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Beyond Reality: The Honoured One
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The door was made of stone.
But not ordinary stone.
It pulsed—like a heart.
Faint lines of golden blood ran through its surface.
And at the center, carved in ancient script:
> "To become a god… you must first break the one inside you."
EXIN stood still.
The air was thick.
Too still.
Too sacred.
Even the Tower hesitated to breathe here.
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He pushed the door.
It didn't open.
It split.
Cracked down the center.
As if it had been waiting to die the moment he touched it.
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Inside was no room.
Just space.
Infinite, white, starless space.
He stepped forward, and the light vanished—
Revealing a throne.
Not gold.
Not black.
But rusted.
Cracked.
Bound in chains that pulsed like veins.
Something was sitting on it.
Slumped.
Tired.
Wearing robes made of time itself, frayed with age.
---
The chained god looked up.
And EXIN saw himself.
Not a reflection.
Not a version.
But the same face.
Except this one had never forgotten who he was.
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> "You made it further than I did," the chained EXIN said, voice ancient and weary.
"You bore the burden longer than I ever could."
EXIN stepped closer.
> "Who are you?"
> "I am who you were supposed to be... before you ran."
"Before you begged the Tower to erase your divinity."
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The chains tightened around the god's limbs, binding him to the throne like a prisoner of destiny.
> "You gave up omniscience."
"You threw away immortality."
"You traded eternity… for guilt."
---
EXIN's fists trembled.
> "Because I couldn't live with the weight of it."
> "So you locked it in me."
---
The god's eyes dimmed.
> "Yes. And now, here you are… unlocking it again."
The chains cracked.
Each word EXIN spoke seemed to loosen them.
---
> "You could've ruled the tower," the god whispered.
"But you chose to climb it."
> "You could've ended the war."
"But you chose to forget it."
> "You could've remained a god."
"But you chose to be human."
---
EXIN stared into his own eyes.
And spoke softly:
> "Because only humans suffer for their choices."
> "Only humans change because of pain."
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The god smiled.
For the first time.
Not bitterly.
But proudly.
> "Then take it."
> "Take your godhood back."
> "And break it."
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The chains shattered.
The god fell forward into EXIN's arms—
And vanished.
No explosion.
No light.
Just integration.
He felt it:
The memory of galaxies burned.
The sorrow of stars he created and destroyed.
The cries of gods he silenced.
The silence he once ruled.
---
And yet...
He still stood.
He endured.
Because he was no longer trying to be a god.
He was trying to be something more terrifying.
Human… who remembers what godhood cost.
---
A new mark burned across his spine:
> Chains broken, wrapped in starlight.
The Seal of Divinity Rejected.
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The next door was glass.
It reflected nothing.
Not because it couldn't.
But because it refused to show what came next.
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> "Next: Chapter 18 — The Room That Bleeds Memory."
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