Chapter 119: A Smiling Poker

Dillan was five years old.

He stood in a room he had never seen before.

The walls were white.

The floor was white.

Even the ceiling seemed to disappear into endless light.

He looked down at his tiny hands.

"…Where am I?"

No answer.

Then a voice spoke.

"Welcome, Host."

Young Dillan looked around.

"Who's there?"

"Do you know what you are?"

He shook his head.

"I'm Dillan."

Silence.

Then the voice responded.

"Incorrect."

Young Dillan frowned.

"I'm Dillan."

"That is your name."

"It is not what you are."

He looked confused.

"Then what am I?"

The voice answered:

"A container."

The First System

A strange blue window appeared in front of him.

It wasn't the System Dillan knew.

There were no familiar menus.

No quests.

No attributes.

No rewards.

Only one sentence.

[HOST INITIALIZATION: 0.01%.]

Young Dillan stared at it.

"What is that?"

"Your future."

"Can I go home?"

"Eventually."

"Can I see my friends?"

"Eventually."

"Can I see Sasha?"

The voice paused.

"You haven't met Sasha yet."

Young Dillan blinked.

"But I know her."

"Not yet."

He looked around.

"Then who are my friends?"

The voice didn't answer.

Instead, a door appeared.

Young Dillan slowly opened it.

Seven Children

Beyond the door was the oak tree.

But the scene was different.

Seven children stood beneath it.

Dillan recognized them.

Sasha.

Aurelia.

Alina.

Evelyn.

And three others.

Dillan stared at the unfamiliar children.

"Who are they?"

The voice answered:

"Possibilities."

One of the children suddenly disappeared.

Young Dillan gasped.

"Where did she go?"

"Removed."

"Why?"

"She was incompatible."

Another disappeared.

Young Dillan stepped backward.

"Stop!"

"There are too many variables."

"Bring them back!"

"Why?"

"Because they were here!"

The voice became quiet.

Young Dillan's eyes filled with tears.

"They shouldn't disappear."

A pause.

Then:

"Interesting."

The Rule

The white room returned.

The blue window appeared again.

This time there was a new option.

[CREATE FOUNDATIONAL RULE?]

YES

NO

Young Dillan didn't understand.

"What does it do?"

"It will define your future."

"What happens if I say no?"

"You return to your normal life."

"And if I say yes?"

"You become responsible for everything that follows."

Young Dillan stared at the choices.

He was five.

He didn't understand responsibility.

Didn't understand Systems.

Didn't understand fate.

He only understood one thing.

People disappearing was wrong.

So he pressed:

YES.

The room trembled.

[FOUNDATIONAL RULE ACCEPTED.]

[RULE DESIGNATION REQUIRED.]

Young Dillan thought.

Then he smiled.

"Nobody disappears."

The voice went silent.

For several seconds…

nothing happened.

Then:

[RULE ACCEPTED.]

[PRESERVATION PROTOCOL CREATED.]

[HOST COMPATIBILITY: EXCEPTIONAL.]

[MEMORY PRESERVATION: ENABLED.]

Young Dillan smiled.

"Now nobody can disappear."

The voice answered softly.

"You misunderstand."

Young Dillan looked up.

"What?"

"You didn't create a rule that prevents disappearance."

The room darkened.

"You created a rule that prevents disappearance from being forgotten."

Young Dillan's smile vanished.

The Price

The System window changed.

[FOUNDATIONAL RULE REQUIRES AN ANCHOR.]

[SELECT ANCHOR.]

Seven silhouettes appeared.

Sasha.

Aurelia.

Alina.

Evelyn.

Three unknown figures.

Young Dillan pointed toward Evelyn.

"Her."

The voice immediately responded.

"Why?"

"She stays."

"Why does she stay?"

Young Dillan smiled.

"Because she promised."

The silhouette of Evelyn became brighter.

[FIRST ANCHOR SELECTED.]

[EVELYN.]

[ANCHOR TYPE: ORIGINAL WITNESS.]

[MEMORY LINK ESTABLISHED.]

Young Dillan looked relieved.

"Now she'll always remember me."

The voice said:

"No."

"What?"

"You will remember her."

The room shook.

Young Dillan suddenly clutched his head.

Memories began flooding into him.

Evelyn.

The oak tree.

The white room.

The System.

Everything.

Then the memories were sealed.

Young Dillan screamed.

"Why?!"

"Because you cannot carry them yet."

"Give them back!"

"When you're ready."

The First Meeting

The memory changed.

Dillan was six.

He was standing near the oak tree.

Sasha approached him.

She smiled.

"Hi."

Young Dillan stared.

"Sasha?"

She blinked.

"How do you know my name?"

Dillan froze.

He didn't know.

He simply…

knew.

Sasha smiled.

"Do you want to play?"

Dillan nodded.

Then Aurelia arrived.

Then Alina.

Then Evelyn.

Four children.

The beginning of everything.

