The world was waiting.
Emiren took a step forward, and the road that did not exist began to change. The air around them trembled, scattering in a shimmer that resembled shards of glass reflecting not light, but the very essence of time.
Flamen and the Empty One hesitated, as if something invisible was holding them back.
— What now? — asked the Empty One, clenching his fingers as if trying to grasp something elusive.
Emiren did not answer immediately. He could feel the space around them shifting with every breath, with every thought. The road was no longer just waiting—it was listening.
And then he heard it.
A voice.
Soft, almost imperceptible, it did not sound in the air or in his mind, but deep within the fabric of reality itself. It was not a sound but a sensation. A call from a place that did not exist.
— Someone is calling us, — he said.
Flamen narrowed his eyes, listening, but heard only silence.
— I hear nothing.
— Because it is not a sound, — Emiren replied. — It is something beyond a voice.
He took another step.
And the world tore apart.
Falling into the Void
There was no sensation of movement.
They were neither flying nor falling. They had simply ceased to stand in place. Space vanished and, at the same time, expanded into infinity. There was nothing around them—no light, no darkness, only the feeling of something unseen.
Flamen instinctively clenched his fist, trying to summon fire, but in this place, there was no flame, no shadow.
— Where are we? — the Empty One asked, though he already understood there was no answer.
Emiren felt something touch his thoughts. It was not like in the Eternal Garden, where time was alive, nor like the world beyond the gates, where nothing yet had form.
This place did not exist.
And yet, it was everything.
— It is speaking to us, — he whispered.
Those Who Have No Names
And then, silhouettes appeared before them.
They could not be called shadows, for there was no light here to cast them. They were more like cracks in reality, revealing something beyond the familiar world.
— You are the ones who create.
— You are the ones who shape.
— But do you know what you are giving life to?
The voices did not speak separately. They resounded as one, intertwining into a single current that had neither beginning nor end.
Emiren took a step forward, feeling how these words pierced him, forcing something to shift within the core of his being.
— Who are you?
— We are those who wait.
— We are those you have not yet created.
Flamen clenched his fingers into a fist.
— This is a trap.
— No, — the Empty One objected. — It is another trial.
And then space began to contract.
The Choice Between Reality and Nothingness
The world was no longer empty.
It was beginning to take form, and it depended on them. Everything they said, thought, or felt was reflected in this space, creating new possibilities.
Before them, doors appeared.
One—of black stone, covered in shifting symbols that could not be read.
Another—of white light, constantly changing its form, as if deciding for itself what should be real and what should not.
The third—unseen. They did not exist, and yet Emiren knew they were there.
— Which ones are real? — asked Flamen.
— The ones we choose, — replied the Empty One.
Emiren felt the voices whisper again:
— The choice will be final.
He reached out toward the doors…
And the world froze in anticipation.