It did not look like a place.
It looked like a mistake.
A vertical rupture in the air itself — not torn, but written over. A cascade of failed commands, spiraling upward in luminous glyphs. Trees bent away from it. Earth cracked but refused to fall.
[System Entry: Location – The Wound That Thinks]State: Semi-Sentient | Stability Rating: 2/10Caution: Invasive identity mirroring may occur]
Xuanzang stepped through first.
The sensation was immediate — like stepping into someone else's memory. The air whispered. Not in voices, but in half-familiar feelings.
You're being read.Not your system. You.
================================================================
🧠 Inside the Wound
Inside, the world had no horizon.
Just a shifting, endless space made of fractured Qi threads and memory-mist. Every direction bled into the next. Trees grew upside-down. Clouds floated beneath their feet.
Bajie swore. "I feel like I'm walking through someone's fever dream."
Wujing paused, brow furrowed. "This is a root-layer."
Wukong glanced sharply at him. "You're saying this is… code?"
Wujing nodded. "Buried beneath the Dao's visible structure. Normally locked. This is early-system memory space. Before Heaven... cleaned it up."
Xuanzang touched a floating glyph.
It pulsed — and spoke in his voice.
"I wanted to save them. Even if it wasn't allowed."
He recoiled.
[Mirroring Event Triggered – Caution: Emotional Inversion Possible]
🪞 The Echoes Appear
Shapes emerged.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
They looked like the party — Xuanzang, Wukong, Bajie, Wujing — but wrong. Not demonic or monstrous. Just… subtly altered. Wounded in places the real ones were not. Smiling at the wrong times. Eyes too wide.
And they spoke in chorus.
"You're not us yet.""You could be. If you make the wrong step again.""What happens when your pilgrimage becomes another repetition?""What happens when you become the system you're trying to replace?"
Xuanzang stepped forward. "We're not here to argue. We're here for the Sutra."
"You think you're gathering them.""But maybe they're gathering you."
💠 The Fragment Reveals Itself
Suddenly, all noise fell away.
And a single figure stood before them — not an echo, but a survivor. An old man in monk's robes. Featureless. Hollow eyes.
He carried a scroll made of living mist.
And offered it silently.
[Fragment Identified: Sutra of the Self-Observed]Function: Reveals true alignment under duress. Grants immunity to deception-based system effects.]Requirement: Self-confrontation — pass or fracture permanently.]
🧭 The Trial: Truth Mirror
One by one, the party faced it.
Wukong's reflection whispered:
"You talk of freedom. But you stay close to the leash. You never left the cage — you just made it golden."
Bajie's reflection grunted:
"You pretend it's just appetite. But you remember every name you ever failed to save."
Wujing's reflection murmured:
"You say nothing. Always the helper. But even stone breaks under too much weight."
And finally—
Xuanzang's reflection stepped forward.
It looked tired. Not cruel. Just honest.
"You think you're doing something new.""But all you've done… is walk the path again, hoping this time it will hurt less."
Xuanzang said nothing.
Just nodded.
"I know," he whispered.
And the fragment dissolved into his hands.
[Fragment Claimed: Sutra of the Self-Observed – 5 / 36]Passive Skill Unlocked: Mirrorbreak – Immune to false system identities and persona overrides.]
The Wound faded.
The glyphs vanished.
And the sky, at last, returned.
🌄 At the Edge of the Rift
The party stood in silence.
Then Bajie chuckled softly.
"Well. That was awful."
Wukong grinned. "You mean useful."
"Same thing," Wujing murmured.
Xuanzang looked west.
Past the scar in the world.
And said, softly, "Let's keep going."
And this time, no one asked why.