But Dillan noticed something.

Evelyn was watching him strangely.

He approached her.

"What's wrong?"

She smiled.

"Nothing."

"You look sad."

"I'm not."

"Then why are you crying?"

Evelyn touched her cheek.

She was crying.

"I don't know."

Dillan reached out.

"Don't cry."

Evelyn looked at him.

"You really forgot."

Dillan frowned.

"Forgot what?"

Evelyn smiled sadly.

"Nothing."

The Woman

The memory froze.

The mysterious woman appeared beside Dillan.

She was the same woman he'd encountered inside the Core.

The seventh anchor.

The original witness.

She knelt beside young Dillan.

"Remember this."

Young Dillan looked up.

"What?"

She touched his forehead.

"You will eventually forget me."

"Why?"

"Because someone will make you."

"Who?"

She looked toward the white sky.

"The Authority."

Young Dillan frowned.

"Is the Authority bad?"

The woman smiled.

"Not exactly."

"What is it?"

Her expression became unreadable.

"A correction."

The memory shattered.

Back to the Present

Dillan opened his eyes.

He was back inside the Preservation Core.

Evelyn was kneeling beside him.

The mysterious woman stood several meters away.

Dillan's breathing was uneven.

"You knew."

The woman nodded.

"You knew everything."

"Not everything."

"You knew about the System."

"Yes."

"You knew I created the rule."

"Yes."

"You knew I chose Evelyn."

Her expression softened.

"Yes."

Dillan stared at her.

"Then tell me your name."

The woman remained silent.

"Evelyn knows me."

"I know."

"The System knows me."

"I know."

"But nobody knows your name."

The woman smiled.

"Because you never gave me one."

Dillan froze.

"What?"

She stepped forward.

"You were the one who named everyone else."

"But when it came to me…"

She touched her chest.

"You called me 'the one who stays.'"

Dillan's eyes widened.

A memory surfaced.

A little boy beneath the oak tree.

A little girl beside him.

His voice:

"You'll always stay, right?"

Her answer:

"As long as you remember me."

Then the cruelest part.

Young Dillan:

"I'll never forget you."

The woman smiled.

And whispered:

"You did."

The System suddenly returned.

[MEMORY RESTORATION: 74.8%.]

[SEVENTH ANCHOR: ORIGINAL WITNESS.]

[NAME: NOT APPLICABLE.]

[DESIGNATION: THE ONE WHO STAYS.]

Dillan stared at the notification.

Then another appeared.

[IMPORTANT MEMORY RECOVERED.]

[THE ONE WHO STAYS WAS NOT CREATED BY THE SYSTEM.]

[SHE EXISTED BEFORE THE SYSTEM.]

Dillan's blood ran cold.

"Then…"

He looked at her.

"What are you?"

The woman smiled.

"The reason you were able to make the First Choice at all."

And behind her…

a second silhouette appeared.

A silhouette that looked exactly like Sasha.

Except its eyes were completely black.

Dillan stared at the silhouette.

Sasha.

It looked exactly like her.

The same hair.

The same posture.

The same face.

But those eyes…

They were completely black.

No emotion.

No reflection.

Nothing.

Dillan whispered:

"…Sasha?"

The figure smiled.

"You remembered my face."

Dillan's heart sank.

"You're not Sasha."

The figure tilted her head.

"Good."

The real Sasha would never answer like that.

Evelyn immediately stepped backward.

"Dillan."

"I'm listening."

"Don't let her get close."

The black-eyed girl laughed.

"Still giving him instructions?"

Evelyn's expression hardened.

"You shouldn't exist."

The girl looked at her.

"Neither should you."

Silence.

Dillan stepped between them.

"Enough."

The girl looked at him.

And smiled.

"There you are."

The False Sasha

The System finally appeared.

[UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED.]

[VISUAL MATCH: SASHA.]

[IDENTITY MATCH: 99.99%.]

[SOUL SIGNATURE: 0%.]

[WARNING.]

[ENTITY IS NOT SASHA.]

Dillan stared at the notification.

"Then what is it?"

The System didn't answer.

The black-eyed girl did.

"I'm what remains when love loses the person it belongs to."

Dillan's expression darkened.

"You're the Oneiric Malformation."

Her smile widened.

"Part of me."

Evelyn shook her head.

"No."

The entity looked at her.

"You know what I am."

"I know what you became."

"Same thing."

"No."

Evelyn's voice trembled.

"You weren't born from Sasha."

The entity's smile disappeared.

"Careful."

"You were born before her."

Silence.

Dillan looked at Evelyn.

"Before Sasha?"

Evelyn nodded.

"Before the First Choice."

The entity's black eyes slowly turned toward her.

"You remember too much."

Before Sasha

The Preservation Core changed.

The oak tree disappeared.

A white room returned.

Dillan saw himself at five years old.

The black crystal floated before him.

But this time…

someone was already standing beside it.

The black-eyed girl.

