System: Sins of the Dead

The smell hit me first.

Rot. Blood. Iron. And something sweet.

Like perfume poured over corpses.

I stood inside what looked like a cathedral.

But the walls weren't stone.

They were flesh.

Pulsing. Veined. Breathing.

The pillars were made of bone.

The stained-glass windows? Translucent skin stretched over frames, glowing red as if backlit by fire.

Above the altar hung dozens of bodies, suspended on meat hooks.

They were still alive.

And they were singing.

---

[WELCOME TO LAYER 3: THE MEAT CATHEDRAL]

> Sin Type: Confession & Regret (Voice-Based)

System Subdomain: Soul Reprocessing Facility

Local Rule: Silence is Sin. If you do not confess, you will be made to sing.

---

I stepped forward. My boots sank slightly into the flesh-floor.

Every breath echoed.

Every movement sounded judged.

The voices above began to harmonize.

> "I… left her in the fire… I thought she'd escape…"

> "I told them it was just a game… it wasn't…"

> "I sold her soul for a raise and a bonus…"

Each voice sang its sin on loop.

I looked up—and realized…

Their mouths were sewn shut.

The sound came from within them.

Their lungs were singing without consent.

---

A shape moved near the altar.

Tall.

Clothed in red priestly robes stitched from skin.

No face.

Just a speaker mounted to its head.

And when it spoke, it sounded like a child and a thousand old men at once:

> "Welcome, sinner."

"You have come to sing."

---

> [SYSTEM ALERT: HIGH-RISK ZONE]

Entity Identified: Cardinal Vox, the Voice Leech

Title: Choirmaster of Confession

Class: Tier B+ System-Born

Ability: "Echo Harvest" – Grows stronger with every sin confessed nearby

Objective: Survive. Resist forced confession. Locate allies. Avoid silence.

---

Suddenly—

The cathedral went dead silent.

No voices.

No sound.

Not even my breathing.

> You are not confessing.

Prepare for assimilation.

---

The hooks moved.

Flew toward me like serpents.

They weren't pulling me up—they were trying to force my mouth open.

I fought them off. Barely.

Sliced one with a shard of broken bone.

But they kept coming.

My vision blurred.

The System buzzed.

> CONFESS OR BE TAKEN.

And I heard a voice whisper—

"Say it, Kai."

> "Say what you never could."

---

I gasped—and whispered:

> "I was glad when she died."

The cathedral paused.

My own voice echoed back to me from every corner:

> "I was glad when she died."

> "Glad… when she died…"

Tears welled up in my eyes.

Emily.

It wasn't that I wanted her gone.

It was that part of me had felt relief.

Relief that I didn't have to keep failing her.

> That was my secret sin.

And the cathedral accepted it.

The hooks retreated.

The voices resumed.

---

> [CONFESSION ACCEPTED]

Penalty Avoided

Sin Level Revealed: 0.6 → 0.7

Emotional Load Increased

Memory Unlocked: "Relief in the Hospital Hallway"

Path Tilt: Corruption +1

---

I collapsed to my knees.

The shame burned.

But I was still me.

Then I heard a scream.

Not in the choir. Close. Real. Human.

I ran toward it.

Through pulsing halls.

Past slabs of bleeding meat.

Down a spiral of bone stairs—

And found them.

Harper—chained to a wall, eyes bloodshot.

Adrian—kneeling in a puddle of his own fear.

And Cardinal Vox standing above them.

> "They refused to sing," it said calmly.

"Shall we open their mouths for them?"

I didn't hesitate.

I activated Mirror Break.

Glass erupted from thin air—shattering all illusions around me.

And I saw the truth:

The voices in the choir?

They weren't all dead.

Some were children.

Some were me.

Fragments of my past.

> The Meat Cathedral was feeding on my suppressed memories.

---

> NEW MISSION UNLOCKED – Choir Purge

Objective: Kill Cardinal Vox. Free the singers. Save your team.

Bonus Objective: Reclaim stolen memories.

---

I looked at Harper.

"I'm getting us out."

Adrian tried to smile. "About damn time."

I turned toward Vox.

And said the one thing it hated most:

> "I've got nothing left to confess."

And I charged.