The corridor shimmered as Zero—no, Zayn—stepped into it.
The name felt alien on his skin, yet familiar in the bones. Like a melody he'd heard before birth. The walls responded, brightening with each step he took, as if even the recursion was adjusting to the truth.
Patch blinked. "So... do we still call you Zero, or is it Zayn now? Because personally I vote for Z-Dawg."
"Please don't," Fry said, exhausted.
Zayn smirked faintly. "Let's... stick with Zero for now."
"Too late," Patch muttered. "Z-Dawg it is."
The corridor spiraled tighter until they stepped into a vast amphitheater carved entirely from light.
No doors. No roof. Just a stage, hundreds of recursive symbols orbiting in the air, and in the center—a single, levitating chair, surrounded by pulsing glyphs.
Fry froze. "This is a memory tribunal. Karnyx-era. These were used to extract truths encoded in soulprint recursion."
Patch looked around nervously. "I don't like chairs that float unless they serve snacks."
Zero approached the chair.
The moment he stepped within the glyph ring, it activated.
IDENTITY CONFIRMED: ZAYN // HOST SIGNATURE 001
INITIATING INTERNAL RESONANCE TRIAL
"Trial?" he whispered.
Fry took a sharp breath. "It's not a punishment. It's a confrontation. The Karnyx will force your fragmented selves to unify or fracture permanently."
Patch stared at her. "That sounds... very much like a punishment."
Zero sat.
And the world split again.
He was everywhere.
He was a boy screaming as he was separated from his mother.
He was a teenager injecting a stranger with glyph rot to escape.
He was the older version he saw before—feral, ruthless, drunk on recursion power.
All of them surrounded him. Whispering. Judging.
"You could've saved her."
"You were too afraid."
"You liked the power."
"You'll become me."
Then silence.
One version stepped forward.
A version of Zayn who had never lost his mother. Who grew up protected. Loved.
He looked sad.
"You're not broken because you lost her. You're broken because you stopped believing she mattered."
Zayn trembled. "I—no. I never—"
"You buried her to protect yourself. But recursion doesn't forget. And neither do you."
He reached out.
"Let's remember her. Together."
When Zayn awoke, he was crying.
He was still in the amphitheater. Fry knelt beside him.
Patch was holding the bear upside down like it might offer snacks.
"You okay?" Fry asked.
Zayn wiped his face. "I saw them. All of them. Who I was. Who I could become."
Patch crouched beside him. "And?"
Zayn stood. "I don't know if I'll become the best version of myself. But I'm not letting the worst one win."
The amphitheater's glyphs folded inward and formed a sigil—the final Karnyx integration key.
Fry stepped forward, stunned. "That's the seed core."
Zayn reached out—and took it.
KARNYX CORE ACQUIRED. NEW FUNCTIONS UNLOCKED.
Patch gasped. "Do you feel stronger? Smarter? Hungrier for multiverse domination?"
"No," Zayn said. "Just... complete."
Fry handed him the trauma bear. "Then let's go use that completeness to solve whatever nightmare comes next."
Zayn smiled. "Lead the way, Z-Team."
Patch groaned. "Please don't call us that."