Chapter 80 – The First Door
The light faded, and they found themselves in a corridor that shouldn't exist.
It wasn't made of stone, steel, or magic—but memories. The walls shimmered with translucent layers of forgotten decisions, ghostly figures walking endlessly in loops just beyond reach. Each step echoed twice—once in the present, and once in a version of the past none of them had lived.
Maya gripped Elijah's hand. "This place… it's sentient."
"No," Kael-X corrected, his voice cold. "It's judgmental."
Veyron hovered silently above them, more subdued than usual. "This is the beginning of the real Hollow," he muttered. "Everything before this was just... the waiting room."
The corridor led to a vast chamber—an atrium with a single monolithic slab in the center. The slab pulsed with a slow, rhythmic beat like a heart.
On it were four symbols—each glowing faintly:
1. A sword crossed with a scale.
2. A twisted tree growing upside down.
3. A mask split in half.
4. A shattered clock face.
Beneath them, carved deep into the slab, were words in the ancient tongue of the Keepers:
> "To open the First Door, the Echoes must confess."
Kael-X froze. "It's the Trial."
Maya looked at him sharply. "What kind of trial?"
"The kind that doesn't test strength…" Kael muttered. "…but who we were before all this began."
Suddenly, the chamber darkened. Four paths opened from the atrium—each path leading into a different corridor, one under each symbol.
Then came the voice.
> "Each of you will walk one path. Alone. Speak your truth or be erased."
Veyron blinked. "Seriously? A memory trial? This is worse than prison."
But the chamber pulsed again, louder this time—forcing them to separate. Maya was pulled toward the upside-down tree, Elijah toward the broken clock. Veyron reluctantly floated toward the mask, grumbling under his breath. Kael-X turned to the scale and sword.
"Good luck," Elijah called, voice echoing.
"You too," Kael answered.
Then they vanished down their individual paths.
---
Kael-X's Trial
The corridor was cold. Not in temperature—but in memory.
He walked until he found a mirror.
In it, he didn't see his current self.
He saw the child he once was.
Scared. Lost. Crying over the broken body of someone he'd loved—a brother, a sister… it wasn't clear anymore.
A voice whispered.
> "You let them die."
Kael said nothing.
> "You could've saved them. You had the power. Why didn't you?"
He clenched his fists.
Then, calmly, he replied:
"…Because I was afraid. I thought power would turn me into a monster. I didn't know… not saving them would do worse."
The mirror cracked.
> Truth accepted.
A door opened behind him.
---
Maya's Trial
She stood in a field of golden light, a vision of her childhood home. A woman stood there—her mother, long gone. Maya approached, heart pounding.
Her mother turned, smiling. "You left us. You chose danger over peace."
Tears formed in Maya's eyes. "I wanted to protect others… but yes. I abandoned you. I was selfish."
The wind stilled.
> Truth accepted.
The tree bloomed behind her.
---
Elijah's Trial
Time stood still.
He was back in the lab where it all began. The accident. The explosion. The reason he lost his brother.
A voice—his own—mocked him.
> "You said it was for knowledge. But you were desperate. You wanted to prove yourself."
Elijah whispered, "I didn't want to be forgotten."
Silence.
> Truth accepted.
A clock reformed, ticking once more.
---
Veyron's Trial
He hovered in an empty theater, surrounded by illusions of every person he'd ever tricked or betrayed. They laughed, pointed, accused.
He grinned.
"Yeah. I lied. I betrayed. I manipulated. But not for power."
He dropped to the ground, eyes serious.
"…I did it so no one could ever lie to me again."
The theater faded.
> Truth accepted.
---
One by one, they returned to the atrium.
The slab pulsed brighter. The symbols fused into one—a single key.
A door appeared.
The First Door.
Kael stepped toward it, eyes solemn.
"Let's see what's on the other side."
And the First Door opened.
---
Next: Chapter 81 – Quiet Before the Spiral