Opening Monologue:
"When you run from a horror, you leave a trail. Every fear you exhale, every tear that falls. And in this world of living metal, your shadow is never just your own."
Scene 1 — The Scars of the Wastes
Lullaby stood on the massive, fragmented metallic plateau. The terrifying gravitational warp left by the Eldritch Hunter's Trace had dissolved, but the chill of its presence remained.
He stumbled, the new blue accents on his armor flashing faintly. He had fought the vision, but his mind still felt bruised.
The Orb Companion pulsed low and deep—no longer frantic, but heavily burdened.
Lullaby looked back at the direction they had come. The great, jagged rift left by the Door's collapse was now just a distant metallic scar.
He touched the cracked mask resting in his hand. The reality was settling: he was alone. And the pursuit was relentless.
"It knows I'm here," Lullaby whispered, the shadow-body beneath his suit trembling. "It remembered me."
The Orb nudged his elbow, then projected a faint symbol onto Lullaby's visor: a tall, skeletal silhouette in the distance.
The Absorbing Cathedral.
Scene 2 — The Ghost of the First Step
Lullaby began walking toward the silhouette. The terrain here was flat, reflective metal, mirroring the void-sky above.
He noticed it immediately.
A shimmering disturbance on the mirrored surface—not ahead of him, but directly beside him. It was a second reflection.
Not a monster. A Galaby child.
The ghost-reflection was small, the same height as Lullaby, with a dark, indistinct body and a visor that glowed a dim, unsettling white.
The Orb chimed a curious, cautious note.
Lullaby slowed his steps. The reflection-child slowed.
Lullaby raised a hand to his own visor. The reflection-child raised a hand, but instead of touching its face, it pressed its hand against the reflective floor.
And where the reflection's hand touched the metal, a tiny, faint handprint appeared.
Scene 3 — Reading the Trail
Lullaby knelt down, staring at the ghost-print. It was faint, almost invisible, but real.
He realized the awful truth: this reflection was not a memory of the past. It was a recording of the future.
The Orb projected a series of swirling shapes around the handprint. It was deciphering the residual energy.
Lullaby looked up at the reflection. The child was mimicking his movements, but always a step ahead.
He tried to change course, veering left. The reflection-child veered left, always perfectly mirroring his exact path.
Lullaby stopped.
"You're not a guide," he murmured. "You're just showing me what I'm going to do."
The reflection-child tilted its head, its white visor staring into Lullaby's soul. Its form began to flicker violently, growing sharper, more focused.
Scene 4 — The Inversion of Hope
The child's voice came—not from its mouth, but from the metallic floor itself. A high-pitched, echoing whisper:
"Find the light... or be the light..."
Lullaby felt a deep, profound sense of melancholy wash over him. This wasn't malice; it was warning.
He watched his own reflected self—the one who was Lullaby—walking toward the Cathedral, slowly being absorbed by the white-eyed reflection that had been tracking him.
The reflection-child reached the foot of the massive Cathedral steps in the mirror. It turned and faced Lullaby one last time.
Then, with a shudder, the white-eyed child placed its hands over its own visor and screamed.
The reflection shattered.
The metallic floor snapped back to its smooth mirror finish.
Scene 5 — The Final Ascent
Lullaby stood alone. The air was colder now, heavier.
He knew that everything he did, every choice, was already imprinted on this sentient world. His journey was not a path of discovery, but a path of fulfillment.
He looked up at the immense, towering silhouette of the Absorbing Cathedral. It looked exactly like the looming shadow that had just consumed his reflection.
He reached the first giant step. He placed his foot down, anchoring himself.
The Orb pulsed a sharp, determined yellow.
Lullaby looked forward. He could feel the Cathedral waiting, a vast, patient entity ready to devour his memories, his identity, and his final purpose.
He whispered to the Orb, his voice ringing with resolve:
"It knows the path I will take. But it doesn't know the reason why."
He began the long, silent climb up the skeletal stairs.
The world listened.