The path behind the skull led into a narrow corridor carved from obsidian-like stone. The walls pulsed faintly, as if alive, veins of glowing crimson and violet threading through them. Asari walked ahead in silence, his hand still resting over his chest where the Shard of Null Emotion had embedded itself.
Aicha followed close behind, wheeling steadily. Though her hands trembled slightly, her eyes never left Asari's back. He had become quieter—his movements too calm, his aura oddly muted. She couldn't tell if it was strength or something else entirely.
"Asari," she called softly.
He paused, half-turning. "Yes?"
"You feel… different. You don't even flinch anymore."
"I discarded everything I didn't need." His voice wasn't cold—but it was distant. "The Trial of Memory showed me who I was. Who I might become. I accepted the void because it was the only thing that made sense."
Aicha's gaze lowered. "Even so… don't throw away the parts of you that cared."
Asari turned away again. "I'll decide what's necessary when the time comes."
They reached the end of the corridor, which opened into a circular chamber. A dome overhead displayed a vision of the sky outside—though they were deep underground. Floating islands moved in slow circles across the projection, strange runes orbiting their edges.
At the center of the room, a tall obelisk rose from the ground. Dark, metallic, and covered in unfamiliar glyphs. Beneath it, a shallow basin bubbled with a thick silver liquid that hissed every few seconds.
"What now?" Aicha whispered.
Asari approached the basin. The moment he stepped closer, the liquid reacted—shooting upward like a geyser and coalescing into a floating eye. It blinked once, then glared at them.
"Outsiders. Intruders. Trial-breakers."
The voice echoed in their minds rather than through their ears.
Asari didn't flinch. "We completed your trial."
"You survived what others could not. That does not grant you passage—it invites judgment."
More eyes opened across the dome. Some were massive and golden, others small and pale. They spun, blinked, narrowed. The temperature dropped.
Aicha clenched the arms of her wheelchair. "What is this place…?"
"A shrine," Asari muttered. "A hidden shrine of the Eye Cult."
The floating eye spun. "You know of us?"
"I read about you in my master's notes. A forbidden group. You claim to see beyond the veil. You harvest truths and discard falsehoods."
"Then you know why your presence is offensive."
Aicha's hand hovered over her dagger. "You want us to leave?"
"No."
The eye focused on her.
"We want to see your truths."
Without warning, tendrils of liquid light shot from the basin and wrapped around both Asari and Aicha. She cried out as visions slammed into her mind—memories she didn't even know she still carried.
The fall. The betrayal. The cold eyes of her family as they labeled her a burden.
But deeper than that, the moments she tried to hide:
Her jealousy of Asari's strength.
Her fear of being left behind.
Her desire—not just to follow him—but to be the one he chose.
Aicha trembled. "Stop… stop..."
Asari stood rigid as the visions pressed into him. Not his memories—hers.
He saw Aicha's loneliness.
Her pain.
Her raw, unspoken love for him.
It reached something inside him that even the Shard of Null Emotion couldn't suppress.
A flicker.
A spark.
He grabbed the tendril around Aicha and crushed it with his bare hand. The eye let out a psychic screech and reeled back.
"Touch her again," Asari said, voice razor-sharp, "and I'll rip every one of your illusions apart."
The eyes around the chamber narrowed.
"You are interesting. Even with nothing, you burn."
The basin stilled.
"Very well. Truth has been glimpsed. You may pass. But understand—this continent will not let you remain empty. It will fill you. Break you. Shape you."
Asari released a breath. "Then it will try."
The obelisk opened with a low hum, revealing a stone staircase descending into deeper blackness. The path ahead.
The eyes blinked one final time, then vanished. The chamber dimmed.
Aicha rubbed her arms, still shivering. "That was... too much."
"You're strong," Asari said simply. "Stronger than most."
She smiled faintly. "Did you see what I saw?"
He didn't answer.
But he reached out and gently touched her shoulder.
Just for a second.
Then he turned. "Let's move."
Together, they descended.
But neither of them noticed—
High above, one eye remained open, watching them go.
Its slit pupil pulsed once.
"Velmara awakens."