Chapter 23 · The Core Won't Open

The core room is smaller than I thought it'd be.

No throne. No army of adds. Just Nyx standing in the center of a circle carved into black stone, her shoulders tight, her face turned away from me. The air smells like burnt ozone and something sweet I can't name. The walls pulse with code—lines of it crawling over the stone like veins, gold and red and flickering.

Behind her, the door.

It's massive. Obsidian, or something that looks like it. No handle. No keyhole. Just a seam down the middle and a symbol etched above it that keeps shifting every time I try to focus on it. My eyes water.

"That's it?" I say. My voice comes out thin.

Nyx doesn't turn. "That's it."

I take a step closer. The stone under my boots hums. It's not a good hum. It's the kind that makes your teeth ache and your spine want to curl up.

"So what's the catch?"

"You know the catch."

I do. I've known since Save Slot Zero. Since I pulled my own name out of the archive and saw what it cost to keep me here. Five resets left.