Jack sat alone in his padded cell.
Knees pulled to his chest, staring at the floor. His hands trembled. The silence wasn't comforting — it was too loud. He couldn't shake the image of the armored monster bowing before him, of the robot splitting in half. It was all too real.
But it wasn't the memory that bothered him most.
It was the voice.
He wanted it back.
Jack closed his eyes. Slowed his breath. Focused.
> If you're real… talk to me.
Silence.
Then—
> "Hello, Jack. How are you doing?"
Jack's eyes snapped open. His heart thumped once, hard.
"Who are you?"
> "I am the inner version of you."
"I am the one who has the power. But I'm not truly powerful… unless you do something for me."
The voice was steady. Smooth. Like it already knew every part of him.
> "I'm not on you, Jack. I'm part of you. The part you try to reject."
"The part you don't understand."
"The part that gave you the strength to survive."
Jack stayed quiet, barely breathing.
> "If you want to survive in here… if you want to win… then you need to let me in."
Jack whispered, "How?"
The voice answered instantly.
> "Raise your arms. And say the words:"
'I want my full power. No matter what it takes. I will bond with me.'
Jack hesitated.
Then stood.
He raised his arms.
And said it.
"I want my full power. No matter what it takes. I will bond with me."
The air cracked.
Pain.
Red veins ripped through Jack's skin, glowing brighter than before. His eyes burned, dark red overtaking white. He screamed, clutching his arms, his head — his body overwhelmed by raw energy.
His mind broke apart—
—and fell into the void.
There was no floor. No sky. Just black.
And the portal.
A swirling, monstrous gate of black mist and lightning, pulsing like a heart. And from its depths — eyes. Dozens. Hundreds. Watching.
Then the memories came.
He saw himself as a child, drawing strange monsters on scrap paper. Giving them names. Personalities. Some were protectors. Some destroyers.
And now… they were real.
The moment he reached toward the portal—
SNAP.
Jack woke up, lying in the training arena.
> They didn't even wake me up. They just threw me in here.
He stood up.
Something moved.
A new robot was waiting across the field — bigger than the last. Its limbs were thick, stomach wide, and arms heavy with built-in launchers. Plates of armor stacked across its back and legs. It looked like a walking fortress.
Then—
> "DEADLY MODE: ACTIVATED."
The robot's chest opened.
Click. Whir. THUNK!
Small metal balls launched into the air. Jack dodged instinctively. The spheres missed… but then cracked open.
They were minions.
Tiny crawling robots with gnashing teeth, four legs, and jagged steel jaws.
They swarmed.
Jack ducked, rolled, leapt over one — but more came. The main robot kept launching them. The ground around him became a moving deathtrap.
Jack screamed as one bit into his leg. He shook it off, bleeding.
> I'm gonna die. I can't win. I don't know what to—
Then the voice spoke again.
Only this time… it was his own.
> "Let's have some fun."
Jack grinned.
For the first time… not out of fear.
Out of excitement.
He threw his hand into the air, smoke rising instantly — swirling upward into a shape.
Something new.
Something growing.
Jack slammed his palm into the ground. The black smoke exploded downward — and then a vine burst from the floor. Then another. Then hundreds.
A monster made of living plants surged up — roots and tendrils, mouths on the ends of vines, eyes blinking across twisting bark and dark moss. From its center grew a cluster of large white flowers, blooming gently amidst the chaos like graves left behind.
It spread silently.
The more it consumed, the more it grew — vines stretching up to 50 feet, stabbing and wrapping around the crawling minions.
And when each minion was drained dry, a white flower bloomed across its broken body.
> The Garden of Death.
That's what Jack thought. That's what it felt like.
Beautiful. Silent. Ruthless.
The main robot staggered back.
Jack ran toward it, laughing like he could finally breathe.
The robot aimed a punch.
The vines caught its arm mid-swing and slammed it down, binding it like ropes. The robot struggled, but the roots dug in, penetrating armor, drilling into joints.
The robot actually screamed. Artificial — but real.
Jack walked closer. Calm. Confident.
The robot tried to break free.
> Too late.
Jack smiled — a dark, twisted grin. "Scythe."
A shadow peeled out from Jack's back.
Scythe dropped next to him.
The robot saw it. Tried to recoil.
Scythe rushed forward in one clean motion and sliced the robot's head clean off.
THUNK.
It hit the ground.
The vines let go.
The lifeless metal body dropped, and white flowers began blooming across its chest as it was absorbed into the root system.
Jack stood over the corpse, breathing softly.
"Return," he whispered.
The monsters turned to smoke — black mist with red lightning — and flowed back into his skin.
The doors opened.
The guards came with handcuffs.
This time, Jack didn't resist.
He walked quietly, let them cuff him, and returned to his cell.
He sat down.
The pain was gone.
But something else remained.
Satisfaction.
Jack stared at his hands.
> Why did that feel so good…?
He didn't know.
But he smiled anyway.
And closed his eyes.