Trial I: The Realm of Memory
The portal sealed behind Matt with a thunderclap of silence.
No battlefield.
No enemy.
No screaming gods. No flaming titans.
Just… dust.
The air shimmered—thick with silver mist, slithering like memory made smoke.
The sky above pulsed in bruised gold and grief-stained blue.
Beneath him, a floor of crystallized time mirrored his every step—each footfall cracking echoes of forgotten days.
Matt gripped the Shadowsidian Blade.
It didn't resist.
It simply… watched.
> "Trial One: The Realm of Memory."
The words didn't sound.
They imprinted themselves—into the air, or maybe into his mind.
Matt whispered, "Where… am I?"
The mist stirred.
Images flickered to life—fragmented and raw.
A child's laugh.
A cradle catching fire.
A hand reaching, then vanishing.
Stone cracking as a home collapsed.
A lullaby severed mid-breath.
His fists clenched. "These aren't dreams."
"Correct," said a voice.
His own voice.
Matt turned.
From the fog stepped a boy—barefoot, soot-smeared robes, eyes wide with dormant power.
Afraid.
Ten years old.
Himself.
"You left me," the boy whispered.
Matt blinked. "What?"
"You left me behind. You grew up. You forgot the cold. The silence. The fear."
The child's voice sharpened. "You fight for tomorrow—but what about the boy who just wanted to survive today?!"
The mist shattered—revealing flame.
They now stood in the burning ruins of Nyuga.
Ash fell like snow.
In the distance: a scream.
His mother's voice. Exactly as he remembered it.
Matt stepped forward. "I didn't forget—"
The child lunged.
---
> Combat Initiated: Matt vs. Matt
---
Young Matt struck first—wild, fast, desperate.
Each blow landed like buried grief trying to claw free.
Matt blocked. Parried. Staggered.
But the hits didn't just bruise flesh.
They scraped soul.
"You never came back for me!" the child shouted.
"I didn't know how—!"
"You let me die alone!"
A punch to the ribs.
A fist to the jaw.
Matt dropped to one knee, coughing blood that tasted like ash and memory.
"You became a warrior," the boy spat. "A god. A killer. But what did that save?"
Matt looked up—and saw the truth:
Not a fighter.
Not a foe.
Just a child curled beneath floorboards.
Suffocating under silence and stone.
"I remember now."
His father's final roar.
His mother's spell, drowned in fire.
The crushing stillness that followed.
"I didn't forget you," Matt said.
The child froze.
"I buried you. Because I had to live."
The boy trembled. "I was scared."
"I still am."
Matt dropped the blade.
Stepped forward. Arms open.
The child didn't flee.
He fell into him—sobbing like time itself had waited for this moment.
"I'm sorry," Matt whispered.
"But I'm not leaving you again."
The realm convulsed.
Flames blinked out.
Light burst through the void.
The boy dissolved into starlight—spiraling into Matt's chest like a heartbeat returning home.
A radiant sigil ignited across his sternum—etched in grief… and in grace.
---
> You have bound the Forgotten Self
Seal of Memory: Acquired
Your soul is now whole.
---
Far beyond, one of the five divine orbs ignited—blazing in radiant flame.
> Trial Complete: 1 of 5
---
Matt's eyes opened.
He stood once more on the obsidian path between realms.
The mist was gone.
The silence remained—but it no longer felt empty.
Ahead, a portal shimmered—orange and crimson.
The scent of cinders curled from within.
> Next Trial: The Realm of Flame
Matt touched the sigil on his chest.
It was warm.
Not with fire… but with sorrow.
Or maybe with hope.
He wiped blood from his lip.
"One down," he muttered.
His shadow lagged behind—delayed by a single heartbeat.
"Four gods to disappoint."
And with that,
he stepped into the flame.