The trench closed behind them.
Literally.
Soundlessly.
Like breath exhaled from metal lungs.
Nahr turned too late. The gap was already
gone--stone fused seamlessly where a corridor had just been. No welds. No seam.
Not even a line.
Just gone.
Hero Hero stared at the sealed wall, his
Galieya drooping near his ankle. Not drawn. Not defensive. Just... there, like
it didn't know what to do either.
His voice didn't come immediately.
When it did, it was low.
"Told you."
Nahr didn't answer. He ran his hand across
the stone.
Smooth.
New.
As if that path had never existed.
As if Maldrin never had either.
The silence deepened.
Not from lack of sound.
But from presence.
Something thick was settling into the
trench--pressing between them and the walls. A third presence.
Not hostile.
Not yet.
But curious.
Watching.
Hero adjusted the strap on his back. The
spiral veins along his Galieya were glowing faint blue. Not hot. Not dangerous.
Just... active.
That meant one thing.
The trench had begun its next phase.
And they were no longer on neutral ground.
Nahr stepped forward.
"Keep moving?"
Hero nodded.
"There's only forward."
"Always?"
"Always."
--
They passed through a corridor that bent
too often.
It wasn't a spiral.
It wasn't a maze.
It was something built to resist
memorization.
Every turn felt the same.
Every wall bore the same grooves.
By the fifth corner, even Nahr's sensor-log
began to misfire.
[LOCATION LOOP DETECTED]
[RESETTING ORIENTATION]
[...ERROR]
Hero's screen glitched once. Then
stabilized.
Neither of them spoke.
But they knew.
They were being tested.
Not for strength.
For resolve.
And possibly for memory.
Half a kilometer in, the floor shifted.
Soft.
Then soft again.
Then--wrong.
It wasn't floor.
It was material. Fabricated.
They stopped.
Hero dropped to one knee.
Tore a piece loose.
It was plating.
Thin. Fragile. Flaked at the edge.
Core plating.
But not from one of them.
Too small.
Too shallow in curve.
Too light in weight.
"Construct?" Nahr asked.
"No."
"Projection?"
"No."
"What then?"
Hero looked up.
His voice was flat.
"Trial bait."
And suddenly, the walls hissed.
Panels pulled inward--sections of trench
reconfiguring.
Revealing... figures.
Rows of them.
Lined like mannequins against the stone.
Still.
Inactive.
But wrong.
Too similar to real Cores.
Just off by margins.
Too many slats.
Too few joints.
No weight signatures.
No Galieyas.
But all of them watching.
Not moving. Not speaking. But definitely
watching.
For a moment, he wondered if blinking would
trigger them. Not that he blinked anymore.
Nahr gripped his galieya.
"React if attacked?"
"Probably."
"Strategy?"
"Don't provoke them."
Nahr's grip didn't loosen.
He walked forward anyway.
The corridor thinned again--forcing the two
Cores to move single file. Hero went first, shoulders broad enough to scrape
the trench. The watching figures didn't move.
Not when they passed.
Not even when they breathed.
But Nahr saw it.
The vision weren't blank.
They were reflecting his movement.
Not tracking.
Mirroring.
He didn't speak of it.
Just pressed forward.
--
They reached an open threshold.
Square-shaped.
Clean-cut.
Inside: a cube-shaped room, flat on all
surfaces.
In the center, a single Galieya embedded in
the floor.
Its veins hummed.
Red this time.
Uncommon.
Rare.
Dangerous.
Hero hesitated—just slightly. Enough to
notice. Not enough to admit it
Nahr stepped forward.
"This is a challenge chamber."
"Obviously."
"Open or closed?"
"Won't know until we touch it."
"Would you?"
"No."
Nahr didn't stop.
He stepped into the room.
Hands at his sides.
Galieya strapped to his back.
The red-glow Galieya pulsed softly.
Not as invitation.
As heartbeat.
Nahr stopped in front of it.
Stared.
The weapon hummed once.
Then--
A screen snapped open in his HUD.
[SURFACE TRIAL ENGAGED]
[WEIGHT PROJECTION: INVERSE FORM]
[TARGET: SELF]
[DURATION: UNTIL SURRENDER]
[DISENGAGEMENT REQUIRES DEATH OR ESCAPE]
The red-glow Galieya vanished.
So did the room.
And then Nahr was standing across from...
himself.
Same height.
Same armor.
Same weapon.
But reversed.
Slashed shoulder on the other side.
Veins on the left spiral instead of right.
A mirrored Nahr.
But darker.
Flickering slightly.
Distorted around the edge--like static in a
dream.
