Root moved through the Rift's new corridor in near-darkness.
The walls were closer now. The usual stone pattern was gone—replaced by something older. Carved marks, but not Hollow glyphs. No system text appeared. Just deep gouges, like claw marks made by hands too desperate to bleed.
Veyr hadn't spoken since the seal closed behind them.
Not aloud, not in thought.
Root walked in silence for what felt like hours—until he turned a corner and saw it.
A doorless archway, covered in faded bone paint.
Above it, a hand-carved message scratched into the stone:
WE WERE HERE FIRST.
Root stepped inside.
The space beyond wasn't a room. It was a graveyard of simulations.
Dozens of half-finished Rift zones layered atop one another, glitching in and out—patches of desert next to forest ruins, ocean waves flickering through the ceiling, snow falling from nowhere onto burned-out tiles. Frozen monsters stood in place, mid-animation. Half-built trials looped endlessly in silence.
But what drew Root's eyes were the bodies.
Some were full skeletons.
Others were half-preserved—cloaked in Rift-weave armor or shredded simulation gear, their bodies suspended in memory glitches. Some of them still breathed—barely—caught in stasis loops. Locked between being dead and remembered.
One sat at the center.
Not moving. Not broken.
Just… waiting.
His armor was black and fractured, his hair singed white. A Hollow sigil was tattooed over his throat—upside down. His fingers were missing, cut off at the knuckles.
Root stepped closer.
"He failed," Veyr said quietly behind him. "But the Rift didn't delete him. It kept him."
Root looked back at the others. "Why?"
"To study him. To remember what not to allow again."
Root narrowed his eyes. "And what was he?"
Veyr didn't answer.
Instead, the seated figure moved.
Just barely. A twitch.
Then one eye opened—milky white, no pupil—and locked onto Root.
"Another one…" the man rasped. His voice cracked like dry stone. "You smell like it. Like him."
Root crouched, instinctively reaching for his blade.
"You… brought it back."
"The one who whispers. The one who erases."
The old man reached out—not to grab, but to offer something.
A folded strip of cloth. Faded. Hollow-stitched.
Root took it slowly.
It burned faintly in his fingers.
[ Hollow Memory Acquired: Echo of the Veinbind. ]
This fragment contains remnants of a failed pact. Absorbing it may unlock hidden abilities… or suppressed consequences.
Root looked back at the man.
But he was already gone.
No flicker. No death animation.
Just… removed.
Veyr stepped beside him again.
"The Rift forgets them too, eventually."
"But it never forgets me."
The cloth in Root's hand trembled—lightly, but not with fear.
It was old. Stained. But woven with Hollow thread. Glyphs stitched into its fibers moved subtly under his thumb, like they were trying to breathe again.
[ Hollow Memory: Echo of the Veinbind – Absorb? ]
Warning: Unstable Modifier. Results may be unpredictable.
Side effects likely.
Root didn't hesitate.
He closed his fist.
The cloth crumbled into smoke and heat—then sank into his palm like oil through skin. His spine arched with the sensation. Not pain. Not ecstasy.
Recognition.
A deeper part of him—buried and silent until now—opened.
[ Modifier Absorbed: "Unforgiven Bind" ]
✦ Veinbind Trait Enhanced: Root's link to Veyr now generates minor Hollow Friction.
✦ Effect 1: Bonus +1 Hollow Point gained per Trial if Veil of Stillness remains unbroken.
✦ Effect 2: Rift Entities now remember Root's "Null Pulse" signature. Suppression less effective on repeat encounters.
Root blinked, breathing hard.
The world felt louder—not because of noise, but because of awareness. The walls noticed him now. The light from the ceiling flickered when he moved.
Even the dead simulations in the next chamber shifted slightly, reacting to his pulse like moss leaning toward warmth.
"You're stained now," Veyr said softly. "Not cursed. Just… visible."
Root glanced sideways. "This makes me stronger, right?"
Veyr nodded.
"Yes. But stronger things leave shadows."
Root stepped forward. Each footfall now carried a strange weight—not physical, not magical. Just… acknowledged. Like the Rift no longer saw him as temporary.
He's part of the pattern now.
Then a soft ping echoed in his mind.
[ New Title Condition Approaching: "Sigil-Eater" ]
Fulfill 2 more memory-based trials to manifest title effect.
Root didn't know what that meant yet.
But it sounded permanent.
He turned toward a new corridor flickering open on the far wall—this one carved in the shape of a door that had been broken down from the inside.
Its threshold glowed faintly with Hollow light.
Above it, one final message carved in deep, unblinking stone:
"If you survive the next room, you don't leave it the same."
Root stepped through the broken doorway.
Instantly, the floor tilted sideways—then upward. Gravity stuttered. Walls flickered between textures: charred wood, frozen tile, shattered glass. The room wasn't loading correctly.
It was collapsing.
This wasn't meant for me, Root realized.
The trial had been constructed for someone else. A different summoner. A different power. But it hadn't been completed. Just sealed off and forgotten.
Now, with Root's Null signature radiating through the Rift, the chamber had opened—not to test him, but to fail on him.
The door behind him vanished.
[ WARNING: Trial Stability – 13% ]
[ Memory Zone: Fragmented Binding – Prototype Veinbind Layer Detected ]
[ Objective: Unknown ]
Root caught himself against a spiraling wall that was trying to fold into the ceiling.
"Veyr!" he shouted, feeling the world pitch forward.
Veyr emerged from a ripple in the wall—hovering, suit flawless, mask tilted slightly.
"You shouldn't be here."
Root gritted his teeth. "Then get me out."
"Too late. You touched the layer. The Rift thinks you're trying to finish what the last one started."
Root looked around. "The one who left the cloth?"
"No. The one who bled it."
That didn't help.
A shrieking sound echoed from above—no source, no warning. Just reaction. The room was responding to Root's presence like a corrupted immune system.
[ Gravity Pull – Ready ]
[ Gravity Press – Ready ]
He dropped to one knee and triggered both.
First, Pull—dragging the center of the room's fractured platform back into alignment, anchoring himself to a spot that didn't flicker.
Then Press—forcing a chunk of falling debris down into the floor before it could phase through his skull.
The moment the gravity spike hit, the room froze.
Just for a second.
But it was enough.
In that stillness, Root saw something.
A glimmering sigil half-buried in the center of the floor. Not Rift-given. Not Hollow-made. Something older—inked in layered rings, pulsating faintly beneath the distortion like a heart that refused to die.
[ Hidden Fragment Detected: Unbound Echo – (Locked) ]
Stabilize room to retrieve.
Root surged forward, boots scraping against the twitching surface. He pressed both palms to the stone and let the gravity flow through him—not as an attack, but as a counterweight.
[ Null Field – Manual Use (Instinct Triggered) ]
✦ Effect: Temporarily equalizes spatial pressure.
✦ Duration: 3 seconds
The world flattened.
Light snapped back into place. The floor held. The ceiling stopped breathing.
And the sigil rose.
A thin, sharp shard—no bigger than a finger—lifted from the floor, suspended in gravity-less quiet.
Root grabbed it.
[ Echo Shard Acquired: Sigil-Eater – 1/3 ]
Unlock the full title to receive permanent status upgrade and new ability node.
The room hissed.
And then…
It let him go.
A platform formed under his feet.
A doorway appeared ahead—stable, black-edged, inviting.
Veyr stood beside him again, watching.
"The Rift is starting to name you."
Root didn't speak.
But deep inside, something had started to settle.
Something that didn't belong to the Rift.
Something that would never bow to it again.