After the Emperor had delivered his bitter truth, he waved his hand with boredom. "The game is over. You may leave." The massive wave of pressure vanished suddenly, leaving me panting inside Lagan's disabled cockpit. It took several minutes to restart the basic systems. I got the machine up on its trembling feet, and 404 rose beside me, silent as if nothing had happened.

  We left the Emperor's tower in humiliating silence. The journey back through the glowing city was a fog of shame and defeat. Every tower of glass, every flying vehicle, screamed one truth at me: this world is not real. My strength, my knowledge, my journey... were all an illusion.

  We found a secluded spot in the wilderness outside the city and lit a fire. I sat before the flames, but I didn't feel their warmth. I was staring into the darkness, and seeing the void that was my life.

  What was the point of all this? I had traveled across continents, learned languages, built a frame of metal to give myself strength... only to discover that I was a rat in a maze, and the Emperor was the one watching from above with boredom.

  I looked at 404. He had been with me every step of the way. I had dragged this loyal being with me on this long lie, promising him something I couldn't give him, in a world that didn't exist. I felt guilt gnaw at me, a guilt harsher than any insult the Emperor had directed at me.

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  And at the bottom of this despair, the two truths I had learned began to collide in my mind. The first truth (from the Emperor): This world is an illusion. My life here is just a dream. The second truth (from the Sage): I am the son of Prometheus. And my death holds one true wish.

  A flicker. A simple, decisive idea, born from the womb of absolute despair. If my life here is an illusion... then my death is not. The pact that binds me to my father transcends the boundaries of this digital prison. So, there is still a meaning. There is still a purpose.

  I had been looking at it the wrong way. My mission was not to find feelings for 404 in this life, but to use my death to grant them to him in the real life. I looked at 404 again, but this time, there was no guilt in my gaze, but a quiet determination.

  "Hey, 404..." I said, my voice clear and steady for the first time since we had left the Emperor's tower. "I was wrong. This journey was not a failure." I stood up, and felt a heavy burden lift from my shoulders. I had accepted my fate.

  "I understand everything now. There is one last thing I must do. One last dream I want to see before the end." I looked at the dark horizon, where the stars were twinkling in the sky of this illusory world.

  "Let's go. Let's go to the continent of the sky."