Chapter 106: Hyper State
"...No."
Dillan couldn’t move.
The little girl stood at the end of the white corridor.
For the first time...
He could see her clearly.
Not a shadow.
Not a blurred memory.
Not the shifting woman from his nightmares.
A child.
Small.
Pale.
Terrified.
And painfully familiar.
Her dark hair fell around her shoulders.
Her eyes...
Crimson.
But they weren’t Sasha’s eyes.
Sasha’s crimson eyes had warmth in them.
Even when she was afraid.
Even when something darker stirred beneath her smile.
These eyes were different.
Empty.
Ancient.
Tired.
The eyes of someone who had spent far too long alone.
Dillan’s voice barely escaped him.
"...You’re her."
The girl tilted her head.
"You remember me."
His chest tightened.
"I..."
He tried to say her name.
Nothing came out.
The corridor trembled.
The lights flickered.
The System appeared.
[WARNING.]
[ONEIRIC MALFORMATION RESPONSE ESCALATING.]
[HOST MEMORY BARRIERS COLLAPSING.]
The girl looked at the notification.
Then back at Dillan.
"...It still won’t let you."
Dillan frowned.
"What?"
"Say my name."
She smiled faintly.
"They were very thorough."
Dillan took a step toward her.
"Who?"
The smile disappeared.
"...The people you trusted."
The lights went out.
When they returned...
The corridor was gone.
Dillan stood in a field.
Night.
The old oak tree.
Four children beneath it.
Young Dillan.
Young Sasha.
Young Aurelia.
And the little girl.
This time...
Nobody was playing.
They were saying goodbye.
Dillan felt his stomach twist.
Young Dillan was crying.
"No."
The little girl stood before him.
Her small hands were shaking.
"It’s okay."
"It’s not!"
Young Dillan grabbed her hands.
"We promised!"
The girl looked down.
"...I know."
Sasha stood behind them.
Tears ran down her face.
Aurelia was crying silently.
Then...
The little girl smiled.
A sad smile.
The kind no child should ever learn.
"You have to forget me."
Young Dillan froze.
"What?"
"You promised you’d save me."
"We will!"
The girl shook her head.
"...Not like this."
A crimson mark appeared beneath her feet.
The darkness around her began rising.
Young Sasha screamed.
"No!"
Aurelia rushed forward.
"We can find another way!"
The little girl looked at them.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
"...They already tried."
Dillan’s heart stopped.
A memory pushed against him.
The Watchers.
The Seats.
A ritual.
Seven failures.
Something behind the Fourth Child.
Waiting.
Hungry.
The girl whispered:
"...It follows me."
Young Dillan stared.
"What does?"
She didn’t answer.
Instead...
She looked directly toward adult Dillan.
Standing outside the memory.
Her crimson eyes widened.
"...You’re here again."
Adult Dillan froze.
The memory began breaking apart.
"No."
The girl stepped toward him.
Her younger self disappeared behind her.
The field became darkness.
Only the two of them remained.
Dillan’s breathing became uneven.
"...Are you the one in my dreams?"
The girl smiled.
"No."
His eyes widened.
"Then who is?"
She looked behind him.
Dillan slowly turned.
A woman stood several meters away.
Long dark hair.
White dress.
Bare feet.
The same figure.
But this time...
She wasn’t hiding.
Her face was visible.
And Dillan felt something inside him collapse.
It wasn’t Sasha.
It wasn’t Aurelia.
It wasn’t the little girl.
Her face kept changing.
A woman’s face.
Then another.
Then another.
Until finally...
It stopped.
On Dillan’s own reflection.
He staggered backward.
"...What?"
The woman smiled with his face.
"You made me."
The System immediately erupted.
[ONEIRIC MALFORMATION: HYPER STATE NOW ACTIVE.]
[HOST PSYCHOLOGICAL INTEGRITY: 42%]
[WAKE UP!! DILLAN!]
Reality exploded.
"DILLAN!"
Dana’s voice.
"DILLAN!"
Sasha.
"Wake up!"
Aurelia.
Their voices reached him.
But they sounded impossibly far away.
Dillan grabbed his head.
The darkness changed.
He was back inside the Gate.
No.
Back in his apartment.
No.
The old oak tree.
No.
Guardian Headquarters.
The locations switched every second.
Dana stood in front of him.
Then she became Sasha.
Sasha became Aurelia.
Aurelia became the little girl.
The little girl became Dillan.
Dillan screamed.
"STOP!"
The world stopped changing.
For one second...
There was silence.
Then...
CRACK.
A massive fracture appeared across reality.
Dillan stared at it.
Beyond the fracture...
He saw himself.
Sleeping.
His body lay inside the Gate.
Dana was holding him down.
Sasha was beside him.
Aurelia was screaming something.
Lyra stood at the edge of the broken classroom.
Dillan froze.
"...Lyra?"
She wasn’t supposed to be inside.
Yet there she was.
Her eyes were fixed on him.
Not his physical body.
Him.
