The forest changed as they moved deeper.
Not suddenly.Not unnaturally.
But gradually.Like pages turning in a book written just for Kayden.
The air grew warmer.The trees leaned closer, forming a tunnel of gold-and-green sunlight.Birdsong quieted, replaced by a faint hum—soft, rhythmic, familiar.
APEX whispered inside Kayden:
"Citadel vector present.Proximity increasing."
Kayden shivered.
"She's been here too…"
Alex kept an arm steady around his waist.
"Don't worry.She's not taking you," he said softly."You chose. And I'll keep you on that path."
Kayden nodded.
But something tugged at him—gentle,persistent,like a hand guiding a blindfolded walker toward a candle in the dark.
Phineas tapped his flashlight against his palm.
"So, uh… this trail feels like a mix of a nature walk and a cosmic tutorial level."
Kayden almost smiled.
Then he froze.
The hum grew louder.
APEX pulsed:
"Stop."
Alex immediately halted.
"What is it?"
Kayden lifted a hand.
"I… think she left something for me."
The hum settled.
Quiet.
Waiting.
Kayden instinctively stepped forward—and the forest opened.
A small clearing.Circular.Perfectly symmetrical, just like the restorative field.
Except this time—there was something at the center.
A white, angular shape rising from the earth,half-wrapped in vines and dappled sunlight.
The Agent's gift.
Kayden felt his heart skip.
"…that's not natural."
Alex's breath hissed through his teeth.
"Don't touch it."
Phineas peeked from behind a tree trunk.
"WHAT IS THAT—A FUTURISTIC BREADBOX—A TIME CAPSULE—A WEAPON—A COSMIC POKÉBALL—??"
Kayden stepped closer despite himself.
It wasn't big—maybe the size of a lunchbox—but its design was unmistakable:
Clean lines.White geometric plates.Thin glowing seams of soft blue.
Citadel engineering.
Perfect.Untouched by time.Waiting.
APEX hummed with unease.
"Operator.Object classification:Citadel V-Class Obelisk."
Kayden blinked.
"Obelisk…?"
Alex muttered:
"Great. Because nothing good is ever called obelisk."
Phineas raised a hand.
"Can we NOT activate the alien obelisk in the cursed forest—?"
APEX interrupted.
"Purpose: Operator interface."
Kayden's pulse jumped.
"Interface… with me?"
"Correct."
Alex stepped in front of Kayden instantly.
"No.Absolutely not.You're exhausted, unstable, emotional, and she's manipulating everything—you're not touching that thing."
Kayden swallowed.
"…I already feel it."
"Oh great," Phineas said, panic rising."He FEELS it. This is exactly how horror movies start."
Kayden stepped closer anyway.
Alex grabbed his wrist.
"Kayden.Stop."
Kayden stared at the obelisk.
"It feels like it's… calling me.But not like Theta-seventeen.Not like a pull.More like—"
"—an invitation," the Agent's voice echoed—not spoken, not heard, but resonating faintly in the air.
Kayden jumped.
Alex's grip tightened.
"She's communicating through it," Alex whispered.
APEX agreed:
"Indirect vector channel detected."
The obelisk pulsed gently—a soft inward glow,steady, calm,matching Kayden's breath.
Kayden whispered:
"…she's not trying to take me."
Alex shook his head sharply.
"She doesn't need to.She just needs you to WANT to go."
Kayden looked down.
That hit too close.
Phineas edged forward, waving his flashlight like a sword.
"Kayden, buddy, friend, pal—let's NOT accept gifts from multidimensional omniscient entities.We're BROKE, we have NO WARRANTY, and I am emotionally FRAGILE."
Kayden's hand hovered above the obelisk.
The hum matched the rhythm of his heartbeat.
APEX whispered:
"Operator.Contact will not harm you.It will reveal information."
"What kind?" Kayden whispered.
APEX hesitated.
"…identity."
Kayden's hand trembled.
Identity.
Who he is.What "Variable" means.Why he was chosen.
Alex stepped closer and grabbed Kayden's shoulders.
"Kay.Look at me."
Kayden did.
Alex's eyes were fierce.
"You don't need THEM to tell you who you are.You're Kayden.My brother.That's all."
Kayden's breath shook.
"I know.But I also saw… that future.And I don't want to walk into it blind."
Alex hesitated.
That one sentence broke him.
Phineas whispered:
"…Alex… he kind of has a point."
Kayden turned back to the obelisk.
It pulsed again—gently,patiently,as if saying:
when you are ready.
Kayden touched it.
Alex flinched.
"Kayden—!"
But nothing exploded.Nothing screamed.
Instead—
Kayden inhaled sharply.
The obelisk opened.
Not mechanically.Not like a box.
It unfolded the air around it.
A translucent projection rose from the center—
A sphere of white geometric strands rotating slowly,like a tiny model of a sun made from thread.
Kayden's voice caught in his throat.
"What… is that?"
APEX answered with quiet reverence.
"A resonance seed."
Alex frowned.
"A what?"
APEX continued:
"A memory.A blueprint.A fragment of what you were meant to become."
Phineas squeaked.
"A WHAT?!"
The sphere pulsed—
Once.
Then Kayden heard a voice inside his mind.
Not the Agent.
Not APEX.
Something older.
Something quiet.
"hello, variable."
Kayden staggered backward.
Alex caught him.
Kayden whispered, terrified:
"…it knows me."
APEX hummed.
"It is part of you."
The sphere pulsed again, slower, warmer.
Kayden felt a tear slip down his cheek.
"Why…why would she give me this…?"
Alex wiped the tear with his thumb.
"Because she wants something from you.But that doesn't mean you have to accept it."
Kayden stared at the glowing sphere.
It wasn't coercive.It wasn't intrusive.
It felt like a window—
A way to understand what he was,what he wasn't,and what he might still become.
And that terrified him.
He whispered:
"…Alex…what if this helps me resist her?"
Alex froze.
And then—
slowly—he nodded.
"Then we'll open it.Together."
Kayden let out a shaking breath.
He placed his hand slowly toward the sphere—
But before he could touch it—
APEX snapped sharply:
"Operator—WARNING.SRD approaching from the south."
Phineas yelped.
"AGAIN?! CAN WE CATCH ONE BREAK—JUST ONE—"
The sphere pulsed urgently.
Kayden whispered:
"…it wants me to take it."
Alex grabbed his hand.
"Then take it.But we keep moving."
Kayden nodded.
His hand closed around the sphere—
It folded into himlike a breath taken back by the air itself.
APEX flared:
"Resonance seed acquired."
Kayden gasped.
Alex held him upright.
Phineas panicked:
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SWALLOW—A COSMIC SOUL MARBLE—?!"
Kayden whispered:
"I don't know…I don't know what it is…but I feel—different."
He looked at Alex.
Worried.Scared.But clearer.
The Citadel hadn't forced him.
It had given him something.
And he had chosen to take it.
The forest wind rustled like a quiet sigh.
APEX murmured:
"Trajectory altered."
Kayden whispered:
"…I know."
And they ran again.