PRIMARY CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL ACTIVE
SUBJECT VII-OMEGA: FINAL CONTROL GROUP
DEMON KING EMBRYONIC STAGE: 97% COMPLETE
The sandbox guardian's shattered face reformed into a perfect replica of Adrian's childhood mirror. Its voice now came from inside his skull:
"Let's play the remembering game. Three truths. One lie. Close your eyes."
The Remembering Game
Round One: The House
Adrian's eyelids fluttered shut—and he stood in his childhood kitchen. His "mother" hummed as she stirred a pot of boiling black fluid. The calendar on the wall read July 2003, but the photographs showed:
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First Day of School: Adrian surrounded by children with VII-branded lunchboxes
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Birthday Party: A plague doctor lighting seven candles on a writhing cake
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Christmas Morning: Unopened presents labeled "PROTOTYPE IV-A" through "VII-OMEGA"
The guardian whispered:
"Truth: You never had a birthday. Lie: You were ever alone in this house."
The kitchen walls peeled back to reveal observation decks where Sanctum researchers took notes.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Round Two: The Backyard
Adrian's sneakers sank into black sand that whispered with the voices of the "missing" neighborhood kids. The O'Reilly twins' grave now gaped open, the small coffin inside lined with:
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Layer 1: A child-sized Sanctum uniform with "VII-ALPHA" tags
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Layer 2: Dozens of milk teeth arranged in a spiral galaxy pattern
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Layer 3: A still-beating heart wrapped in fungal tendrils
The guardian's needle fingers tapped the coffin lid:
"Truth: They buried your memories here. Lie: The children ever stopped playing with you."
One of the twins' plague masks floated up, its eyeholes filled with Adrian's stolen baby teeth.
Round Three: The Basement
The stairs descended further than physics allowed, terminating in a cavern where seven glass tanks pulsed with amniotic fluid. Each contained:
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Tanks I-VI: Distorted versions of Adrian at different ages, their bodies fused with demon lord traits
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Tank VII: Empty, but the fluid formed his face against the glass when he approached
The guardian pressed its syringe-hand against Tank IV:
"Truth: You're the seventh attempt. Lie: The other six failed."
Inside the tank, the Adrian-hybrid's eyes snapped open—revealing Vaulk's skull mask beneath the skin.
The Lie Revealed
Adrian's claws shattered the tank. The black fluid didn't spill—it climbed up his arms in living filaments that stitched new memories directly into his motor cortex:
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Age 4: Pushing Timmy off the swing set (except Timmy had seven fingers)
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Age 10: Finding Mrs. Calloway's rose garden full of severed hands
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The Crash: Vaulk's masked face in the rearview mirror moments before impact
The guardian clapped its hands—now both wearing his mother's nurse gloves.
"The lie was 'you were ever alone.' We were always watching. Your friends. Your teachers. Your..." It gestured to the figure emerging from the broken tank.
The thing wearing Vaulk's mask beneath Adrian-face skin whispered in his father's voice:
"Happy birthday, son. Time to blow out the candles."
Its chest cavity opened like a grotesque pinata, revealing the embryonic Demon King curled around Adrian's stolen childhood memories—each one burning with tiny blue flames.