It spoke.
But the voice was Nahr's.
Just wrong.
"I thought you were stronger."
Nahr raised his Galieya.
Didn't reply.
The mirror moved first.
--
Clash.
Strike.
Parry.
Return.
Every movement felt... predictive.
It wasn't fighting back.
It was finishing Nahr's own thoughts.
Using the exact responses he would've
chosen.
And it was getting faster.
Smarter.
It learned with every second.
Nahr shifted form.
Tightened his grip.
Shortened his swing.
The echo mirrored again.
But delayed.
That was the opening.
Nahr slid under its strike, dropped to one
knee, spun the Galieya and drove it upward.
Caught the edge of the echo's thigh.
Not a killing blow.
But a real one.
The echo stumbled.
Then--smiled.
"You are heavier than I thought."
Nahr stood.
"This is your limit?"
"No," said the mirror. "This
is your memory's limit."
It vanished.
The room returned.
Hero stood across from him.
Galieya at the ready.
"You passed?"
"Maybe."
"You glitched."
"How long?"
"Six seconds."
Felt like thirty minutes.
Nahr didn't say that.
If he had, Hero probably would've replied
with something cold and cryptic. Like always.
The red Galieya was gone.
In its place: a slot.
The floor opened.
Another downward slope revealed.
Hero nodded.
They continued.
--
The slope spiraled down tighter this time.
Not a ramp.
A corkscrew.
One that led them to a long corridor of
blank walls.
No grooves.
No lights.
Just silence.
Nahr opened his interface.
Signal loss: 78%
Memory cache delay: 6.3s
All signs of descent.
But the air was too clean.
Too cold.
He slowed.
Hero followed.
Then--
A hand reached from the wall.
Grabbed Hero's shoulder.
Dragged him inside.
Nahr lunged.
Too late.
The stone sealed.
Completely.
No seam.
No mark.
Hero was gone.
Nahr froze.
Listened.
No sound.
No fight.
No scream.
He stepped back.
Turned.
The corridor behind him had changed.
Shorter.
Then--gone.
He was in a room now.
Square.
Dim.
And the only way forward was down.
Always down.
He walked.
--
The room he entered was unlike any before.
It was white.
Clean.
Smoothed alloy.
Soft light from nowhere.
In the center: a table.
On it: three objects.
A cracked memory shard
A broken Core's hand
A blank Galieya hilt
No prompt appeared.
No directive.
Nahr approached.
Carefully.
Stared at the three.
All seemed inert.
But wrong.
Somehow... too personal.
He reached for the shard.
It cracked further.
A voice poured out.
Maldrin.
"--you were right. Hero wasn't alone.
They were waiting. I tried to run. Couldn't--"
Silence.
Then static.
Then gone.
Nahr froze.
The Galieya hilt snapped into form.
Heavy.
Activated.
Black spiral veins.
His own.
But earlier.
From training.
This was his personal echo weapon.
The wall opened.
No sound.
Just a breeze.
First air movement since entering the
trench.
He walked through.
--
Outside: a platform.
Circular.
Floating above nothing.
Below: black fog.
Above: black fog.
Only the ring remained.
And on it stood--
Hero.
But wrong.
Faceplate twisted.
Shoulder slashed across both sides.
Galieya too long.
Too sharp.
Red-glow veins.
And behind him--
Dozens of mimic echoes.
All frozen.
All waiting.
Hero raised his weapon.
"You should have left me."
Nahr stepped forward.
"You're not him."
"Neither are you."
The ring pulsed.
They charged.
--
This wasn't a duel.
It was collapse.
The echoes surged from the sides.
Nahr spun, sweeping the Galieya in a wide
arc.
Caught one.
Two.
Hero pressed from the front.
Strike.
Block.
Faint.
Lunge.
His weight was wrong.
Too fluid.
Not Core.
Not burdened.
Free.
That made him stronger.
And more fragile.
Nahr knew what to do.
He didn't overpower.
He endured
He blocked.
Let Hero overextend.
Let him press.
Let him tire.
Then--
Under.
Left hook.
Counter.
Spiral pierce.
Direct to chestplate.
Hero staggered.
Paused.
Then--
Smiled.
"Finally"
Collapsed.
The echoes followed.
One by one.
Until only Nahr remained
The fog cleared.
A single line scrolled across his HUD.
[TRIAL SEGMENT COMPLETE]
[BURDEN ADJUSTED]
[GALIEYA SIGNATURE RESTORED]
He stood.
Alone.
Still still
Then walked on.
He wasn't broken. Not exactly. But he was
walking away with something missing, and he didn't know what yet.