The purple sky throbbed like a giant organ as Ye Lin stared at a face that shouldn't exist his own face, but with eyes far too black and a smile far too wide.
The iron butterfly on his back fluttered its broken wings, metal creaking like nails on a chalkboard.
This is impossible.
His half-transparent fingers clenched into a fist. There was no pain as his nails pierced his palm only a cold pressure, like squeezing ice.
"[THIS PLACE IS CALLED THE SPACE BETWEEN,]" the iron butterfly whispered, its voice fractured and jagged. "[HERE, WE CAN SEE EVERY POSSIBLE VERSION OF OURSELVES.]"
The false Patriarch lounged on his throne, his robe made of human hair whispering softly.
"You thought destroying the ritual meant victory?" His voice crackled like dry leaves. "We cannot die, Lin. We merely... change vessels."
Ye Lin's mind raced:
If this is truly a future version of me...
Why do the bones on that throne bear the carvings of the Venom Leaf Sect?
Why does his robe move like a living serpent?
And why do his eyes
Suddenly, he knew.
"[THAT'S NOT YOU!]" the iron butterfly screamed. "[THAT'S THE FIRST KEEPER! THE DEVOURER OF US ALL!]"
Everything happened too fast.
The Patriarch's face cracked like shattered glass, revealing thousands of tiny mouths swimming in black fluid behind the golden mask. The floor of the dimension trembled, the fissures widening like a giant maw.
Ye Lin fell
And landed in the ruins of his inner world.
His mother's wooden hut still stood, the door wide open. In front of it, his shadow—now no taller than a child—was crying, clutching the last glass flower tightly.
"[I'M SCARED,]" the small shadow whispered.
From afar, the First Keeper's scream echoed:
"RUN! I WILL VISIT YOU AGAIN!"
But Ye Lin walked toward the hut.
On the weathered wooden table, there was a bowl of corn soup still warm.
"Lin'er, don't forget to eat."
That voice his mother's real voice made something dead inside his chest stir again.
Now he understood.
To fight the system, he must create memories that cannot be devoured.
Let me know if you'd like to continue this scene, tighten the flow for narrative use, or format it for a script or novel!