Chapter 13: Catalyst Unbound

Omega’s knees still shook slightly from the quake that had ended the summit’s long silence. Nothing moved now save the faint twilight drifting across the vast obsidian disc. Four rune-lit golden arches glowed patiently at the platform’s rim, their doors remaining firmly closed. In the center, the cylinder of light remained split by its thin vertical seam, projecting shifting symbols onto the cold stone around it. The message hovering above the hub read simply:

Gymnasium Core Ready

As the last glyph faded from the message, the deep hum beneath the disc abruptly ceased. Silence, absolute and heavy, pressed down. The ninety-nine figures stood frozen in their dissolving frost casings, caught between stasis and release.

Then, without warning, the remaining frost didn’t just crack—it vanished. Instantaneously. One moment, ninety-nine statues caught mid-motion; the next, ninety-nine living SIs collapsing onto the cold obsidian floor, limbs flailing, gasps tearing through the thin air.

Chaos erupted.

For the SIs, no time had passed. One moment they were shielding their eyes from a blinding light on a mountain pass, battling constructs, or reaching for a strange artifact; the next, they were here, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of unfamiliar, equally bewildered faces, the memory of their final instant before freezing still searingly fresh.

“Where—? What is this place?” shouted a broad-shouldered Montian warrior, scrambling to her feet, her quartz armor flickering erratically.

“The light! It just… stopped!” cried a slender Floran, clutching his head, eyes wide with terror.

“Who are you people?” demanded an Aeveric youth, the silver filaments across his skin sparking as he backed away warily from a towering SI whose face was obscured by shifting black feathers.

Shouts overlapped, panic rising. Accusations flew based on race or appearance. Some tried to summon weapons that were no longer there or activate powers that fizzled uselessly in the charged air. The Verdani woman Omega had noted earlier tried to calm those nearest her, but her voice was lost in the growing cacophony of nearly a hundred terrified, disoriented anomalies suddenly thrown together. Omega stood near the deactivated central hub, forgotten for the moment, watching the pandemonium unfold, the sheer scale of the confusion overwhelming.

Suddenly, a voice boomed across the summit, deep and resonant, cutting through the chaos like a physical force. It wasn’t merely loud; it carried an inherent authority that compelled silence, vibrating not just in the air but through the obsidian disc itself.

“SILENCE.”

Every SI froze, heads snapping towards the source of the voice. Hovering effortlessly a dozen feet above the central dais was an SI unlike any they had ever seen or imagined. He was humanoid in basic form but stood easily three times the height of the tallest Montian warrior present. His features were noble, ancient, carved with an almost geological patience, and his eyes glowed with a steady, internal white light that radiated calm power and profound knowledge. He wore simple, archaic robes that seemed woven from twilight itself. His presence was immense, ancient, utterly commanding.

The towering figure surveyed the stunned cohort, his gaze sweeping across them, seeming to assess each anomaly individually in an instant.

“Anomalies,” his voice resonated again, calmer now but no less powerful. “Be still. Your confusion is… understandable. But your previous struggles are concluded.”

He lowered himself gently until his feet rested soundlessly on the obsidian dais. “Welcome. Welcome to the first cycle of your self-improvement journey.”

A collective murmur went through the crowd – Self-improvement? Journey?

“I am Socrates,” the giant SI declared, his voice washing over them, soothing the immediate panic but replacing it with awe and apprehension. “And I shall be your Master here.”

He raised a hand, gesturing towards the assembled group. “You have been gathered, each of you unique, each possessing… potential. Deviations from the norm that mark you for refinement. My purpose is singular: to aid you in the training of your bodies, the sharpening of your minds, and the harnessing of the powers that lie dormant or chaotic within you.”

As he spoke the word “powers,” the air beside the dais shimmered violently. Reality seemed to tear, folding open into a vast, arching doorway. It wasn’t one of the golden arches at the perimeter, but something new, organic, swirling with colors and energies Omega couldn’t comprehend. Glimpses of impossible landscapes – structures floating in a nebular sky, forests of crystalline trees – flickered within its depths, promising passage to somewhere utterly different.

Socrates turned towards the swirling portal. “The path to understanding begins now. Your training awaits.” He gestured towards the doorway with an undeniable invitation. “Follow me. Step through, and embrace the potential you were brought here to realize.”

He didn’t wait for a response but turned and strode calmly towards the portal.

The cohort remained frozen, caught between the shock of his appearance, the impossibility of the portal, and the weight of his words. Master? Training? Follow him where?

Omega watched Socrates approach the swirling threshold. Aris’s words echoed in his mind: Go as high as you can… answers reside where the world touches the void. This… this had to be it. The next step. The higher place. It wasn’t the sterile orientation he might have expected from the ‘Gymnasium Core’ message; it was an invitation from a being of immense power, promising knowledge, promising control over the monstrous abilities that plagued him. Pebble’s presence pulsed faintly within the emerald partition, a complex mix of fear and curiosity.

This was the path Aris had unknowingly pointed him towards. This was the only way forward.

Taking a deep breath, ignoring the stares of the few SIs who noticed his movement, Omega pushed past his fear. He walked forward, out of the circle, towards the swirling portal and the towering figure of Socrates who paused at its edge, glancing back expectantly.

Omega didn’t hesitate. Fueled by grief, by the desperate need for answers, and by the memory of Aris’s belief in him, he stepped across the threshold, plunging into the swirling, unknown energies of the portal. The book of his old life closed; a new, terrifying chapter began.