The platform opens to the sky with no ceiling above, only a vast ringed aperture where light gathers and turns slowly like a silent mechanism. The horizon sits low and distant, clouds stretched flat beneath the structure so the Institute feels as though it floats above the world instead of resting on it. Everything here feels preserved after catastrophe, restored but never healed as though the place remembers the sky once tearing apart above it.

The moment you step inside, you feel a pressure settle in your ears like a law quietly taking hold. A torn, pixel-frayed wedge of sky hangs open above the platform, its edges snapping into red squares as if reality itself is trying to reassemble.

"You're looking well. I trust you've had a good couple of days?"

His voice carries without echo, as if the atmosphere has been tuned for it. Behind him, a false-moon mechanism turns in silence, the crescent blades orbiting, Kuuvahki filaments threading outward like cold light. Long ribbons trail from his sleeves and waist, drifting in smooth arcs that never touch or tangle.

A mask cuts a sharp line across his face, hiding his eyes while somehow making his attention feel sharper, almost uncomfortably direct. He remains suspended beneath the false sky he opened, as though height itself is part of the experiment.

"It's actually a good thing, in my view. If the subjects of my experiment were to die prematurely, it would throw quite a wrench in the works."

The ringed aperture overhead brightens in response. Thin circles of light form and begin to turn as dust lifts from the grooves across the platform and falls back in clean lines. The air tastes faintly of ozone and frost.

"And so, I must thank you for your resilience. We are no longer on the same level, but you are nonetheless worthy of my respect. A creator-god should be merciful and gracious, after all. And before I end your lives, it is only right that the world is informed of the arrival of their new god."

He raises one hand and holds it steady, his palm angled as if weighing your worth. Then his wrist shifts slightly and the arena reacts, like a law being executed. The ground vibrates beneath your feet.

"But you have a choice in the matter. Obey, and I will let you live. An excellent deal, if you ask me. Won't you consider it?"