Extra To Protagonist

[Override Stabilization: 91%]

[Warning: External Force Proximity — Critical]

Merlin didn't breathe.

Didn't blink.

Didn't step back.

Because both Dion and Flint were moving again, and if he flinched, they'd think they were right.

Flint went for his side.

Dion came in high.

Not coordinated but close enough.

He slid wind through his heel, pivoted under the swing, and let the second attack graze his shoulder on purpose. Just enough to bleed.

Just enough to sell it.

His back hit the wall. Again.

But this time?

He stayed there.

Mae shouted something, but he didn't catch it.

Flint's knife flickered in his hand. Reversed grip. Efficient. Probably meant to pin, not kill.

But it was going to kill if it landed wrong.

Merlin's fingers twitched.

One twitch was all it took.

The override jumped to 94%.

Then 97%.

The air pressure collapsed like a lung being punched in.

Flint froze mid-step.

So did Dion.

Mae backed up. Fast. Not scared just smart.

The floor pulsed once.

[Override Complete.]

[Manual Access: Granted.]

[Administrator Authority Level: Ascendant]

[Control: Yours]

Merlin stood.

Not quickly.

Not like a threat.

Like someone who'd waited exactly long enough to stop pretending.

The glyphs on the wall flickered.

Glass shimmered.

A ring of light circled the edges of the floor.

Flint blinked first.

Dion took a half-step back.

"Okay," Dion said. Voice light. Too light. "I'm starting to think you weren't the bad guy here."

Merlin didn't answer.

He raised his hand.

Not in warning.

Just to show them something.

The air between them peeled open like paper soaked in ink. Lines of light folded into a diagram across the floor. Circles. Arrows. Tethers.

All of them pointing not at the people…

But the structure.

The trial.

Mae stepped forward, stunned.

"You hijacked the whole chamber."

Merlin tilted his head.

"Seemed easier than explaining myself."

Dion let out a half-laugh, half-wheeze.

Flint didn't move.

But he lowered the knife.

The system pulsed again.

[External Observation: Active]

[The Messenger is laughing.]

[The Grin Beneath the Mask stops smiling.]

[The One Who Sits Where Paths End marks your name.]

Merlin felt his pulse settle.

Not slow.

Just… real.

Nathan was still behind the glass.

Not for long.

Because now?

He had the key.

—

The wall peeled back like something had given up pretending it was solid.

No grind.

No glow.

Just a sudden shift like the room got bored of being locked.

Merlin stepped back.

A foot. No more.

Just enough room for the new arrivals.

Nathan entered first.

Hands in his pockets.

Expression set to "I definitely have questions but I'm saving them for dramatic effect."

Elara came next.

Her stance was already sharp enough to cut furniture.

Eyes moving, cataloging threats. She didn't see Merlin at first.

She was looking for exits.

Seraphina was last.

She didn't scan.

She listened.

Head tilted just slightly like the room was whispering something too quiet for anyone else.

Behind Merlin, Dion muttered low.

"Oh yeah. The gods are gonna love this."

Merlin turned sharply.

"Don't."

It wasn't loud.

Didn't need to be.

Just sharp enough to cut off the thought before it grew legs.

Mae blinked.

Flint glanced sideways.

Nathan tilted his head.

"Don't what?" he said. Light. Casual. Theatrically oblivious.

"Nothing," Merlin said.

Because nothing was always easier than more questions.

Nathan squinted at Dion.

Dion smiled.

Merlin didn't.

The room settled uneasily.

Elara's eyes landed on him next.

And stayed there.

"You're the one who opened the chamber," she said.

"Yeah," Merlin said.

"You also hijacked it…?"

"Technically."

Nathan exhaled through his nose.

"Man, I leave you alone for some time due to your dumbness and you take over ancient death rooms. You're so needy."

Elara shot him a look.

He shrugged.

Seraphina finally spoke.

Her voice was soft. Clear.

"You knew we were here."

Merlin nodded.

"How?"

He didn't answer that one.

Didn't have to.

They didn't press it.

Because the question underneath wasn't how.

It was why.

And Merlin didn't owe anyone that.

Not yet.

Dion crossed his arms and leaned slightly back.

"Okay. So we're all new friends now. Any idea what's waiting past this room?"

Merlin said nothing.

But the system answered for him.

[Trial: INTERFERENCE]

[Chamber stability: FRACTURED]

[Cause: Oversight Breach — Divine Interest Escalated]

[New Conditions: Unknown]

Mae read the look on Merlin's face like a manual.

"What aren't you telling us?"

He didn't lie.

He just picked the most manageable truth.

"There's more coming."

And in the corner of his vision more popped up.

[The Messenger watches in silence.]

[The Grin Beneath the Mask writes a new rule.]

[The One Behind the Curtain reaches for the next piece.]

