The doors were not just a passage—they breathed, changed shape, and shimmered with sensations that could not be described in words. They seemed to be woven from streams of events that had yet to unfold, whispering with voices of those who had yet to be born.
— Is this a trap? — Flamen asked, feeling the space around them pulsate.
— No, it’s a choice, — the Hollow replied, staring into the smooth surface of the doors. — If we open them, the world will change.
Emiren ran his hand across their surface. Waves spread out from his touch, like ripples on water reflecting existence itself.
— We came for an answer. If this is our path, we must go forward.
And he pressed against them.
A Passage into the Unknown
The doors opened without a sound, dissolving into the void, and before them unfolded a world that defied all logic.
They stepped onto a surface that resembled smooth glass, yet beneath their feet, there was a faint resistance, as if they were walking on water that held them aloft, refusing to let them sink.
The sky above was empty—there were no stars, no light, only an endless darkness filled with possibilities.
Ahead of them loomed a tower. It had no fixed shape, only outlines that shifted with each passing moment.
— What is this place? — Flamen asked.
— This is where the things that have not yet happened are kept, — the Hollow answered.
— Or the things that could have happened but never will, — Emiren added.
They moved forward.
The Keeper of the Unfulfilled
As they neared the tower, the space around them trembled.
A figure appeared before them—tall, cloaked in a shimmering mantle that shifted colors as if woven from the echoes of events that had never come to pass.
Its face was hidden beneath a hood, but its voice resonated from every point in the space around them:
— You have come too far.
— We seek the truth, — Emiren said, not stopping.
— Truth does not belong to those who are not ready to lose themselves, — the figure replied.
— We have already lost enough, — the Hollow murmured.
— Not yet everything.
The Keeper raised a hand, and the world around them shattered.
The Trial of the Unfulfilled
They found themselves in a place where every step could be a mistake.
Before Emiren unfolded a scene in which he had never discovered his power—he saw himself as an ordinary man who had lived a life without struggle, without interference in the Eternal Garden.
Flamen saw a world where fire had never ignited in his veins.
The Hollow… saw himself as he was before he became empty.
— This is not reality; it’s merely a reflection of the possible, — Emiren said, feeling the temptation to change his choices burn within his mind.
— But isn’t the possible also a reality? — the Keeper’s voice echoed.
Before them, the doors appeared once more.
— You may enter. But only one of you.
Silence fell.
— What will happen to those who remain? — Flamen asked.
— They will cease to be.
Emiren, Flamen, and the Hollow exchanged glances.
The choice was made.
And the doors swung open.