The core trembled with an unsettling hum as the Deciever’s presence intensified, the environment around them bending and shifting as if reality itself were at war with the truth. Aaron could feel it—could feel the weight of the construct’s power pressing in on him, choking the very air in his lungs. The team had barely recovered from the last wave of attacks, and now, they were about to face something far more insidious, far more dangerous.
The Deciever, an embodiment of North’s malevolent influence, had already proven its ability to manipulate the team’s fears, doubts, and regrets, but it was far more than just a construct. It was a force of nature, designed not only to defend North’s vision but to remake reality itself in the image of his control. Aaron had faced many horrors on this journey, but nothing had prepared him for the sheer, soul-crushing weight of the Deciever’s mind games.
They were deep in the core now, in a place where the very fabric of reality seemed to fray at the edges, twisted by the power of North’s control. The team had fought their way through countless obstacles, but this—this was different. The Deciever wasn’t just an enemy to be vanquished. It was a reflection of everything Aaron had feared, everything that threatened to unravel everything they had fought for.
The battle had begun, and the Deciever wasted no time exploiting their weaknesses.
Zoe was the first to falter. She stumbled back, her hand shaking as she looked around. “This isn’t real,” she muttered under her breath, but her voice was thin, tinged with doubt. “None of this is real…”
“Aren’t you tired of fighting?” the Deciever’s voice echoed from the shadows, a whisper in Zoe’s mind. “You’ve been running for so long, but nothing changes. Your family, your past—it’s all a lie. There’s no escaping your mistakes.”
Zoe shook her head violently, trying to drown out the voice, but it was relentless. The Deciever knew exactly where to strike. It was playing with her, manipulating her guilt, her regrets. The loss of her family—her fractured relationships—was something she’d never been able to heal. The Deciever had found that wound, and now it was twisting it, deepening the scar.
“Aren’t you tired of trying to fix something that was never meant to be fixed?” the Deciever’s voice taunted.
Aaron saw Zoe’s eyes cloud over, her gaze unfocused, as if she were seeing something that wasn’t there, something only she could hear. He moved toward her, reaching out to grab her arm, but her eyes snapped to him, filled with an emotion he couldn’t place.
“Zoe, no!” he shouted. “Don’t listen to it!”
But it was too late.
The Deciever’s influence was already deep in her mind, manipulating her perception of reality. Her face twisted in pain as she pulled away from Aaron, stumbling back. “I’m not the person you think I am, Aaron,” she whispered. “I failed them. I failed my family. I failed everyone I ever cared about.”
“Zoe, snap out of it!” Mara shouted, rushing forward to help, but it was like trying to reach someone on the other side of a glass wall. Zoe was trapped in her own mind, ensnared by the Deciever’s cruel grip.
Aaron clenched his fists, frustration boiling over. He couldn’t lose her—not now, not when they were so close to ending this. But the Deciever was relentless. It had a way of burrowing deep into the cracks of their souls, exploiting their weaknesses with devastating precision.
Then Mara was hit with it.
The Deciever shifted its attention, its voice slithering into Mara’s thoughts. “Remember that mission? The one you were so sure would be your greatest success? The one you led? You failed. You didn’t save them. They died because you couldn’t act fast enough. You weren’t good enough.”
Mara faltered, her legs shaking beneath her. “No... that’s not true. It’s not my fault.”
But the Deciever’s grip tightened, and Aaron could see the pain in Mara’s eyes. She had always been the most confident of them, the one who seemed unshakable, but this—it was something different. The Deciever had found her weakest point, her most painful memory, and was twisting it until there was nothing left but doubt.
“We all have our weaknesses,” the Deciever’s voice cooed, as if savoring the moment. “You think you can save the world, but you can’t even save yourself. You’re a failure, just like the rest of them.”
“No!” Mara cried, dropping to her knees, hands clutching her head in agony. “Stop! I didn’t—” But her voice faltered as the Deciever’s words overpowered her.
Aaron felt his heart clench in his chest. They were falling apart—one by one. If they didn’t break free of the Deciever’s grasp, they wouldn’t make it. But how could they fight something that was inside their minds, inside their very souls?
A voice broke through the chaos.
“Get out of her head!”
It was Finn. He hadn’t been affected the same way the others had. He was still standing, his expression grim but resolute. The young boy—who had once been a mere ally—had grown into something more. He had seen the truth of the merge, the unraveling of reality, and he was the one now holding their hope.
