Location: Outer Drift Rupture — Cradle Gorge, Memory-Locked Battlefield City
Time: [Anchor Presence Detected / Identity Challenge: Active]
REN (narrowing his eyes):
"Okay. So… is anyone else seeing an entire city fold itself into a loop?
Or is that just me?"
BLAZE (looking up at the sky re-looping):
"That cloud has passed us six times. And flipped us off twice."
FROST (checking her scanner):
"Confirmed. We're stuck in a temporal feedback maze.
Every street resets unless we input the right variable."
REN:
"...What variable?"
TIME (floating down holding a cosmic sudoku book):
"Your identity."
REN:
"I am me!"
SPACE (appearing beside him):
"Cool. Prove it to a city full of ghost bullets and dying memories."
Suddenly, the walls groaned.
The obelisk in the center flared — shooting arcs of blue fire skyward.
A voice echoed again:
UNKNOWN VOICE:
"Anchor host detected.
Identity fragmented. Core sync unstable.
Initiating Proving Protocol: Combat-Sequence Alpha."
BOOM.
Flaming runes detonated across the plaza.
Four war-shapes rose from the ground — twisted armor, no faces, blades made of old orders.
REN:
"Oh. Of course. Murder ghosts."
FROST (gritting teeth):
"They're clones from the Space Wars. This whole place is built on top of one of the worst battles ever recorded."
BLAZE (flames bursting from her fists):
"Let's ruin their afterlife."
⚔️ Combat Ensues:
Ren dives forward —
slashes the first shade, but it reforms instantly.
REN (swinging Snarksteel):
"They don't die!"
SNARKSTEEL (shouting):
"Of course not! You're fighting ideas! You gotta burn the memory, not the meat!"
BLAZE (setting the ground on fire):
"Copy that!
Let's traumatize the trauma!"
Ren changes tactics —
starts yelling his own truth as he swings:
REN (mid-swing):
"I AM NOT KAEL!"
CRASH. One ghost cracks.
REN (roaring):
"I'M NOT A SYSTEM FIX!"
SLASH. Another war-shade shatters into blue dust.
REN (panting):
"I'm just… me!"
The final ghost pauses.
Then nods.
And fades.
The maze…
doesn't unlock.
REN:
"…That was supposed to do it, right?"
The sky above stays black. The roads twist again.
A massive wall materializes directly in front of the group, covered in old glyphs and one line of red-hot script:
"You passed the challenge… but you still don't know who you are."
REN:
"…I hate this city."
FROST (gently):
"It's not punishing you. It's... waiting."
BLAZE:
"For what?"
TIME (softly):
"For him to realize he's not the question.
He's the key."
They were still inside.
Still stuck.
But something in Ren's Core flickered again.
It wasn't ready to give up.
And neither was he.
AETHERIUM CORE (quiet code):
> CORE STATUS: IDENTITY CHALLENGE SUSPENDED > ACCESS LEVEL: WITHHELD > NOTE: SOMETIMES THE DOOR DOESN'T OPEN. > SOMETIMES YOU BECOME THE EXIT.
REN (deep breath):
"Alright.
We keep pushing.
Even if the city doesn't want us.
Even if it's trying to trap us in ourselves—
We burn the false paths until the real one shows up."
He turned.
Faced the warped horizon.
And took a step forward.
The sky didn't clear.
But the maze twitched.
Just a little.