Elian's hand bled.
The obsidian shard trembled in his grip, slick with a mix of sweat and something darker. Not just fear. Not just blood.
It was his own mind, shaking. Slipping.
The thing across from him didn't breathe. It just stood there — if "standing" was the right word. Its limbs bent the wrong way, and its skin was made of something like stone and bark, but it pulsed — like meat.
It had no face. Only a split down the middle of its head, twitching.
Elian didn't move.
The silence stretched — taut, sharp, like a wire across a throat.
Then the split opened.
Rows of teeth. Endless rows.
The creature screamed.
Not a sound. A concept. A psychic shriek that forced his knees to buckle and his vision to blur.
[Mental Resistance: 2.6%]
[Cognitive Instability Detected.]
[You are being Witnessed.]
"Shut up," Elian muttered. His voice cracked. "You're not real. You're just noise."
The shard in his hand hummed — a high, metallic ring. Not from magic. Not from power.
From pressure.
The creature took a step forward.
Elian's eyes narrowed. His heart pounded. But his mind began measuring.
Left leg longer.
Movement favors right side.
Cracks near its neck.
Vision? None. Vibration-based?
It stepped again.
Closer.
The world tilted.
[Hostility Confirmed.]
[Survival Rate: 12%]
[Recommending Evasion Protocol.]
Elian didn't run.
He rolled left, just as the creature lunged. The ground split where he had stood, the creature's claws sinking deep.
No hesitation. No grace. He stabbed upward — into the cracked part of its neck.
The shard sank deep.
Too deep.
The monster convulsed, spewing black smoke instead of blood.
Elian didn't wait.
He twisted the shard and pulled it out sideways.
The monster collapsed.
Twitching.
Melting.
Like it was never fully real.
Elian backed away, breathing hard, eyes wide.
[Confirmed: Kill Registered.]
[Trait Gained: Lucid Instinct — Level 1]
[Trait Effect: You remain partially aware under psychic duress.]
[Experience Earned: 9]
[Progress to Core Unlock: 9/100]
He stared at the messages.
They didn't feel comforting. They felt… clinical.
Like something was documenting his death in advance.
"Lucid Instinct…" he muttered. "Great. Means I can die slightly more aware."
He wiped the shard off on his sleeve and looked around.
Still no shelter. Still no food. Still nothing familiar.
Except… one thing.
A structure. Just barely visible through the red fog in the distance. A silhouette — crooked and tall, like a broken cathedral.
Elian turned toward it.
"I need answers."
He took a step.
The ground pulsed beneath him. Faintly. Like a heart.
[Thread Resonance Detected.]
[Anchoring Soulform…]
[Stability: 4% → 6%]
[Environmental Analysis: Domain - Ash Level. Adaptive Threats: Dormant.]
"Whatever that means," Elian muttered.
He didn't need numbers. He needed understanding.
And maybe — somewhere inside that crooked structure — there were pieces of it.
As he walked, he noticed something strange.
The fog whispered.
It didn't sound like wind. It sounded like voices. Not speaking to him… but about him.
"That one isn't made right."
"The frail thing walks."
"Let him pass. Let him fracture."
He shook it off.
He'd heard voices before. Trauma does that.
But these?
These weren't in his head.
They were in the air.
By the time he reached the cathedral, his fingers were numb and his throat dry. The walls were made of bone-white stone, scarred by black veins that pulsed in slow rhythm. The doors stood open.
Inside, nothing.
No pews. No altar.
Just a mirror.
Tall. Oval. Cracked in seven places. Standing alone in the middle of the room, humming softly.
He stepped forward.
[Threadline Fragment Detected.]
[Do you wish to Engage?]
"…Not really," he whispered. "But I don't think I have a choice."
He reached out.
The mirror rippled.
Then — everything changed.
His reflection didn't move like him.
It looked back with different eyes. Pale, bright, ancient. Its lips curled into a grin.
And it spoke.
"You're the wrong piece in the wrong machine, Elian."
He stumbled back.
"No."
The mirror pulsed.
"That's why you'll survive."
It shattered.
Glass rained down, slicing into him.
But instead of blood, the shards drew light.
Symbols burned into his skin — painful, precise.
[Core Fragment Acquired: Echo of Divergence]
[Core Path: Undefined. Possibilities Expanded.]
[Fragmented Authority Accessed: ???]
[Progress to Core Unlock: 34/100]
Elian collapsed, gasping.
Burn marks danced along his arms.
The room dimmed.
He lay there, shaking, staring up at a ceiling made of bones.
And for the first time…
He didn't feel lost.
He felt noticed.