Finn raised his hand, and for a moment, the world around them seemed to slow. A pulse of energy, bright and blinding, shot from his fingertips, striking the Deciever’s form directly. The construct screamed in a maddened, high-pitched wail, a noise that cut through Aaron’s skull like a razor. But it was enough.
The Deciever faltered.
For a brief moment, the world seemed to snap back into focus. Zoe was blinking, her eyes clearing. Mara looked up, confusion and pain still in her gaze but not the same level of terror. The Deciever had weakened, just enough for them to take back control.
“Aaron,” Finn said, his voice urgent. “It’s time.”
Aaron nodded, the weight of Finn’s words sinking in. They couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer. The Deciever was weakening, but it wasn’t gone. They needed to act, and they needed to act fast.
“Now!” Aaron shouted, turning to face the shifting form of the Deciever. It was still a giant, twisted mass of darkness, tendrils stretching out to consume everything in its path, but it was no longer invulnerable. The link that had tethered it to North’s vision was beginning to crack.
With the Deciever distracted, Aaron and the team surged forward. He felt the pull of his own memories, his own guilt, rising up to meet him, but he pushed them away. This was it—the final fight. They couldn’t afford to lose themselves now.
Zoe and Mara were at his side, moving with a coordinated precision that had been missing moments ago. The Deciever’s form was faltering, but it wasn’t finished yet.
“Together,” Aaron whispered, more to himself than anyone else. “We can do this. We have to.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
He raised his weapon, focusing all of his energy into one strike. But before he could bring it down, a voice cut through the air. It was the voice of South, weak but still present, flickering in and out of existence beside them.
“You have to sever the link,” she said, her voice strained. “The Deciever is a conduit for North. Destroy it, and you’ll take down his control.”
Aaron’s grip tightened. He understood now. The Deciever wasn’t just a construct. It was the key to North’s power. If they could destroy it, they could destroy North’s influence, unraveling everything he had worked to build.
With a final, decisive strike, Aaron plunged his weapon into the heart of the Deciever. The world seemed to shake, a blast of energy erupting from the core. The Deciever’s form began to dissolve, its tendrils shriveling and fading into nothingness, like smoke in the wind.
And then, silence.
The battle was over.
But the cost was immense.
Finn staggered, his face pale, sweat beading on his forehead. He had pushed himself to the limit. Zoe and Mara were both breathless, their bodies shaking from the strain of the fight. But they had done it. The Deciever was no more.
But as they stood in the aftermath of the battle, South’s voice rang out one last time, a faint echo of what was to come.
“It’s not over,” she warned, her voice growing weaker. “North is still out there. You’ve won this battle, but the war is far from finished.”
As the last echoes of the Deciever’s demise faded into the unnatural quiet of the core, Aaron’s heart pounded in his chest, the weight of what they’d just accomplished settling over him like a heavy shroud. The team stood in a loose circle, panting and bruised, their faces drawn with exhaustion. Finn leaned against a shattered wall, his breath shallow, his eyes distant. The air felt colder now, the disorienting hum of the core replaced by an eerie stillness. They had won—for now—but Aaron knew better than to think this was the end.
South’s warning hung in the air, its gravity undeniable.
“You’ve won this battle, but the war is far from finished.”
Aaron turned his gaze to her, the figure flickering and wavering before him, her form growing more translucent with every passing second. She had been with them, guiding them, but now, like everything else in the core, she was beginning to fade. Her presence had become a fleeting whisper in the wind, her words heavier than ever.
“What do you mean, South?” Aaron asked, his voice hoarse from the strain of battle. “We just destroyed the Deciever. We’re one step closer to ending this. Aren’t we?”
South’s ghostly form flickered again, her presence weak but still undeniable. Her eyes met his, filled with a mix of sorrow and resolve.
“You’ve taken out one of North’s greatest weapons, but he’s not just a single force. He is the foundation of this merge. The balance between him and I… it’s what’s holding reality together. But it’s also what’s allowing the merge to continue. Destroying him, destroying me—” her voice faltered, and she seemed to shrink in the air, “—would rip reality apart.”
Aaron shook his head, disbelief clawing at his thoughts. “So, we can’t defeat North without destroying everything? Is that what you’re saying? We’ve been fighting for so long, and now—now we’re just supposed to give up?”
“No,” South’s voice came more sharply now, her fading figure tightening around him like a protective force. “I never said you should give up. I’m saying that to stop the merge, to stop North’s vision from consuming everything, you may have to make an impossible choice. You’ve already seen how delicate this balance is. North is only one half of it, but it is my existence that keeps the chaos in check. Without both of us, there is no foundation for reality.”
