. "Candidate 20 has been expunged. He is no longer part of the record. He has ceased to exist."
"Now," the Saint continued, his hand moving toward Emily's forehead. "To become a God of the Eternity Realm, you must surrender your memory. A God cannot carry the burden of a mortal past. You must forget the name 'David'."
Emily's eyes widened. "What? No! That wasn't the deal!"
"The deal is Godhood. Godhood is perfection. Perfection is solitude."
The image flickered and died. David watched the static fade into the grey Lagos sky. Emily had her "Heaven," but it was a prison where she would forget why she even wanted it.
David stood up, his legs shaking. He was weak. His Soul Force was depleted to nearly zero. But he was real.
Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.
His heart began to tap. It wasn't the rhythm of a treasure or a monster. It was a new rhythm—a deep, grounded resonance that seemed to come from the very earth beneath his boots.
[Quest Updated: The Final Ritual]
[Objective: Complete the 5th Ancestral Blessing – The Spirit of the Origin]
[Location: The Root of the World (The Sahara Abyss)]
[Hint: You are not alone. The 'Real' world still has survivors.]
David looked down the ruined street. In the shadows of a collapsed bridge, he saw a flicker of a campfire. Figures moved in the dark—not Constructs, not Candidates, but people.
He touched the obsidian stone in his chest. It felt warm.
"I'm coming for you, Saint," David whispered into the wind. "But first, I'm going to wake this world up."