Who am I?

The copies stood still, watching.

I staggered to my feet, still shaking from whatever that was. Keiji slipped his arm under mine, steadying me.

We backed up until our shoulders hit the glass wall.

“So, where do you think the runes are?” Keiji asked, scanning the walls. “Just point and I’ll handle the rest.”

I chuckled weakly. “Is that so? And what exactly can you do against them?”

Keiji flipped his sword over his fingers with a grin, playful and reckless as ever.

“Since you can’t see the screens, I’ll give you the short version: I’ve been leveling up since we got trapped in here. Stats, buffs, the works. It’s been great for my ego. I think I can take them now.”

I smirked. “Alright, Mr. Power-Up. The rune jumps between walls every time the copies reform. Hit the runes and hopefully… break the spell.”

Keiji charged in.
It wasn’t clean.
He struggled at first—trading blows, slipping, recovering—but he managed to take down both copies. Barely.

But just as his sword sank into my reformed copy, crumbling it to pieces, a voice surged through my skull like a lightning bolt.

“He won’t finish the job. You know it, and I know it.”

“What…? No. I’m imagining this. You’re in my head.”

“Of course I’m in your head, you brainless larva. You picked up my weapon, didn’t you? I assumed you knew the rules. Evidently, I was mistaken.”

The booming sarcasm in his tone made my head throb harder. That’s my shtick. 

I tried to focus, fixed on Keiji. He was near the walls now, inspecting them, maybe searching for the rune.

While Keiji was distracted, my copy reformed again and lunged at me. Luckily, Keiji grabbed the copy’s arms mid-swing and threw it back into the other, breaking them both.

I couldn’t even move to help him, my head was still spinning all kinds of ways. Either I was having the worst migraine ever or something was going on in my head.

CIX’s voice returned, louder now, and I could feel it vibrating behind my eyeballs.

“Ash, that is your name, yes? Good. I’ll speak slowly so your mortal comprehension can keep up. First, your body was weak and by taking control, I saved your life. You’re welcome. Second, I did not possess you, don’t flatter yourself. If anything, you possessed me….or rather, the fractured echo of my glorious memory sealed within that hammer.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means, boy, that you’ve barely scratched the surface of your so-called ‘ability.’ You think resonance is some parlor trick? You’re out of your league here. If you want to survive and I’m assuming with the other whelp unharmed, you must relinquish control to me again.”

I blinked, heart pounding. “Okay, loud and dramatic. But if you’re just a memory, why are you still talking to me?”

CIX’s tone cooled to something deeper. More certain.
“Because I can’t allow you to die here.”

“Why not? What do you get out of this?”

He paused.

“…Now that is a great question. And one I don’t have the answer to.”

I opened my mouth to argue—but a crash tore through the room.

Keiji had just been flung across the floor, sliding hard into the wall next to me. He groaned, his arm twisted at a strange angle, blood dripping from a gash on his forehead.

Across the room, my copy stalked forward, shovel in hand. Its movements were sharper, more agile. It wasn’t mimicking anymore.

“Keiji!” I shouted, dropping to one knee beside him.

“He’s finished,” CIX spoke coldly. “He’s outmatched. These fragments will keep coming—faster, stronger—until there’s nothing left but meat and dust. He’ll die before you ever find the rune.”

I gritted my teeth. My hands shook.
“And you want me to just roll over and let you take control again?”

“No. I want you to let me win. Stop fighting me, and I can unleash my full power.”

I clenched my fists. Keiji was struggling to his knees, sword dragging behind him. My copy circled him like a predator.

“Why should I trust you?” I asked under my breath.

“Trust is for weaklings. But if you insist, I give you my word: once this test is done, your body is yours once more.”

Keiji looked up at me through bloodied strands of hair.

“Ash…I can’t hold both off anymore. Got any new plans, by any chance?”

I hesitated just for a breath.

Then nodded once.

“Alright…. CIX. Do it.”

The second I said it, I felt something tear loose inside me.

BOOM!

A thunderclap erupted from my chest as the world warped.
My vision twisted, the colours flickered blue and white—and then I was gone.

And he was back.

CIX stood upright, head high and eyes flashing like stormclouds.

He reached down, hand curling around the haft of the hammer.
The moment his fingers touched it—

KRZZZZHHH!

Bolts of lightning snapped along the hammer’s length, coiling around the head like living serpents. The air thickened, charged with static, like he was standing on air. The floor cracked beneath his feet.

CIX grinned like a god descending.

“Ahahaha… yes. Now it’s time to show you what real power looks like.”

He glanced toward Keiji, who had collapsed back to one knee, arms limp and trembling.

“Sit down, whelp. Watch how a real hero handles things.”

CIX stepped forward.

But Keiji, despite the blood and pain, still tried to rise.

“W-wait,” he croaked. “We’re not supposed to fight them directly....we need to find the runes!”

CIX halted mid-stride. His head turned slightly, eyes narrowing.

“I know,” he said. “We have everything under control. Just stay behind me.”

“Wait, we?” Keiji asked.

The air boomed as he surged forward, lightning flaring from his shoulders.
His hammer spun once—and slammed into the ground.

KRAKAKOOM!

A wave of electricity exploded outward, lighting the entire cube with branching arcs. The force blew the two copies off their feet. One slammed into the far wall, the other skidded across shattered tiles. A chunk of the ceiling crumbled and crashed down.

CIX exhaled, voice like thunder. “Now, let’s end this test.”