Merlin didn't look up.

Didn't blink.

He just turned to the door at the far end of the chamber.

And stepped forward.

—

The door closed behind them.

It didn't slam.

Didn't hiss.

Just stopped existing. Like the room got tired of pretending they had a way back.

Merlin didn't turn.

He was already looking ahead.

The corridor stretched forward longer than it should've. Too long. Like a trick of perspective that didn't end when you blinked.

The air inside was still.

Not heavy.

Not cold.

Just… deliberate.

Nathan stepped up beside him.

"Okay. I've seen worse."

"Have you?" Merlin asked.

"…No."

Figures.

Mae held her breath. Literally. Like she was waiting for the walls to pulse again.

They didn't.

Not yet.

Elara stepped forward next.

Stopped.

"What is that?"

They all saw it now.

Lining the hallway left and right were giant skeletons.

At least twenty. Maybe more. Their spines curved like sleeping serpents. Limbs long and folded. Heads bent forward.

No armor.

No weapons.

Just bone.

Stacked like pews in a forgotten cathedral.

Dion gave a low whistle.

"I'm gonna go ahead and say this room sucks."

Flint didn't say anything.

Merlin took one step forward.

The system pulsed, faint.

[Chamber: Path of the Fallen Kings]

[Do not speak above a whisper.]

[Do not run.]

[Do not look back.]

He didn't share the message.

He just raised a hand. One signal.

Slow.

Flat.

No talking.

The others fell in behind.

Mae glanced at one of the skulls as they passed.

It was the size of a wagon wheel.

Empty sockets.

Mouth ajar.

Like it died mid-scream.

Or worse mid-laugh.

Nathan muttered, "You think they wake up if we step on a crack?"

"Probably," Merlin said.

Elara whispered, "Then don't."

Seraphina was watching the walls now.

Not the bones.

Smart.

Because something in the stones pulsed—not with life, but memory.

Like the hallway remembered how these things died.

And wanted them to do it again.

Dion paused. "Anyone else feel like we're being watched?"

They all did.

Merlin just didn't say it out loud.

Because the system pinged again.

[Whispering acknowledged.]

[Behavior: Acceptable.]

[Remain quiet.]

They kept walking.

Step by step.

The silence wasn't dead.

It was hunting.

—

They were halfway down the hall when it happened.

No one was speaking.

Not even Nathan.

Breaths were tight. Steps exact.

The kind of silence that felt like walking through a throat.

Every skeleton stayed still.

Jaws open.

Limbs curled.

Waiting.

Merlin had counted sixteen so far.

Maybe more.

The pressure was rising in his ears—not noise, just presence. Like the air had decided it was holy now, and anything louder than a blink would be heresy.

Dion was two steps behind him.

Too fast.

Merlin held out a hand, a wordless stop.

Dion adjusted, slowed.

Mae was behind Flint.

Nathan between Elara and Seraphina.

So far, so good.

Then—

click.

It wasn't loud.

It wasn't even sharp.

Just the smallest sound. A heel catching a jagged bit of floor, barely more than a shuffle.

But in this hallway?

It was thunder.

Flint froze.

Dion turned slowly.

Merlin exhaled once through his nose.

The system didn't ping.

The skeletons did.

The one nearest to Mae, spine arched, skull bowed, it twitched.

Its jaw creaked shut.

Not fast.

Just enough to make a sound like old wood splitting.

Mae backed up.

Too late.

The second skeleton turned its head.

The third opened its fingers.

Nathan whispered, "Oh hell."

Elara drew her spear.

Seraphina whispered, "Don't run."

The system pulsed.

[Whisper protocol broken.]

[Containment seal breached.]

[Run.]

Merlin didn't wait.

"MOVE."

The hallway exploded into noise.

Bone scraped stone.

Joints popped.

One of the giants unfolded like a collapsing bridge in reverse, limb by limb by limb.

The hallway that had been silent—

Became war.

Flint grabbed Mae's arm and shoved her forward.

Dion ducked a swinging ribcage.

Merlin snapped wind through his legs and launched forward, just in time to see two skeletons slam into the walls on either side.

Nathan was already running.

Elara spun and drove her spear into a rib—not to kill, just to shove it aside.

They weren't fighting to win.

They were surviving.

Merlin turned mid-run, saw Seraphina dart between two sweeping limbs, her hand slicing a sharp arc of frost across a skull's jaw.

It didn't fall.

But it stalled.

Good enough.

Merlin dropped his foot, spiked space beneath him and blinked ten meters ahead.

His lungs burned.

His thoughts didn't.

'No cover.'

'No way back.'

'No time.'

And somewhere behind him a skeleton screamed.

Not with a voice.

With its breathless, grinding body.

Like it remembered what lungs used to be.

They were still too far from the end.

But stopping?

Wasn't an option anymore.