The Spire - Level One: Forest of First Understanding
Pad-pad-pad-pad.
The Truth-Hounds circled tighter, crystalline paws leaving glowing imprints that seared themselves into reality for three heartbeats before fading—sssssss—like hot metal quenched in water.
Yoo's mouth was open, words hovering on his tongue, but his mind raced through possibilities faster than his damaged Akasha Archive could process them:
Say "I am human" - Lie. 61% human. The Hounds devour lies.
Poo
Say "I am a weapon" - Incomplete truth, not what I am, just what I'm becoming.
Say "I am Yoo Seung-yoon" - True, but names without weight mean nothing here.
[TIME-CONSTRAINT: Decreasing. Silence-Interpreted-As: Uncertainty. Uncertainty-Interpreted-As: Falsehood. Falsehood = Consumption.]
The lead Hound was three meters away now. Close enough that Yoo could see his reflection in its fractal eyes—a child's face, glowing heterochromatic patterns, expression caught between calculation and terror.
