The room was cold.
Not just in temperature—but in spirit.
Ren stood at the center of a vast chamber carved from obsidian rock. The walls hummed faintly, like the echo of a distant star pulsing through stone. Overhead, no lights. Only a glass dome revealing the dead sky above, where the cracked star flickered like a dying eye.
The members of the Silent Orbit surrounded him, cloaked and wordless. Their faces masked, expressions hidden. He couldn't tell if they were human… or something else.
> "You have the mark," said the woman who had first spoken to him. Her voice echoed unnaturally. "But that is not enough."
Ren's voice was steady, but his fists clenched. "I didn't come here to join a cult."
She took a step forward. "Then leave. But you'll die alone. Like the others."
He said nothing.
The walls shifted. The floor beneath his feet cracked—opening into a pit of shifting light and darkness.
> "Step forward, Ren. Face the Trial of Silence. If you survive, we will tell you what the star truly is."
> "And what you truly are."
Ren swallowed hard. He thought of Jun's blood on his hands. Aiko's last words. The way the star hummed in his bones every night.
He stepped into the pit.
---
He fell.
Not down.
Inward.
The world folded. Stars bled. The sky turned inside out.
And then—silence.
He stood in a space with no ground, no ceiling. Just infinite reflections of himself, each flickering—some screaming, some burning, some broken, some monstrous.
> "Which one are you?" a voice whispered. His own voice.
A blade appeared in his hand. The same one from his dreams. Pale steel. Breathing.
> "They died because of you."
"You were too weak."
"You let her ask you to kill her."
He dropped to his knees.
> "I didn't want this…"
> "Wanting doesn't matter. The star chose you. Now become what they feared… or die like they did."
One reflection stepped forward. Twisted. Eyes glowing. Face hidden behind a silver mask.
It raised its blade.
And charged.