In a fractured memory chamber, the copy of Sora jerks awake.
She's mid-game.
Alone.
The ground beneath her is burned with the symbols of the King's Trail—but wrong, inverted, mirrored.
She looks around, disoriented.
Then she whispers:
"They're not here, are they…"
She isn't talking to teammates.
She's talking to the watchers.
***
Meanwhile, Copy-Matthew bleeds in a white corridor shaped like the Dead or Alive room—but it's warped, stretched, looping.
He drags himself forward and finds a sealed room labeled:
"Primary Host Locked."
"ERROR: Main Player Already Active."
Inside, through a flickering pane of glass—
He sees the real Matthew.
He's asleep.
Hooked to a pulse machine.
Not aware.
Copy-Matthew slams the glass.
"Wake up, dammit. You're missing it!"
But the real Matthew never hears.
The system won't let it happen.
In the outer gamespace, Copy-Rin walks past a reflection and stops.
The mirror doesn't mimic her.
It shows her standing trial in the King's Trail. But with different words carved on the crown:
"You Chose Too Late."
She raises her hand to touch the glass—
And the reflection smiles independently.
Then says:
"You all missed it.
We solved the first puzzle.
And no one came."
***
In the background of every copy, an entity begins appearing more frequently.
A towering shape made of static, antlers, and broken game UI.
It does not speak.
It just watches.
And every time a copy reaches a conclusion the originals didn't, it reaches out and overwrites them.
They're solving the maze.
They're seeing the truth.
But the main players aren't listening.
Then, one of the copies—Sora's—manages to burn something into a wall before being erased:
"STOP TRUSTING THE SYSTEM.
THE COPIES SEE MORE.
THEY KEPT THE ANSWER."
The flame goes out.
And the room resets again.
***
Back in realspace, the trio steps into Manifestation… unaware that the real game wasn't just survival.
It was remembrance.
And the copies remembered too much.