System: Sins of the Dead

The moment we stepped through the black-red door, the ground tilted beneath us.

Water.

Everywhere.

We stood knee-deep in what looked like a flooded chapel.

The pews were half-submerged.

Stained glass windows flickered like static.

From the ceiling, ropes dangled — some tied to nothing. Some to things still twitching.

And the altar?

Cracked.

As if something had escaped it.

---

> [WELCOME TO LAYER 6 – THE SINKING SANCTUARY]

Subdomain: System Memory Core (Unstable)

Environment: Emotional Residue Swamp

Warning: Manifestations here are not under system control.

Caution: You may encounter lost versions of yourself.

---

The water was thick.

Heavy.

Like it wasn't just water—but memory.

Every step pulled at me.

Like it wanted me to sink.

Harper muttered, "This place... it's bleeding regret."

Adrian didn't speak. He was staring at a figure up ahead—a boy kneeling at the altar.

I squinted.

And my heart dropped.

> It was me.

---

Not just a reflection.

A perfect version of my sixteen-year-old self.

Before everything went wrong.

Before the deaths.

Before the System.

He was praying.

But not to a god.

To a machine.

His voice echoed across the chapel:

> "Make me matter. Take whatever you want—just let me matter."

The sound of it hit me like a punch in the chest.

Because I remembered saying it.

> I just didn't remember who heard me say it.

---

Suddenly—

A glitch.

The world stuttered.

The water rippled.

And the walls of the chapel turned to screens, flickering with video files.

Security footage. Medical logs. Experiment rooms.

---

And in the center of it all:

A child strapped to a chair.

Not just watched.

Wired in.

A doctor spoke offscreen.

> "Subject Kai Turner. Prototype 04. Emotional resonance stable."

"Initiate pain-to-adaptation transfer."

"Let's see how much guilt creates strength."

---

My mouth went dry.

Adrian whispered, "They made the system out of you."

Harper's eyes narrowed. "Or part of you is still inside it."

---

> [SYSTEM ROOT CODE RESONANCE DETECTED]

Access: Partial Unlocked

Status: Suppressed

You are not supposed to remember this.

You are remembering this anyway.

---

Suddenly the altar exploded.

Memory-Me lifted his head.

And smiled.

But it wasn't my smile.

His eyes were void-black, and his voice was layered—human and machine.

> "We were never supposed to survive, Kai."

"But we did. And they left us behind."

> "You want control? You'll need to kill the part of yourself that accepted this."

---

> [WARNING: ROOT CORE SPLINTER ACTIVE]

Entity: Kai.04 — Prototype Emotion Weapon (Incomplete)

Class: A-

Threat: High

Purpose: Bind guilt to growth. Destroy doubt. Erase disobedience.

---

He stood.

Water boiled around him.

Chains lashed out from beneath the pews.

Not to restrain—

To offer themselves.

To bind willingly.

> "Come back to me," he whispered. "We were stronger when we stopped feeling."

---

I stepped forward.

Then Harper grabbed my hand.

"You're not him anymore."

Adrian stepped beside me.

"Even if he was born from you, that thing isn't you now."

---

The System buzzed—

> [EMOTIONAL STABILITY CONFLICT – USER KAI TURNER]

Option A: Assimilate Prototype. Power Boost. Path Correction.

Option B: Reject Prototype. Maintain Humanity. Risk Instability.

---

I looked at the boy I used to be.

All the pain.

The rage.

The hunger to be seen.

And I whispered—

> "You mattered. But not like that."

---

I struck with Mirror Break.

The altar shattered.

Prototype Kai screamed—dozens of voices howling like they were being peeled from him.

Memories burst around us—

Emily in the wheelchair.

My dad throwing the bottle.

The System initiating.

The experiments.

The moment I first forgot her name.

---

I caught the prototype's body as it fell into the water.

And as it dissolved, he whispered—

> "I only wanted to be worth the pain."

---

> [TRIAL COMPLETE – CORE SPLINTER RESOLVED]

Sin Level: 0.4 → 0.3

Humanity: +2

Kai Trait Gained: "Fracturebound – Immune to past self possession"

Access Unlocked: Memory Branch α

---

As the chapel cracked and began to sink fully into the black water, a stairway rose from the depths.

Carved in stone and bone.

It led down.

> Deeper than memory.

Below sin.

Below death.

---

Adrian stared at it. "What layer is next?"

Harper looked sick. "This... isn't a layer. It's beneath the system."

At the top of the staircase, a sign flickered into view.

Simple.

Burned into bone.

> THE FORGOTTEN ROOT.

"Only the dead remember why it began."