By IMERPUS RELUR
--
The next morning in Realm 0.1 felt unlike any other.
The woman who called herself his "first teacher" prepared tea made of pressed starlight. The village was quiet. Sketch-beasts napped beside unfinished towers. Children with folded-paper wings floated through the sky.
But one thing was different:
> There was a man on the horizon.
He wore no symbols. Carried no pen. No aura. No system interface.
And yet—
> "He feels like me," Kai whispered.
The teacher nodded.
> "He is."
---
The man walked up slowly. His face was familiar, but not exact. He sat beside Kai and stared at the earth.
> "I'm the Kai who never drew," he said simply.
"I saw the door too. But I was too afraid to step through."
Kai blinked. "But I did."
> "Because we're reflections. Parallel ink. Different pages of the same book."
> [ENTITY: KAI-NULL]
Classification: Dormant Potential
Role: The Unwritten Core
---
They sat in silence. The sun of Realm 0.1 didn't rise. It pulsed.
> "So what happens now?" Kai asked.
> "You can finish this book," Kai-Null said.
"Or start the next."