**
Caelum Virell did not appreciate being separated from the group. Especially not when the separation was due to the floor deciding it had opinions.
One moment he was walking behind Lucien, halfway tuned out as Renn argued with a vine about cheese etiquette. The next, the floor beneath him whispered, "Observer registered," and folded him into a sideways corridor.
He hit the ground with the grace of a wet parchment scroll.
"Brilliant," he muttered. "The Labyrinth is flirting with me."
---
The corridor was darker than usual — not magically, but intentionally. As if the space itself *wanted* to be forgotten. Sigils on the walls pulsed like failing memories.
A massive bronze door stood at the end, humming with time-lock energy.
> `ARCHITECT LINKED ACCESS ONLY`
Caelum stared. "Not ominous at all."
He drew a Chrono-ring in the air, activating a temporal slipstream. The lock resisted.
He twisted harder. Time bent backward, and his fingers phased through five seconds of the past.
"Ugh, I hate doors that fight back."
The lock snapped open with a hiss — and he stumbled into a **simulation chamber** that looked… disturbingly clean.
White walls. Blue crystal conduits. And at its center:
**Lucien Drex** — or a memory of him — moving across a massive glyph board like he was playing chess with the universe.
---
**Holographic Projection #1: "Ranking Simulation Alpha"**
Lucien's projection clicked his tongue.
"Remove Rank #4. Too loud. Replace with misdirection trap. Add invisible boost to Rank #7 — let them think they earned it."
A secondary voice replied: "That will destabilize perception balance."
Lucien's projection grinned. "Perfect. Then we test phase two."
Caelum blinked. "...He was manipulating the whole system before he even enrolled?" which means he was just playing games with the professor that helped him manipulate the ranking to #0 then , since he designed the system he could manipulate it but when is it that his creation was at the school before he even enrolled ? Did he planned that as well ?
Another projection flickered.
**Holographic Projection #2: "Emotion Removal Protocol"**
Lucien sat in a chair.
A voice said: "Are you sure you want to forget?"
He nodded. "The more I remember, the more dangerous this becomes."
"Confirmed. Memory wipe initiated. Subject ID: NULL."
Caelum stepped back. "Subject… Null?"
---
**Suddenly the simulation froze.**
The room's lights dimmed. A mirror grew from the wall.
Words etched across it:
> `OBSERVER CAELUM REGISTERED – Failsafe Triggered`
His heart stopped for half a beat.
"What do you mean *registered*?"
The mirror pulsed. A calm, mechanical voice spoke:
> "You were placed here to observe Subject Null. If he goes off protocol, your failsafe activates."
Caelum narrowed his eyes. "I have a failsafe?"
> "Yes. You are programmed to stop the Architect — if he ever remembers too much."
---
**Meanwhile, across the chamber...**
A screen powered on, replaying a duel. Lucien had faked losing by falling backward into a worm trap that exploded into glitter. The crowd cheered. His opponent fainted from confusion.
Caelum muttered, "Of course he programmed showmanship into the deception layer."
Then he saw a file labeled **"Private: To Caelum (Just In Case)"**.
He opened it. Lucien's voice played:
> "Hey. If you're seeing this, congrats. You broke into the side quest. Again. Look, I don't know if I'm me yet — or still pretending. But if I ever go *too far*, it's your job to trip the wire. You're not just here to observe. You're here to stop me. Cool? Cool."
> "Also, if you delete this, a pie sigil will explode under your bed every midnight. Just saying."
Caelum smiled despite himself.
"You idiot."
did he design this labyrinth too before he lost his memory ? , is that the reason why he is being called the architect, seems there are more to this than I could even imagine- cealum
---
**Suddenly – System Disturbance**
The simulation warped.
Pale Sigil glyphs flickered into the air. Unauthorized access.
A command override echoed:
> "Shut down observation unit."
> "ERROR: Observer Override Denied."
Threads snapped around Caelum's wrist, glowing red.
"Great," he said. "I just got tagged."
---
**Escape Sequence: Activate Dry Sarcasm Mode**
The door sealed behind him. Alarms rang like bad jazz.
He tried to rewind time, but the corridor had temporal static. Instead, he used a reverse-sigil loop to *unstitch* the hallway by reversing the threads — while muttering:
"Ira would call this 'room spaghetti.'"
He burst out of the corridor — into a broom closet.
"...Why is there always a broom closet?"
Renn opened the door from the other side.
"Dude! You missed Ira crowning herself Queen of the Cotton Candy Sector!"
Caelum dusted off rune glitter. "I just learned I'm a failsafe assassin for Lucien's forgotten self. What did *you* do today?"
Renn blinked. "I... named a mushroom."
"Good for you."
---
**End Scene: Caelum sits near the fire later that night.**
Lucien snores half-upside down in a hammock made from bread.
"I'm supposed to stop you one day," he says under his breath. "But you left me instructions… so what does that make me now?"- cealum
He doesn't have an answer.
---
*Fade to black.*