Chapter Next: "The First World"
—Where choice breathes, and memory waits—
They stepped into light—
But the light was shaped by them.
At first, there was only textureless white. But as Lina's foot touched the ground, it became stone, warm and familiar—like the cliff near her childhood home. Kai stepped beside her, and grass bloomed under his heel. Eryon followed, and the air thickened into wind, laced with ancient languages only the Architects once spoke.
The world wasn't built.
It was remembered.
Or perhaps, imagined together.
---
"Are we dreaming this?" Kai asked, walking forward, hand still curled near his blade.
"No," Lina answered softly, eyes tracing the slow formation of distant forests and far-off peaks. "We're believing it into being."
"And belief," Eryon muttered, "is a dangerous architect."
But he didn't stop walking.
Far ahead, nestled between mountains that had only just learned to rise, stood a city—half-formed, golden in some places, cracked in others. Its towers were ideas. Its streets were choices not yet made. It pulsed, alive, unfinished.
A place waiting for its story.
---
As they approached the city's edge, a whisper moved through the air—not a voice, but a thought:
"All beginnings come with echoes."
Lina paused. "Did you hear that?"
Kai's eyes narrowed. "No. But… I felt it. Like someone else is here."
Eryon drew his cloak tighter. "Then we're not alone. Either this world pulled in more dreamers… or something followed us through the Gate."
As if in answer, the sky darkened—not with clouds, but with questions.
Shapes flickered in the distance. Forms of people they knew… and didn't. Some were younger versions of themselves. Others were twisted echoes—what they might've become had they made different choices.
One stepped forward. It wore Kai's face—but the eyes were empty, the blade stained with regret.
Kai flinched. "Is that—?"
"No," Lina said. "It's not you. It's a test."
A low hum filled the air.
From the center of the city, a voice rose. Not hostile. Not cruel. But aching.
"If this world is yours… then face the parts of you that tried to destroy it."
The test wasn't combat.
It was reckoning.
Lina took Kai's hand again. "We built this world together. Now we anchor it together."
Kai nodded, his gaze fixed on the mirrored version of himself ahead. "Then let's show it what we've learned."
Eryon exhaled sharply. "Ready your truths. They're sharper than any blade here."
And together—hand in hand, memory in heart—they stepped into the heart of the First World.
Not to fight.
But to become.
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