Elsewhere in the city, far from the pulsing tower of veins, the sky screamed again.
A crack opened near the Hudson. It split the water and the sky at once, a wound in reality itself. Through it stepped a figure wrapped in shadows that didn't match the light around them.
Not a monster. Not quite human.
She stepped onto the broken shoreline barefoot. Her skin shimmered like oil under moonlight. Her eyes, solid silver, scanned the twisted horizon. Her presence warped the space behind her, as though the system hadn't finished rendering her shape.
[New Entity Detected]
[Class. Undefined. Not System-Bound]
[Threat Level. Unknown]
[Synchronization Blocked]
The city rejected her.
The system couldn't log her.
But she was here.
And she was searching.
She knelt beside a corpse. Not one killed by beasts, but by something cleaner. A precise wound through the chest. She touched the blood, then sniffed the air.
"Found you," she whispered.
Then she stood, looking toward the far tower where Caspian was still inside the node. The veins in the sky above it pulsed harder, beating in sync with his blood.
She didn't walk.
She vanished.
Like a thought changing its mind.
Back inside the node, Caspian moved deeper. The architecture shifted constantly. Flesh turned to stone. Veins became stairs. Every step forward felt like wading into a dream that knew it was being watched.
The second stage waited.
[Warning. Room Type. Echo Chamber]
[Threat Constructed From Pattern. Engage With Caution]
[Trial Begins On Entry]
The chamber opened before him.
And there he stood.
A mirror image. His own face. His own aura. But colder. Sharper. Smiling.
"You bleed too easily," the double said. "You hesitate when you shouldn't."
Neris raised an eyebrow. "Well this is new."
Caspian said nothing.
The copy raised its hand.
A blood sword formed, perfect and refined. Not twisted like Caspian's.
"This is what you could become," the double said. "If you weren't still clinging to your past."
The door slammed shut behind him.
[Stage Two. Survive Yourself]