Chapter 128: The One Pretending

Every lock opened at once.

The sound was unbearable.

Metal screamed beneath the chamber.

Seven doors trembled.

Eight envelopes lifted from the stone table, spinning through the air like dead leaves caught in an invisible storm.

Sasha’s hand tightened around Dillan’s.

"Run."

Dillan didn’t move.

The little girl stood between them and the sealed seventh door.

She looked like Sasha.

But she wasn’t Sasha.

Her red ribbon swayed despite the absence of wind.

"Why are you standing still?" she asked.

Her voice was innocent.

Almost childlike.

"Don’t you want to save her?"

Dillan looked at Sasha.

Her face had gone pale.

"Don’t answer her," Sasha whispered.

The girl giggled.

"She said that before, too."

A sharp pain struck Dillan’s head.

The chamber blurred.

For a fraction of a second, he saw Sasha standing before the Core.

Celia behind her.

And the same little girl sitting on the floor, drawing circles with white chalk.

Then the memory vanished.

ALL LOCKS: UNSTABLE.CONTAINMENT FAILURE: 12%.FIRST LESSON: ACTIVE.OBJECTIVE: REESTABLISH EMOTIONAL DEPENDENCY.

Dillan’s jaw tightened.

"You’re not a person."

The girl tilted her head.

"Neither was I, at first."

The words silenced him.

She pointed at Sasha.

"She gave me a place to live."

Sasha shook her head.

"No. I never invited you."

"You invited the fear."

The girl smiled.

"I only followed it."

Black lines crawled up Sasha’s legs.

She gasped and dropped to one knee.

Dillan immediately pulled her toward him.

The lines stopped.

The girl’s smile disappeared.

"Oh."

Her eyes narrowed.

"You still choose her without being forced."

Dillan stepped between them.

"That’s the difference."

The girl studied him.

Then she looked at Sasha.

"Does he know?"

Sasha’s breathing became uneven.

"Know what?"

The girl’s face twisted.

"Why you were so afraid of being replaced."

Sasha’s eyes widened.

A crimson line appeared across the floor.

A memory began forming.

Dillan saw Sasha as a child, standing beside the oak tree.

She was watching him give the unnamed girl a piece of chalk.

"Your name is—"

The memory stopped.

The girl beneath the tree looked toward Sasha.

Sasha looked away.

Dillan frowned.

"I don’t remember this."

"You weren’t supposed to," the First Lesson said.

The memory continued.

Young Dillan placed his hand over the girl’s.

"I’ll come back tomorrow."

Sasha stood behind him.

Her small face was unreadable.

Then Dillan left.

The girl watched him disappear between the trees.

Sasha remained.

"Why do you get to have him?" Sasha asked.

The girl blinked.

"He said he would come back."

"He says that to everyone."

Sasha’s voice trembled.

"He forgets."

The girl lowered her head.

"Then you should remind him."

Sasha stared at her.

"How?"

The girl raised the red ribbon.

"Give him something he can’t remove."

The memory shattered.

Sasha screamed.

"No!"

The First Lesson stepped forward.

The ribbon around her wrist began unraveling, stretching into thin red threads.

One thread wrapped around Sasha’s wrist.

Another reached toward Dillan.

Dillan seized it.

The thread burned into his palm.

EMOTIONAL BOND DETECTED.BOND TYPE: FEAR-BASED ATTACHMENT.SEVERANCE RECOMMENDED.

Dillan pulled.

The thread tightened.

Sasha cried out.

"Don’t break it!"

Dillan froze.

She stared at the red thread.

Tears gathered in her eyes.

"If you break it, you’ll lose everything."

The First Lesson smiled again.

"There. You see?"

Its voice softened.

"She understands."

Dillan looked at Sasha.

"What do you want me to do?"

Sasha shook her head.

"I don’t know."

"Then we’ll wait."

The First Lesson’s smile vanished.

Dillan released the thread.

It fell between them.

"I’m not going to tear away your fear and call it healing."

The chamber shook.

