“Stop,” he whispered.
He thought of the lover who had left. You don’t let anyone in.
He stepped aside. Behind him, a door of white light opened onto Venn’s own world—the salt flats, the dawn, the air clean and free.
Vethis laughed—a dry, ancient sound, like stones grinding together. “Very well, DV-s bearer. You have completed the fourth Trial. You have shown the Skaafin something we forgot: that the greatest prize is not what you regain, but what you refuse to abandon.” DV-s The Skaafin Prize
Then he stood, and walked home, carrying everything.
He thought of the rebels who had trusted him. Make it mean something.
“The DV-s contract is binding,” Venn said. “Complete your Trials. Claim your Prize. I’ve done three already.” “Stop,” he whispered
The galleries fell silent. The brass light in Vethis’s eyes flickered, dimmed, then flared bright gold.
He stood at the edge of the Obsidian Galleries, a cavern of polished volcanic glass that reflected his own scarred face back at him a thousand times. Somewhere in these echoing halls waited the Prize—and the one creature who could grant it.
The scene shifted. Now Venn stood in a burning library, a failed rebellion, his comrades’ screams echoing. Then a lover’s face, dissolving into indifference. Then his own reflection, younger and whole, before the DV-s surgery had carved the sigils into his bones. He stepped aside
“I don’t want to bring anyone back,” Venn said, rising. His voice cracked, but it held. “The Prize is not resurrection. It’s a choice of which loss defines me.”
“You reject the Prize,” the Proctor said slowly, “by accepting the weight you already bear. That is… unprecedented.”
Vethis tilted his head, genuinely curious. “Then what do you claim?”
“The Prize,” Vethis purred, stepping through the memory like a ghost, “is the return of one thing you have lost. A person. A moment. A piece of your soul. But to claim it, you must choose which loss you value most. And then you must relive the others.”
“Ah, but the fourth is mine to design.” Vethis smiled, revealing teeth like carved bone. “And I have decided. You will not fight. You will not solve. You will remember. ”