Antem, along with a small group, moved forward. The surface of the ground beneath their feet changed, becoming less smooth and acquiring more natural features: stones appeared, there were bumps, and even tiny green sprouts that emerged from nowhere. The world seemed to respond to their presence.
A young woman with short hair who walked beside him broke the silence:
“How did you know it was right? To stop time, to destroy the system?”
Antem paused.
“I wasn’t sure,” he admitted. “But leaving everything as it was would mean continuing to live in a lie. Each of us has the right to choose how to live. I simply opened the doors.”
An older man, who called himself Karen, added:
“But you opened them not just for us. The world has become empty. We are moving, but what if this is just an illusion of freedom?”
Antem remained silent. He didn’t know the answer himself, but he was convinced that the truth, no matter how difficult, was better than deception.
Signals from the Past
Along the way, they stumbled upon a strange object, half-buried in the ground. It was a fragment of some machine, resembling the remains of gears from a tower, but it glowed with a faint red light.
“These are remnants of the system,” Antem said, leaning down.
“Is it still alive?” the woman asked.
“I don’t think the system can simply disappear,” he replied. “Its traces will remain in our consciousness, even if the world changes.”
Karen crouched down and touched the fragment. At that moment, the red light grew stronger, and they all heard a voice resonating loudly in their heads:
“You have disrupted the order. Restore harmony or perish.”
The group recoiled in fear. The fragment dimmed, but the feeling of anxiety lingered.
“What was that?” Karen asked, looking around.
“That’s the system,” Antem said. “It hasn’t disappeared. It is watching.”
The First Trial
They set off again, but a troubling premonition haunted each of them. Gradually, the ground began to become uneven, hills emerged, and beyond them appeared a strange formation resembling a black canyon.
“Are we going there?” the woman asked.
“We need to check it out,” Antem said.
As they approached the edge of the canyon, its walls began to change. They seemed alive: symbols appeared and disappeared on their surface, similar to those Antem had seen in the tower.
“It’s a trap,” Karen said. “We shouldn’t go there.”
“Or it’s a path,” Antem replied, peering into the darkness of the canyon.
He stepped forward, and his body shuddered from the energy that enveloped him. The others hesitated, but the young woman followed his lead.
“If we want to know the truth, we’ll have to take risks,” she said, and her words encouraged the others.
One by one, they entered the canyon. The darkness around them thickened, but a light flashed before them, and in that light, they saw something that took their breath away.
Meeting the Shadow
In the middle of the canyon stood a man. He looked exactly like Antem, except his eyes were empty, and his skin was pale, almost translucent.
“You… is that me?” Antem asked, taking a step forward.
“I am what you left behind in the system,” the doppelgänger replied. “I am your shadow.”
Antem felt his heart clench. He realized that to move forward, he would have to confront his past, his fears, and what he had lost.
The double raised his hand, and the darkness around them began to take shape, transforming into a scene where Antem saw himself—back in the old world, before awakening. His life seemed happy, but now he saw how fake it had been.
“You will only be able to move on once you accept that you are also part of this illusion,” the double said.
Antem gathered all his willpower, staring into his own shadow. He knew that this struggle would become a turning point in his journey.