"I’m not going to force you to be brave."

The red thread began to fade.

"But I won’t let fear make your decisions either."

Sasha stared at him.

The First Lesson screamed.

The sound cracked the remaining glass in the chamber.

CONDITION REJECTED.DEPENDENCY LOOP INTERRUPTED.SASHA RUREN: AGENCY RECOVERING.

The girl’s body began to distort.

Her face shifted between Sasha’s features, Celia’s, and a blank, faceless child.

She clawed at her own throat.

"No!"

The seventh door burst open behind her.

Celia stumbled out.

The invisible force around her throat had vanished, but black marks covered her neck.

She looked at the First Lesson.

And whispered:

"Stop."

The girl turned.

For the first time, she looked afraid.

"Mother?"

Celia’s expression collapsed.

"I never wanted you to survive like this."

The girl backed away.

"You taught me."

"I know."

"You gave me the words."

"I know."

"You made me useful."

Celia covered her mouth.

The First Lesson’s body began breaking into crimson fragments.

"And now you want to forget me?"

Celia took one step forward.

"No."

The girl looked at her.

Celia’s voice trembled.

"I want you to stop believing that being needed is the same as being loved."

The First Lesson stared at her.

Then it laughed.

A hollow, broken sound.

"Then why did you make me?"

Celia had no answer.

The girl turned toward Dillan.

Her body was almost gone.

"Your rule created the room."

Her gaze shifted to Sasha.

"Her fear gave me a voice."

Then she looked at Celia.

"And you taught me how to speak."

The final crimson fragment fell to the floor.

Silence.

The System appeared.

FIRST LESSON: DORMANT.EMOTIONAL DEPENDENCY LOOP: INTERRUPTED.SASHA RUREN: TEMPORARILY STABLE.CONTAINMENT FAILURE: 39%.NEW MEMORY ACCESSIBLE.

Dillan looked toward the seventh door.

Beyond it was no longer darkness.

There was a room.

A small room.

A wooden chair.

A table.

And a single mirror.

Sasha’s fingers trembled inside his.

"What is that?"

Celia slowly turned toward the room.

Her face drained of color.

"The place where we began."

Dillan stepped forward.

The mirror reflected him.

Then Sasha.

Then Celia.

But behind their reflections stood a fourth figure.

A little girl with a red ribbon.

Her stitched mouth slowly opened.

And she whispered:

"One of us is still pretending to be Sasha."

The mirror cracked.

Not from the outside.

From within.

A thin fracture spread across Sasha’s reflection, cutting through her face.

Dillan immediately pulled Sasha behind him.

"Stay back."

Sasha didn’t answer.

Her reflection smiled.

Sasha herself did not.

Celia stared at the mirror with growing horror.

"No..."

Dillan glanced at her.

"What?"

Celia shook her head.

"We destroyed that room."

The reflection of Sasha raised one hand.

The real Sasha’s hand remained at her side.

Then the reflection pressed its palm against the glass.

Tap.

The sound echoed through the chamber.

Tap.

Again.

Tap.

Dillan felt something cold crawl beneath his skin.

REFLECTION DISCREPANCY DETECTED.SUBJECT: SASHA RUREN.IDENTITY VERIFICATION: INCONCLUSIVE.WARNING: ONE REFLECTION IS NOT REFLECTING.

Sasha’s breathing became shallow.

"Dillan..."

He looked back at her.

Her eyes were terrified.

"Ask me something."

"What?"

"Anything."

The reflection leaned closer to the glass.

Sasha continued, "Something only I would know."

Dillan hesitated.

Then he asked, "What did you call me when we were children?"

Sasha’s lips parted.

"The boy beneath the tree."

The reflection answered at the exact same time.

But its voice came first.

Dillan’s blood chilled.

Sasha shook her head.

"No. That’s not..."

The reflection smiled.

"Your turn."

Its voice was now deeper.

Older.

"Ask him something."

Sasha looked at Dillan.

The room seemed to shrink around them.

