Neo walked on, unable to shake the old man's gaze. Eyes that seemed to have seen everything... and yet had chosen peace. Something in him wanted to understand why. But another part... felt fear.
Arriving home, he sat on the floor, staring at the ceiling. In the quiet of the room, he heard thoughts pounding in his temples:
"What if there are no answers?"
"What if everything is just chaos?"
"What if you're just a man who asks, but isn't meant to understand?"
Neo closed his eyes. In a dream, or perhaps in his mind, a voice appeared. It was calm, but firm:
"You have two paths. One leads to answers, but it will destroy everything you are now. The other lets you remain, but it will tear you apart from the inside, day after day. Choose."
A landscape appeared before him. On one side, a desolate city where shadows moved aimlessly—"The Silent Ones." On the other side, a chaos of images, thoughts, questions, sacrifices—the search.
Neo felt pulled in both directions. To remain safe, in silence? Or to continue, even if it meant pain, transformation, perhaps even madness?
A tear rolled down his cheek, not from fear but because he understood that he could no longer return.
"I choose... the truth. Even if it tears me apart."
At that moment, the room darkened. The wall in front of him began to crack. From the darkness emerged a silhouette—a mysterious figure with a half-shattered mask, strangely resembling him.
"Then... we begin," said the figure.
It was the beginning of a new phase. Neo had chosen. And the choice would demand everything from him.
End of Chapter 7