Echoes in Manifestation

The room is vast. Flat. Featureless.

Black tile. White light. Infinite horizon.

No timer.

No host.

Just one word burning in the air above:

"MANIFEST."

Sora blinks.

"What does that mean? Manifest what?"

Rin steps forward.

"It's not asking us to play…"

"It's asking us to choose what's real."

Matthew tilts his head.

And that's when they begin to hear it.

Their own voices. But not theirs.

"The crown didn't choose you."

"The maze isn't looping. You are."

"She knew. You ignored her."

Voices from the copies.

But not just echoing.

Bleeding in.

Suddenly, Matthew's hands are bloodied—fresh from a wound he didn't get.

A memory that never happened, flashes:

Him strangling someone.

Not out of rage—but to save the others.

A copy's choice.

He gasps and stumbles.

Sora sees her own reflection flicker—and sees herself with white hair, tired eyes, and a brand on her neck:

"SUBJECT 4C—FAILURE TO RESET"

She whispers, "I never got branded—"

Rin looks up—and the light above turns red.

The word in the air changes:

"MERGE."

Suddenly, the room pulses.

And the system begins overlaying data:

Copy memories

Real memories

False-start cycles

Untriggered endings

The rules aren't broken.

They're being rewritten—from inside their minds.

The system voice returns.

But it stutters.

"PLAYER… RECOGNIZED."

"PLAYER… ERROR."

"PLAYER… WHO IS THE PLAYER?"

Then a final command flashes:

"MANIFEST YOUR TRUTH."

Rin steps forward.

"They're not echoes anymore."

"They're us. The parts we didn't become."

Matthew clenches his fists.

"They tried to warn us. We missed it."

Sora whispers, voice shaking:

"Then let's stop missing it."

And together, they step to the center.

And speak:

"We manifest: memory. Not obedience."

The room shatters.

Light floods in.

And when it clears, they're nowhere familiar.

Just a single elevator.

Open. Waiting.

Inside: a mirror.

Showing each of them—

As they would have been if they'd never entered the game.