Choice
That single word echoed within Nox to the point they were unaware of reality crumbling all around them.
Nox stood rigid and motionless, their eyes fixed on the shadowless girl before them. The constantly cracking space continued to spread.
"What do I need to choose?" Nox's voice came out slowly, barely audible, as the sound of the cracking space grew louder.
The girl did not answer at once. She looked at Nox, lowering her weapon slightly—not because the cracks had vanished, but because time waits for no one and keeps moving forward.
The fissures in the air grew wider, and the light around them shattered into unstable shards.
"You don't choose a path," she said finally, the shadow girl stating firmly to Nox.
"The choice lies within you yourself," the girl said in such a way, and offered no further explanation.
Nox was confused by her words, furrowing their brow. "I… don't understand." Nox still could not make sense of what was happening.
"Of course," the girl replied calmly and shortly. "If you understood quickly, you wouldn't be called Null."
The pressure grew stronger. The ground beneath Nox's feet shook, split apart, then seemed to merge back together in various forms. Each time it changed, Nox felt a part of themselves being pulled—not their body, but a sense of familiarity with it.
The system chimed again, but this time it was broken and stuttering.
STATUS: UNSTABLE
EXISTENCE DEFINITION: FAILED
RECOMMENDATION: —
Recommendation? Nox waited still. "Why are you silent, system!"
The system did not respond and fell silent immediately.
Nox clenched their jaw tightly. "Every time I'm in a new place… it feels like the world is rejecting me."
Then the shadow girl spoke:
"Because you are not inside it," she answered. "You exist between different spaces and times."
Why are you… Before Nox could finish their question, something emerged from the rift. Something came out, but it was not like a living creature.
It looked like a shadow that had no form—layers of silhouettes overlapping, moving with motions out of sync with time. Each time it moved, the space around it folded in on itself.
The intense pressure flooded into their body, and Nox felt their knees nearly give way.
"What… is that?" they asked in short breaths, panting heavily.
"The Arbiter," the girl said. "A remnant of the old world's system. When the Loom takes no action, this is what ensures mistakes do not persist."
The shadow began moving toward them, drawing closer. But why is there no sense of malice—are its emotions just a tool?
Nox looked around, searching for somewhere to run, but there was no direction to go. Even the girl before them did not move—as if she did not wish to interfere further.
"If I don't choose? What will happen to me and this world?" Nox asked forcefully.
"You will be erased—regardless of your choice," the girl answered honestly. "Not killed, but wiped away as if you never existed at all."
Nox stood frozen. For a moment, they thought they had made an irreversible decision.
The shadow seemed to raise something, and the space before them collapsed, forming a blade-like structure made of dark emptiness.
Nox took a deep breath. The system offered no help, nor did the threads of fate pull them.
Only themselves.
"I don't know who I am," they said slowly. "I don't know why I exist." Nox's voice echoed throughout the surrounding area.
The shadow drew even closer, but Nox did not react.
"But…" Nox clenched their hands, their heart pounding hard, "if this world does not want me to exist—"
They lifted their head, staring straight up at the sky as if looking past it directly at the Loom itself.
"—then I will stand my ground and forge my own place in this world, unbound by anything." The entire area stilled, shocked by their words—the shadow included.
Something changed, but Nox did not know what—only a wave of silence emanated from their body.
The shadow halted momentarily.
Its form trembled, recognizing what had just occurred—but still failed to detect what it was. The space around Nox flattened out, the earlier cracks becoming solid ground once more.
The shadowless girl finally moved at Nox's words.
"I see…" she said softly in a quiet voice. "You didn't choose not to fight back."
The shadow began to fade—but without direction. Its function could not determine whether Nox was something that could be erased.
Nox sank to the ground, breathing heavily, their body trembling—not from cold, but from the strain on their consciousness.
"What… just happened to me?" Nox asked the shadow girl.
The girl took her first step toward Nox since everything began.
"You declared your own existence," she said, circling around them.
She looked Nox up and down, and smiled slightly.
"That is more dangerous than any choice."
Nox lifted their gaze to meet hers directly. "So now… what am I supposed to do?"
The girl answered quickly, unlike before.
"Now, the world will begin to watch your journey."
The gray sky above them began to shift—new cracks formed, not from cosmic forces, but from attention. Something beyond this place had taken notice of what had occurred.
The girl turned away.
"We can't stay here long," she said.
She started moving. "From now on, you are no longer just a mistake of the Loom. The Loom itself has made you into that mistake."
Nox rose slowly to their feet.
"And you?" Nox asked. "Who are you really?"
The girl walked hastily, then spoke without turning back:
"One who ensures that things which should not exist… get their chance to choose."
The space before them opened up, and bright light poured out of it.
The forbidden one had finally begun their journey.
And with no threads to guide them, Nox stepped forward.