She could see through the fracture.
Dillan stepped closer.
"Lyra!"
Her head slowly lifted.
Their eyes met.
The fracture shook.
Lyra’s expression changed.
For the first time...
Her calm mask broke.
"Dillan."
Her voice reached him.
Clear.
Real.
"Don’t move."
He frowned.
"What?"
She stepped toward the fracture.
The Gate reacted violently.
Darkness wrapped around her legs.
Aurelia shouted from beside Dillan’s body.
"LYRA, DON’T!"
Lyra ignored her.
She pressed her hand against the fracture.
"Dillan."
He pressed his hand against the other side.
Their palms aligned.
Separated by something thinner than glass.
And far more dangerous.
"I can’t get out."
Lyra’s eyes hardened.
"Then I’ll bring you out."
The woman with Dillan’s face appeared behind him.
"She can’t."
Lyra saw her.
For a moment...
Everything became still.
The woman smiled.
"Another girl who wants him."
Lyra’s expression didn’t change.
The woman continued.
"How many do you think will be left when he’s finished?"
Silence.
Then Lyra spoke.
Quietly.
Coldly.
"Enough."
The woman’s smile widened.
"Enough for what?"
Lyra looked directly at Dillan.
Her voice softened.
"...For him to survive."
The woman laughed.
"You’re lying."
Lyra’s eyes flickered.
Just once.
The woman leaned closer to Dillan.
"You want him for yourself too."
Sasha suddenly looked up from outside the fracture.
Her eyes narrowed.
Aurelia went silent.
Even Dillan stopped breathing.
Lyra’s hand remained against the fracture.
Her answer came slowly.
Carefully.
"...That doesn’t matter."
The woman smiled.
"It matters to you."
The fracture began spreading.
Lyra’s voice lowered.
"Dillan."
"Yeah?"
"When you wake up..."
He looked at her.
"...Don’t trust everything you remember."
His eyes widened.
The woman behind him laughed.
"Too late."
She placed one hand against Dillan’s shoulder.
The world turned crimson.
[CRITICAL WARNING!]
[HOST PSYCHOLOGICAL INTEGRITY: 19%]
[ONEIRIC MALFORMATION TERMINAL PHASE APPROACHING.]
Dillan screamed.
Outside the dream...
His body convulsed.
Dana held him down.
"DILLAN!"
Sasha grabbed his hand.
"Come back!"
Aurelia stared at the System window.
Her face turned pale.
"...He’s dying."
"No."
Lyra’s voice cut through the room.
Everyone turned.
Lyra stood beside Dillan.
Her hand still extended toward the fracture no one else could see.
Her expression was calm again.
Too calm.
But her fingers were trembling.
"...He isn’t dying."
Sasha stared at her.
"Then what is happening?"
Lyra looked at Dillan.
At his closed eyes.
At the darkness leaking from beneath them.
Then...
She whispered:
"...He’s choosing."
Inside the crimson world...
Dillan stood before two doors.
One was white.
One was black.
The little girl stood beside the white door.
The woman with Dillan’s face stood beside the black one.
The System appeared.
[FINAL DREAM DECISION DETECTED.]
[SELECT A PATH.]
The little girl looked at Dillan.
"...Leave me behind."
The woman smiled.
"Come with me."
Dillan stared at both doors.
Then slowly...
He realized something.
The System had lied.
There weren’t two choices.
There never had been.
Dillan stepped away from both doors.
The woman stopped smiling.
The little girl widened her eyes.
Dillan looked into the endless crimson darkness.
"...I’m done choosing what you want."
The System froze.
The world shook.
Then Dillan raised Shadowfang.
And drove it into the floor.
BOOOOOOM!
The two doors shattered.
The crimson world cracked.
The woman screamed.
The little girl reached toward him.
"DILLAN!"
Everything collapsed into white.
Dillan’s eyes snapped open.
He inhaled violently.
Dana fell backward in relief.
Sasha tightened her grip around his hand.
Aurelia’s eyes filled with tears.
Lyra stood silently beside him.
The System slowly stabilized.
[ONEIRIC MALFORMATION: HYPER STATE TERMINATED.]
[HOST PSYCHOLOGICAL INTEGRITY: STABILIZING.]
[FIFTH LOCK STATUS: OPEN.]
Dillan stared upward.
"...I didn’t choose."
Aurelia stepped closer.
"What?"
He slowly sat up.
His eyes moved toward Sasha.
Then Aurelia.
Then Dana.
Finally Lyra.
"...That’s the point."
The Gate began collapsing around them.
The old classroom returned one final time.
The blackboard contained only one message.
A CHOICE MADE FOR YOU IS NOT YOUR CHOICE.
Then beneath it...
A second sentence appeared.
NOW FIND THE ONE WHO MADE YOUR FIRST CHOICE.
The chalk stopped moving.
Silence.
Dillan stared at the words.
Aurelia slowly whispered:
"...The Fourth Seat."
Far beyond the Gate...
Something heard her.
And smiled.