We all saw it. The corrior ahead split into three paths, just like all the others. But the middle path...

It started normally enough. But about ten paces in, something changed. The corridor turned upward at a perfect 90-degree angle, but the stones, torchlight, and even gravity seemed to curve with it. It was as if someone had taken a normal straight corridor and bent it into an L-shape, only everything inside the L remained oriented as if it was still straight.

"That's not right," Estella squinted at the impossible angle. "Stone doesn't curve like that."

"The floor becomes the wall, but also stays the floor?" Tirion wondered out loud.

"Look at the torchlight," Estella pointed. Our torch flames bent with the corridor's curve instead of pointing straight up. The shadows they cast wrapped around the bend as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Another grinding sound echoed through the maze, closer this time.

"Back," I decided quickly. "We need to go back."

We turned around to find our exit had vanished, replaced by a smooth wall of pulsing nightstone.

"Well," Estella's chakrams spun nervously in her hands, "I guess forward is the only option now."

"But which forward?" Lysa pointed at the three paths. "The one that breaks geometry, or the two that probably lead to more identical corridors?"

I stared at our choices, mind racing. The ghost had said this was a trial of vision. That we had to see what others couldn't. But right now, all I could see were three equally bad options leading deeper into a maze that seemed determined to drive us mad.

The grinding sound came again, and this time the floor beneath our feet trembled.

"Pick a path," Tirion urged. "Any path. Just do it before-"

The maze shifted again. We were lost in a maze that didn't want to be solved, facing paths that shouldn't be possible. And somewhere ahead, the masked man was getting closer to his goal.

More grinding sounds echoed through the corridors. Tirion's ears twitched. Once, twice, then pivoted sharply toward the right corridor. "Wait..." His expression changed from exhaustion to focused attention. "Listen. Really listen."

"To what?" I asked.

"The stone... it's making different sounds in each corridor." Tirion’s bunny ears swiveled towards each path in turn.

I listened harder. At first, all I could hear was the general rumble of shifting stone, but then I started to notice it too. The middle path, with its twisted geometry, produced a harsh grinding, like metal scraping against metal. The left path had a hollow, echoing quality. But the right path...

"This one's different," Tirion said, ears focused on the right corridor. "Instead of that grinding noise, it's more like... water moving through pipes. A steady flow."

Now that he mentioned it, I could hear it too - a subtle whooshing sound.

Lysa stepped forward, her staff trailing along the wall. "He's right." Her fingers traced one of the nightstone veins. "Here, feel this."

I placed my hand near where she indicated. The stone thrummed with a steady pulse, like a calm heartbeat.

"The veins," I said slowly, watching how they pulsed. "They're not just carrying darkness randomly. They're circulating it."

"Like blood through veins," Lysa nodded.

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Tirion nodded, his ears still tracking the subtle noise. "When the darkness moves naturally, it's smooth - like water. But when it's forced..." He gestured at the twisted middle path, where the grinding sound continued. "It fights back."

We moved cautiously into the right passage. Each step brought the sound into clearer focus - that steady whooshing underneath the maze's other noises.

Then we hit another intersection. Three more identical paths.

"Great," Estella sighed. "More choices."

But Tirion was already moving, ears swiveling to catch the sounds from each passage. "Left path's got that grinding noise again. Middle one's dead silent - probably a trap. But right..." He paused, listening intently. "Right has the flow."

We took the right turn, then another. Each choice guided by the sound of properly flowing darkness. It wasn't perfect - twice we had to backtrack when the passages led to dead ends - but it was better than wandering blindly.

After what felt like hours of following the darkness's flow, we reached a chamber that was... different. Dozens of dark lines flowed across walls and ceiling to meet at a single point: a stone pedestal in the center of the room.

On the pedestal sat a simple black cube, about the size of my palm. No ornate decorations, no glowing runes, just smooth black surfaces.

"That's it?" Estella circled the pedestal warily, chakrams at ready. "All this maze for a paperweight?"

I reached out to grab it. The cube’s surfaced rippled under my touch and foreign memories flooded into my mind.

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I stood in a town square. The buildings were similar to Caelivatis's architecture, but cruder, less developed. Like seeing the first draft of what would become the grand design.

Two knights faced each other across the square. One was the raven-haired knight I had seen in previous visions. The other was a knight wearing a helm that masked his face, though blonde hair flowed out of his helm.

The crowd around them was... wrong. Most were frozen in stone, their faces caught in expressions of horror or acceptance. The few living humans huddled in whatever shade they could find.

“Wherefore hast thou returned to this place, mine oldest companion?” The blonde hair knight asked.

The raven-haired knight gestured at the petrified citizens. "How did we let it come to this? This town was meant to be our proof. A beacon of hope where people could thrive under the light's embrace." His armored hand clenched. "Now look at it. Statues and monsters. This isn't what we fought for."

“Thou speaketh of undoing what cannot be undone. This curse that blighteth our people is as permanent as the rising sun. As permanent as the sacred oaths we swore before His divine presence.”

"The oaths were meant to protect people, not destroy them!" The raven-haired knight voice cracked with emotion. "We can fix this. We have to fix this. Even if I have to-"

"What wouldst thou do?" The blonde-haired knight’s voice turned dangerous. "Wouldst thou turn against all we have built? All we have sacrificed in His name?" He raised his hand and light gathered around it. "I shall not permit thee to undo it all. Nay, not even for the sake of our brotherhood of old."

"Then you leave me no choice... Sky Knight." The Night Knight drew his sword - and I felt a jolt of recognition. The blade was newer, but the design was unmistakable.

It was the Nightsky Blade.

"Since when," the Sky Knight’s voice softened, "didst thou resort to titles in place of names... mine dearest friend?" His hand dropped, and light exploded from it, carving a burning line across the square's cobblestones. "Nay... Night Knight.".

"From this moment hence," The Sky Knight declared. "Thou shalt not cross this line. What hath been done cannot be undone. The night is gone, and so it must remain. For the sake of all we have wrought in His name."

"Everything we built is turning to stone," the Night Knight replied, his modern speech a stark contrast to Caelum's archaic formality. "And I will not stand idle while it happens. Not again. Not after what happened to-"

"Then let it be thus," Caelum raised his radiant blade. "If thou wisheth to tread this path of heresy, then by mine own hand shall I end this tragic tale."

The Sky Knight moved like a bolt of lightning, leaving trails of searing light that burned into my vision. The Night Knight met him with equal speed.

"Look around you, old friend! Is this truly the salvation we promised them?"

Their first clash split the air itself. Where their blades met, reality seemed to shudder, light and shadow warping around the point of impact.

"Better the burden of light," The Sky Knight leaped into the air. "Than the chaos of endless night!" His next attack came from three directions at once.

The Night Knight answered with a single slash that met all three light strikes simultaneously.

"We were wrong," the Night Knight pressed forward, his blade leaving afterimages of pure darkness. "About everything. About the balance. About what the light truly wanted."

The Sky Knight’s counter-strike came with the force of a noon sun. "SILENCE! Thou knoweth not what forces thou tempteth with such blasphemy!"

Their blades met again in a cascade of impacts too fast to follow. Each clash sent shockwaves of light and shadow rippling across the square. The very air began to crystallize around them, torn between absolute radiance and perfect darkness.

The resulting explosion knocked both knights back, cracking the stone beneath their feet.