While interacting with The Encrypter™, Fluffy managed to exfiltrate a small binary out of it.
It seemed harmless; it was just a keypad asking for an admin PIN. But the vault was impatient: it blinked faster, slower, hesitated… almost like it thought before rejecting him.
Fluffy narrowed his eyes. “Every pause tells a story… and I’ve got time to listen.”
Upon completing the final tale, the screen in the Tail Tale Theater dimmed, its final tale dissolving into static. Beneath the stage, a hidden door groaned open, leading Fluffy deeper into the dam’s forgotten wings.
The passage ended in a quiet chamber. Inside, a narrow stair spiraled downward into the Hall of Infinite Reflections, a place where light folded upon itself and truth was never singular. The walls shimmered with countless Fluffys, each moving a fraction sooner or later, echoing a choice not yet made.
At the center stood a marble table, carved with nine eternal squares that pulsed like stars in a dark cosmos. A brass plaque upon it read:
Tic Toc Tou - Play for the Moment
When Fluffy reached for the board, his reflections reached too, some ahead, some behind. In this hall, every move rippled outward, multiplying into endless variations, none certain, none safe.
Nine squares. Infinite reflections. A single moment to decide which truth would endure.