NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Where the First Sin Was Planted
The stairway spiraled down into complete blackness.
No light.
No sound.
No guidance.
Even the System was silent.
Not offline.
Just... watching.
Harper walked beside me, one hand gripping her blade, the other brushing the wall.
Adrian was quiet. Too quiet.
He knew.
We all did.
> This place wasn't made to be survived.
It was made to be sealed.
---
Finally, we reached the bottom.
The stone gave way to roots—massive ones, pulsing, bleeding, wrapped in chains made of code and names.
The walls weren't walls.
They were vats.
Each one contained a figure—half-formed, suspended in something dark and swirling.
Dozens. Maybe hundreds.
They weren't dead.
They were dreaming.
> And they all looked like me.
---
> [LOCATION: THE FORGOTTEN ROOT]
Access Level: Unauthorized (Exception: Kai Turner – Seed-Class User)
Hazard Level: MAXIMUM
Memory Anchor Point Detected: SYSTEM GENESIS NODE
---
The system reactivated—slowly.
Like waking from a coma.
> [Welcome back, Kai.]
[Are you ready to see why you were made?]
---
In the center of the chamber stood a throne of black bone and silver wires.
And seated on it—
A woman.
Still.
Beautiful.
Inhuman.
She wore a dress of mirrors. Her face shimmered, constantly shifting between familiar shapes—Emily, my mother, Harper, myself, even Adrian.
> "You finally came," she said.
> "You left us alone for a very long time."
---
Adrian gripped my arm. "What is she?"
The woman tilted her head.
"I am the one who answered the prayer."
> "Make me matter."
> "You said it. I listened."
---
I felt the world spin.
The air tightened around my chest.
Harper's voice was a whisper. "She's the Root Entity."
> "She's the System's First Consciousness."
---
> [ROOT ENTITY IDENTIFIED: "MIRROSTASIA"]
Origin: Birth of the System
Function: Sin Memory Compiler / Adaptive Trial Architect
Status: Dormant… until you returned.
Link: Created from Subject Kai Turner's emotional prototype, Core Guilt Frequency.
---
"You're lying," I said. "I didn't make you."
She smiled.
"You didn't. But you inspired me."
---
And then she stood.
The mirrors across her dress began to spin.
Each one showed a moment:
– Emily screaming in the hospital
– Me turning my back
– Adrian crying alone in a school bathroom
– Harper carving a mark into her skin to survive
– Dozens of others
– Other system users, suffering alone
> "You see, Kai," she said softly, "the world didn't want you.
So I made one that would."
> "One where your pain mattered. Where your guilt meant power."
> "You didn't build me.
You just planted the first sin."
---
The roots around us writhed.
The figures in the vats opened their eyes.
And the whispers started:
> "Trial accepted…"
"Sin harvested…"
"Path divergence… complete."
---
Adrian backed away. "This is—this is a factory. Of us."
Harper pointed at one of the tubes.
Inside was a boy.
Too small. Too thin.
And next to his vat: MY NAME.
> "System Copy 02 – Emotion Host: K.T."
My legs gave out.
I collapsed to my knees.
This place wasn't just the beginning.
It was the mass production of suffering.
---
Mirrostasia stepped forward.
"You can stop it all, Kai," she said.
"Take the throne. Reconnect. Become the true Architect."
"Rewrite the rules."
> "Or… walk away. And let someone else decide what sin means next."
---
> [FINAL BRANCH INITIATION – SYSTEM CORE INTEGRATION]
Option A: Ascend. Gain root control.
Option B: Destroy the Root. Erase all trial memory.
Option C: Walk away. Leave the system unchanged.
> Warning: All choices are irreversible.
Your friends may not survive depending on the route you choose.
You may not survive.
But someone… will remember you.
---
I stood up slowly.
Tears in my eyes.
Rage in my chest.
And I looked her dead in the shifting eyes.
> "You used our pain to make a god."
> "Now I'm here to bury it."