---
I kept walking. The woods whispered.
The voice of that man—if he was even human—still echoed in my head. He spoke of others like me. Of trials yet unseen. Of paths twisted by the LAW.
But what paths?
Every step I took cracked against twigs and leaves that hadn't stirred in ages. It was like this place had been frozen in time, waiting for something—or someone—like me. Like us.
Us... the Called.
I hated that word. It felt like a title given to an unwilling beast chained in a dark room.
A faint wind stirred at last. Cold. Foul. Carrying with it the scent of something rotten. Old things. Forgotten things. My hand gripped my sword instinctively, but the blade felt dull in this silence. It wasn't monsters I feared now.
It was the LAW itself.
The system that marked me. The system that chose me.
Somewhere behind me, I thought I heard the crunch of footsteps.
I spun, blade raised.
No one.
Just shifting shadows between ancient trees.
I breathed hard, every sense on fire. Paranoia gripped my chest. Was this the LAW testing me? Was this what the strange man meant?
The longer I walked, the deeper I felt the change inside me. A prickling behind my eyes. My hearing sharper. My thoughts... darker.
I could feel the LAW watching.
But I wasn't the only one.
A clearing opened ahead.
A place forgotten by time.
And I saw them.
Not people.
Statues.
Dozens of statues standing in silent rows. Their faces twisted in agony, fear, anger—frozen at the moment of their last breath. Men. Women. Children. Warriors. Farmers. Each one unique, as if carved by the hand of God itself.
No moss grew on them.
No weather had worn them.
They were perfectly preserved.
I approached the nearest figure—a man clutching his chest, mouth wide in an eternal scream. The details of his face, his torn clothes... they were too real.
My stomach turned as realization struck.
These weren't statues.
These had once been Called.
Frozen here.
By the LAW.
I stumbled back, bile rising in my throat.
A small stone plaque lay at the foot of each figure. Carved words, ancient and barely legible. My eyes squinted to make out the nearest one.
> "Failed the LAW's Test. 34th Cycle."
Failed.
The LAW tested every Called. And these... they had failed.
This is what happens when you break the LAW's will?
My body trembled. My legs locked.
What if this was my fate?
I could end like them—an eternal monument to failure. To weakness.
Suddenly I heard something behind me.
A soft, rasping breath.
I turned sharply.
And saw a shadow moving between the statues.
A human figure.
Thin. Hollow. Pale as bone.
It stepped into view.
A man—no, not a man anymore. His skin clung to his bones. His eyes sunken, glowing faintly blue. Runes shimmered on his arms, etched like scars burned into his flesh. He smelled of dust and old tombs.
But it spoke.
> "Another... Called... so soon?" the thing rasped. Its voice was dry as ash. "You... are new."
I raised my blade. My heart thundered.
> "Who are you?" I demanded. "Are you one of them?"
It chuckled, the sound like cracking old wood.
> "I was... once... Called. But I lingered here. Failed the Test... but was spared the stone. Barely." It touched its cracked skin with shaking fingers. "I became this. A fragment. A shadow."
A shiver ran down my spine.
> "Why are you here?" I asked.
> "To warn. You must not fail. Like them." The figure's trembling hand gestured toward the silent statues. "The LAW gives no mercy. The Test is near. It watches you. Closer than you think."
My grip on my sword tightened.
> "What is the Test? Tell me!" I shouted.
The hollow thing shook its head.
> "Cannot say. Cannot know. It is different for each Called. It bends... shifts... feeds... on your fear... your doubt... your choices..." It leaned closer, its dead eyes meeting mine. "But you will face it... soon."
I stepped back, heart pounding.
The thing sniffed the air.
> "I smell it... the LAW's mark is strong in you. You are... special. Dangerous. Maybe... Catalyst..." Its voice grew weaker. "Perhaps you will be the one... to break the cycle... or end in stone... like the rest..."
I didn't understand. I couldn't.
> "Wait!" I called as it turned, its frail body dissolving into mist.
But it was gone.
The clearing fell silent again.
The statues stood watch.
And I stood there... alone.
But I felt it now. Like cold fingers tracing my spine.
The LAW was coming.
For me.
For real.
Soon.
---
I left the clearing without looking back. The air around me felt heavier. Every tree, every shadow seemed sharper now. Alive.
Was this the start of my Test?
I didn't know.
But my instincts screamed: the next time I stopped walking, the LAW would come for me.
And this world... this strange, broken world... would show me just what price its power demanded.