"What was the first thing you promised me?"

Dillan opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

The memory was there.

Just beyond reach.

A hand.

A tree.

A promise made beneath fading sunlight.

The reflection laughed softly.

"See?"

Sasha’s expression crumpled.

"You forgot."

Dillan clenched his fists.

"I remember making a promise."

"But not what it was."

The reflection pressed its forehead against the glass.

"That’s why she needed me."

Sasha stepped forward.

"No."

The reflection’s eyes shifted toward her.

"You wanted him to remember you."

Sasha stopped.

"You wanted him to choose you."

The reflection’s smile widened.

"And when you were afraid he wouldn’t..."

Red threads appeared across the mirror.

They formed a shape.

A heart.

Then the heart split in two.

Sasha covered her ears.

"Stop."

"You gave your fear a voice."

"Stop!"

"You gave it a face."

The reflection turned toward Dillan.

"And then you gave it a place inside her."

Dillan’s gaze hardened.

"That isn’t Sasha."

"No."

The reflection’s fingers dragged down the glass.

"It’s the part of Sasha that learned to survive by becoming whatever he needed."

Sasha fell silent.

The words struck deeper than the previous threats.

Because she couldn’t immediately deny them.

Dillan turned toward her.

"Sasha."

She looked away.

"I don’t know which parts of me are mine anymore."

The room went quiet.

Dillan approached her slowly.

"You don’t have to know everything right now."

"What if my love was taught to me?"

"Then we’ll find out what you chose to keep."

"And if nothing remains?"

Dillan stopped in front of her.

"Then you’ll still have the right to choose what comes next."

Sasha stared at him.

The reflection began pounding against the mirror.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

Cracks spread across the entire surface.

EMOTIONAL SEPARATION ATTEMPT DETECTED.PRIMARY SUBJECT: SASHA RUREN.SECONDARY IDENTITY: UNCONFIRMED.RECOMMENDATION: SEPARATE THE TWO.

Dillan looked at the System.

"Separate them how?"

REMOVE THE FALSE IDENTITY.

Sasha flinched.

The reflection stopped pounding.

A terrible silence followed.

Then it whispered:

"Which one?"

The mirror exploded.

Fragments of glass flew outward.

Dillan shielded Sasha with his body.

One shard cut across his cheek.

When the fragments fell, the mirror was gone.

But the girl remained.

She stood in the room beyond the doorway.

She had Sasha’s face.

Sasha’s hair.

Sasha’s voice.

Yet her eyes belonged to someone who had spent years waiting in the dark.

She looked at Dillan.

"I can prove I’m real."

Celia stumbled backward.

"Don’t listen to her."

The girl smiled.

"I know the promise."

Dillan froze.

Sasha turned toward him.

"What promise?"

The girl walked closer.

"When you were four, you told the girl beneath the oak tree..."

She leaned toward Dillan.

"’If I forget you, become someone I can never lose.’"

Dillan’s heart stopped.

The girl reached for his hand.

Sasha grabbed his wrist first.

"Don’t touch her."

The girl looked at Sasha.

And whispered:

"See?"

Her expression became unbearably sad.

"You’re still afraid he’ll choose me."

Sasha’s grip loosened.

Only slightly.

But Dillan felt it.

The girl turned to him.

"Tell her the truth."

Dillan stared at her.

"What truth?"

She pointed toward Sasha’s chest.

"Ask her what she hid inside the Core."

Sasha’s face went blank.

The System flashed crimson.

RESTRICTED MEMORY REACTIVATED.SUBJECT: SASHA RUREN.ACCESS: FORCED.MEMORY TITLE: THE CHOICE AFTER THE CHOICE.

Sasha’s knees buckled.

Dillan caught her before she fell.

Her lips moved.

A whisper escaped.

"I didn’t hide it from you..."

Her eyes lifted toward him.

"I hid it from myself."

Behind her, the girl began to laugh.

And from deep inside Sasha’s chest, something knocked three times.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Then a second voice whispered from within her:

"Let me out."