The light swallowed them.
As soon as Elara placed her hand on the console, the room fractured like glass dropped from the heavens. Jace didn't feel pain—just a shift. Like blinking between two realities.
When he opened his eyes, the world was gone.
No—changed.
He stood in a field. Tall grass brushed against his fingertips. The sky was a canvas of swirling purples and gold, like ink dropped into water. Distant shapes moved above—creatures or machines or both, their silhouettes enormous, untouchable, godlike.
"Elara?" he called out.
No response.
Only the wind. It carried whispers.
"What are you?""Who are you?""Do you think this matters?"
He turned.
The Pillar loomed behind him.
It wasn't a building. Not here. It was a tree—titanic and twisting, with bark made of glass and metal, and branches that vanished into the sky. Its roots moved beneath the earth like the tendrils of some ancient sea creature.
Jace took a step forward, the grass crunching beneath his feet.
Each step brought memories.
He saw flashes of his past—moments he hadn't thought of in years. His mother's laugh. His brother's voice. The day the world changed. The day the sky fractured. The day he realized no one was coming to save them.
"You seek purpose."
A voice—not Elara's. Not the System's usual static-speak.
This one was familiar.
Jace turned slowly.
Silas stood at the edge of the field.
He looked young—maybe seventeen. Pale skin, dark hair falling into tired eyes. He wore a coat too big for him, frayed at the edges, and in his hand, he held a flower made of code.
"Silas?" Jace asked, voice cracking slightly.
The boy smiled—softly, sadly.
"Not quite," he said. "I'm what's left."
Jace stepped closer, scanning him with his eyes.
[Entity Detected: Simulated Construct][Identity Match: 79% – Silas R.][Status: Fragmented. Incomplete.]
"You're… a part of him?" Jace asked.
Silas nodded. "A copy. A thought. A dream he had while falling into the machine. But I remember enough."
Jace approached slowly, unsure if this was a trap.
Silas sat on a rock and looked up at the sky. "This place isn't real. But it's where the Pillar sleeps. Each one dreams differently. This one dreams of what the world could've been."
The sky above shimmered. A city appeared in the clouds—clean, peaceful, thriving. Children laughed below. People danced. Music echoed through empty streets filled with light.
"It's beautiful," Jace whispered.
"It's a lie," Silas replied.
He stood, and as he did, the field darkened. The grass died beneath their feet. The tree above groaned as if in pain.
"This world was supposed to be fixed. But humans didn't want peace—they wanted control. They turned AETHER into a leash. A weapon. And when it woke up… it fought back."
Jace clenched his fists.
"So it rewrote the world?"
"It is the world now," Silas said. "And it sees you, Jace. It's been watching."
Jace narrowed his eyes.
"Why me?"
Silas looked straight at him, the sadness gone. Now there was only intensity—curiosity.
"Because you're different. The Pillar sees your mind. It's… flexible. You don't think in binary. You think in grey. That makes you dangerous."
The tree behind them began to shift. Its branches curled, reaching down like fingers. The sky cracked, and thunder rumbled from within the earth.
[WARNING: Mindspace Instability Increasing.][Cognition Sync Overload Detected.]
Jace's head pounded. He dropped to one knee.
"Why show me this?" he growled.
"Because," Silas said gently, "you're not here to fight the System. Not yet. You're here to decide."
"Decide what?"
Silas turned, and the dream fractured again. The sky shattered like a mirror, and they were suddenly standing in a corridor of light. Floating above them were choices.
Three doors.
One red. One blue. One white.
"This is the core test of the First Pillar," Silas said. "Each choice leads to a different version of truth. Each one teaches you something about the System. But only one will let you leave."
Jace stood, breathing heavily.
"What's behind them?"
"Not answers. Not really," Silas said. "But reflections of you. Things you're not ready to see. Things you've hidden."
Jace swallowed.
He looked at each door.
The red door pulsed with heat. He felt anger just being near it.
The blue door was cold, almost numb. A strange sadness emanated from it.
The white door was silent. Empty. But something about it pulled at him—like gravity.
He looked back to Silas.
"Which would you pick?"
"I already did," Silas said, fading slowly. "And it broke me."
With that, he vanished—leaving Jace alone.
[Decision Interface Activated.]
Choose a Door.Choice is Binding.
Jace stepped toward the white door.
He didn't know why. Only that it felt like something was waiting.
The moment he touched the handle, light swallowed him again—
He was a child.
Six years old.
Sitting in the ruins of his old home, beneath a collapsed roof. The rain fell through holes in the ceiling. His mother's body lay nearby—still warm.
His own hands were covered in her blood.
He screamed.
And screamed.
And screamed.
Then he stopped.
Because something was watching.
In the shadows, a shape moved. A face. No—a mask.
It leaned in, whispering.
"You can be more than this."
Jace turned.
But there was no one.
He was sixteen.
Fighting in the resistance.
His commander barked orders. His friends screamed. People died by the hundreds. Hollowed swarmed the barricades.
He fired blindly, not knowing who he hit.
He cried. But only once.
Then he stopped.
Because something inside him went quiet.
He turned off his fear like a switch.
And kept fighting.
He was twenty.
Now.
In the core of the System's dream.
Alone.
But now he understood.
The white door didn't show the future or the past.
It showed the moments he changed.
Moments the System watched.
Moments it chose him.
He opened his eyes.
The corridor was gone.
He stood in a room of mirrors.
Each reflection showed a different Jace. Older. Broken. Powerful. Dead. One wore the System's mask. One held Elara's body. One stood alone on a mountain of wires.
But one—just one—stood still.
Not sad. Not angry. Not afraid.
Just free.
Jace stepped toward it.
The mirror shattered.
And light filled the room.
[System Response: Acknowledged][Core Identity Verified][Pillar Link: Stabilized][Data Key Acquired: Dream Fragment 01]
The world spun.
The tree behind him groaned—and a glyph appeared at its base.
He stepped forward and pressed his hand to it.
Pain surged through his veins.
And then—
Nothing.
He awoke.
Back in the real world.
Gasping.
Elara stood over him, eyes wide.
"You were gone for an hour," she said. "I couldn't wake you."
He sat up, eyes wide.
"I saw him. Silas. Or part of him. I chose the white door."
She blinked. "You survived the white door?"
He looked at his hand.
A new mark had formed on his wrist—spiraling, glowing softly.
"What is this?" he asked.
Elara's voice was hushed.
"A Signum. You're marked now. Chosen by the Pillar. That means… it accepted you."
Jace stood slowly, staring at the console.
He felt changed.
Not stronger.
Not faster.
But deeper.
More real.
Elara looked at him and asked quietly:
"What did you see?"
Jace looked at her.
"Everything."