Aaron’s stomach churned as the truth sank in. The very thing they had been fighting for—the destruction of North—was as dangerous as the force they had been trying to stop. If they destroyed him, it wouldn’t just shatter North’s plans; it could tear the very fabric of existence apart.
“Then what are we supposed to do?” Mara’s voice broke through the silence, trembling with frustration. “We’re supposed to choose between two horrors? Destroy both North and South, and everything unravels, or let North keep going and let the merge swallow everything?”
Finn stepped forward, his eyes sharp and calculating despite the exhaustion that weighed on him. He’d been the one to break through the Deciever’s influence, the one to disrupt the illusion long enough for Aaron to strike. He wasn’t a mere child anymore—he was part of this battle in ways that went beyond what anyone had expected.
“I think… we’re missing something,” Finn said quietly. “We’ve been focused on fighting one side or the other—North, South—but maybe there’s another way. Maybe it’s not about destroying them both, or choosing between them. Maybe it’s about finding a way to exist beyond the balance they’ve created.”
Aaron looked at him, confused. “Beyond the balance? What do you mean?”
Finn met his eyes, unwavering. “What if the merge isn’t just a battle between North and South, but a result of their eternal war? What if we could find a way to stop their conflict without destroying the fabric of everything?”
The team was silent for a moment, the implications of Finn’s words sinking in. Aaron felt a stirring of hope—a flicker of possibility that had been missing from their thoughts until now.
“You think we can stop the merge without destroying everything?” Zoe asked, her voice tinged with disbelief but laced with a small thread of hope.
Finn nodded. “If we find a way to sever the influence of both North and South, without tipping the balance into total destruction… maybe that’s the key. Maybe the merge was never meant to be a conflict. Maybe it’s just the byproduct of their war. If we stop their war, we stop the merge.”
Aaron thought about Finn’s words carefully. His mind raced, considering the impossibilities of the situation. They’d seen the destructive power of both North and South. They knew the stakes. But Finn’s theory… it suggested that there was something more to the merge than just two warring entities. Perhaps it wasn’t about choosing one side over the other—it was about transcending both of them, breaking the cycle entirely.
“You’re suggesting we break the cycle?” Aaron asked, his voice steady despite the rush of ideas colliding in his mind. “Stop the merge without destroying everything, without destroying reality?”
“Exactly,” Finn replied, his voice growing stronger. “The merge is the result of their never-ending struggle. If we sever their influence without creating more destruction, we stop it from continuing. We break their cycle, and the merge ends.”
Aaron turned to South, who had been listening intently. She was fading, but there was a spark of understanding in her eyes. Her existence, tied so deeply to North’s, had always been a balancing act—chaos and control intertwined in a never-ending dance. But if they could find a way to end the dance, to cut the strings that held North and South in perpetual conflict, maybe they could truly stop the merge.
South spoke softly, her voice fragile but filled with conviction. “You understand now, don’t you, Aaron? The balance was never meant to last forever. It’s a construct—like everything else. But the merge… it isn’t just about the destruction of reality. It’s about the potential for something new. You’ve seen the consequences of a war that has lasted for eternity. But now, you have the chance to rewrite it. You can end the war and reshape the future.”
The weight of her words settled over Aaron like a heavy fog. He had thought they were fighting for survival, for the preservation of what was. But what if survival wasn’t enough? What if they could stop the cycle, stop the fight, and free reality from the shackles of North and South’s war?
“It won’t be easy,” South warned, her form flickering once more. “The Deciever was only a small part of what North has created. To sever the connection between us, you will need to confront the very heart of the merge. You will need to face North.”
Aaron nodded, his resolve hardening. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”
With renewed determination, the team gathered themselves. The Deciever had been a major obstacle, but it was only a piece of the puzzle. The real challenge lay ahead: reaching North and severing the connection between him and South once and for all. But for the first time in what felt like forever, Aaron could see a path forward. The merge wasn’t an unstoppable force—it was a byproduct of a larger war. And if they could stop the war, they could stop the merge.
The weight of their mission had never been greater, but now, they were united by something more than just survival. They were fighting not just for themselves, but for the possibility of a new reality.
With Finn leading the way, and South’s fading guidance in their minds, they moved forward—into the heart of the merge, into the heart of North’s power. The last memory of their journey was yet to be written, but Aaron was ready to face whatever came next. For the first time, he felt as though they might just have a chance.