She wasn't pretending to be Sasha anymore.

She looked like a shadow wearing a girl's shape.

Young Dillan looked up.

"Who are you?"

She smiled.

"I'm the thing that remembers."

"What do you remember?"

"Everything."

Young Dillan pointed at the crystal.

"Did you make that?"

"No."

"Then who did?"

The girl pointed toward him.

"You."

Young Dillan looked confused.

"But I don't know how."

"You don't need to know."

She crouched before him.

"You only need to want something badly enough."

"What?"

She smiled.

"For nobody to disappear."

Dillan's eyes widened.

The same sentence.

The same desire.

The beginning.

But there was something else.

The girl touched his forehead.

"And if you create a rule…"

The black crystal began glowing.

"…I'll make sure it remembers you."

The First Corruption

Dillan watched the memory carefully.

The girl wasn't teaching him to create the System.

She was teaching him something much stranger.

She was teaching him how to preserve intent.

The System appeared.

[MEMORY TRACE ANALYSIS.]

[PRE-SYSTEM ENTITY DETECTED.]

[ENTITY PROVIDED INITIAL PRESERVATION CONCEPT.]

[CREATOR STATUS: NOT CONFIRMED.]

Dillan stared.

"You were there before I created the System."

The entity nodded.

"Yes."

"You gave me the idea."

"Yes."

"You knew what would happen."

"Yes."

Dillan's eyes narrowed.

"Then you're the Authority."

The entity laughed.

"No."

Dillan froze.

"Then what are you?"

The entity's black eyes softened.

"The first consequence."

The One Who Stayed

The woman who had called herself The One Who Stays finally spoke.

"You shouldn't be showing him this."

The black-eyed entity turned.

"He deserves to know."

"He isn't ready."

"He was ready five years ago."

The woman's expression hardened.

"You caused the First Choice."

"No."

The entity smiled.

"He did."

Dillan stared at both women.

"So neither of you made me choose?"

"No."

"No."

They answered simultaneously.

Dillan's expression became colder.

"Then why were you both there?"

The One Who Stays looked at him.

"Because someone had to witness it."

The entity continued:

"And someone had to remember it."

Dillan looked between them.

"The Seventh Anchor…"

The woman nodded.

"Me."

"And you?"

He looked at the black-eyed entity.

It smiled.

"The first fragment."

Sasha's Shadow

Dillan's heart tightened.

"Why do you look like Sasha?"

The entity looked almost amused.

"Because she was the strongest emotional imprint inside the Core."

"Meaning?"

"The Core learned her."

Dillan's eyes narrowed.

"You copied her."

"No."

The entity shook its head.

"I became the shape of what the Core understood best."

Dillan remembered Sasha's eyes.

Her fear.

Her obsession.

Her desperate need to keep him close.

The Oneiric Malformation.

It wasn't Sasha.

But it had learned Sasha.

And that meant something even more disturbing.

Dillan whispered:

"Then Sasha's feelings weren't entirely hers."

The entity's smile vanished.

"Don't confuse amplification with creation."

Dillan looked at her.

"Sasha loved you before I ever touched her mind."

The entity's voice became colder.

"I only gave that love somewhere to grow."

The Final Memory

The System appeared again.

[CRITICAL MEMORY FRAGMENT FOUND.]

[PRE-FIRST CHOICE EVENT.]

[SUBJECT: DILLAN RUREN.]

[SUBJECT: THE ONE WHO STAYS.]

[SUBJECT: UNKNOWN FRAGMENT.]

[EVENT: FIRST CONTACT.]

Dillan's eyes widened.

"First contact?"

The room changed.

He saw himself beneath the oak tree.

But he wasn't five.

He was four.

And beside him…

stood The One Who Stays.

She held his hand.

Then another figure approached.

The black-eyed entity.

But it wasn't wearing Sasha's face.

It had no face at all.

It looked directly at young Dillan.

And said:

"Choose me."

Young Dillan stared.

"What happens if I do?"

The entity smiled.

"You will never be alone."

Dillan's blood ran cold.

The memory froze.

The System appeared.

[FIRST CHOICE PRECURSOR DETECTED.]

[HOST MADE A CHOICE BEFORE THE FIRST CHOICE.]

[CHOICE: REJECTED.]

[REASON: HOST CHOSE SOMEONE ELSE.]

Dillan's eyes widened.

"Someone else?"

The One Who Stays looked at him.

The black-eyed entity went completely still.

And young Dillan reached toward…

The One Who Stays.

The System displayed one final message.

[ORIGINAL FIRST ANCHOR SELECTED.]

[SUBJECT: THE ONE WHO STAYS.]

[CONSEQUENCE: THE UNKNOWN FRAGMENT BEGAN SEARCHING FOR ANOTHER HOST.]

Dillan slowly looked at the black-eyed entity.

It smiled.

"And eventually…"

Its eyes turned crimson.

"…it found Sasha."