The wind in the Obsidian Expanse was silent—so silent that Aiden could hear the faint humming of the system's core running beneath the terrain. His boots sank slightly into the black, glassy surface as he pressed forward, each step echoing with a tension that couldn't be shaken off.
Behind him, Player Two remained quiet, his red coat fluttering in the phantom breeze, face still obscured. Since the Mirror Maze, he hadn't said a word—only watched, studied. Waiting.
Aiden didn't trust him, not even slightly. But right now, allies were scarce.
They approached the outer rim of the Forbidden Layer, a zone marked on no maps, unreachable through conventional means. It was said that this place predated the game—an anomaly that existed before the System codified order. The ground beneath their feet pulsed with lines of light, ancient runes flickering beneath the surface.
> [System Alert: Proximity breach detected.]
[Warning: You are now entering a null-protected zone. Logic shields disengaged.]
"That's not good," Aiden muttered.
The world shifted. The sky overhead cracked—not visually, but auditorily. It sounded like a mind tearing. A fractal aurora bled into view, distorting reality like a corrupted video feed.
Player Two finally spoke. "This is where the Gods stopped looking."
Aiden turned to him. "And why are you bringing me here?"
"Because they left something behind. And you need it."
Before Aiden could demand more, the surface ahead split. Not like an earthquake—more like code forcibly rewritten. A stairway of jagged data blocks formed, spiraling downward into what looked like a chasm of sheer black.
> [New Objective: Enter the Breach.]
[Caution: Sanity Drain Imminent.]
Without hesitating, Aiden descended. Each step flickered beneath his foot, like they weren't meant to hold a physical body. His HUD blinked erratically. Warnings. Corrupted data. Fragments of memories not his own.
> "You're not real," whispered a voice. Not the system. Something deeper.
He saw flashes: Claire trapped in a stasis chamber, crying out silently. His own body lying still in a medical pod. Another version of himself—eyes blank, surrounded by wires, not moving.
> "Don't believe what you see," Player Two's voice echoed behind him.
They reached the bottom.
The air was cold—so cold that Aiden's breath fogged, even though this wasn't a real world. In front of them stood a door. Or… what remained of one. Half-digital, half-mechanical, it looked ancient. Carved into the frame was a single phrase in glitched runes:
// REJECT CORE.PRIME = ACCESS GRANTED
> [System Override Attempt Detected.]
[Would you like to proceed? (Y/N)]
Without waiting, Aiden placed his hand on the door.
It didn't open.
It consumed him.
—
Inside, he was nowhere. Just data and memory stitched together in a space that defied logic. He floated, or fell—it was hard to tell.
Then, a presence.
Not a voice, not a form. Just… presence.
"You seek truth," it said, though it didn't speak. "Then bear it."
Suddenly, memories that weren't his poured in. Ancient wars. Systems overwritten. A young programmer screaming into a void as his AI went rogue. A girl named Claire—real, not digital—dying in a lab accident. Her consciousness uploaded to save her.
Then the twist—Aiden was the failsafe. A personality shell. A prototype for synthetic consciousness—meant to stabilize Claire's mind.
Except it didn't work.
He wasn't her savior. He was her cage.
—
A scream tore from his throat as the door expelled him.
He collapsed on the glass floor of the Forbidden Layer, shivering, eyes wide.
Player Two stood over him, calm.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
Aiden sat up slowly. "Claire... she was never supposed to be in this game."
"No one was. This was never a game."
The wind howled, then stopped.
> [System Update: Core Truth Fragment Acquired.]
[You have unlocked Trait: System Anomaly.]
Aiden's fingers clenched.
No more running. No more waiting for answers.
He stood, facing the now-dormant door.
"I'm going to tear this whole system apart."
Player Two's mouth twitched in the hint of a smile.
"That's what they're afraid of."