Chapter 30: A New Light

The garden was quiet.

Ren stood at its edge, wind brushing through trees that shimmered with golden leaves. Flowers bloomed in impossible colors. The void inside him pulsed, softer here, almost subdued—like even it respected this place.

The old man rose slowly from the stone bench.

"This isn't heaven," he said. "It's not salvation. It's the breath between what was and what must be."

Ren stepped forward. "Why show me this?"

"Because power that only knows pain will become pain," the man said. "You survived the void. You mastered it. But now you must lead it. Shape it. Give it purpose."

Ren frowned. "And if I can't?"

"Then the next time you fall… the world falls with you."

The words settled in his chest like iron.

The man extended his hand, and in it, a shard of pure light—warm, solid, resonating with everything Ren wasn't. It hummed with memory, love, clarity.

"A balance," the man said. "Take it. Anchor yourself. Or let the void consume the rest."

Ren hesitated.

Then he reached out and took the light.

His mark flared violently. Void and light collided inside him. He dropped to his knees, gasping.

It wasn't pain. It was clarity.

Visions swirled—Yui healing a village. Kaede leading others. His mother laughing in the garden. His friends. Strangers. A future.

Not of monsters.

But of people.

The wind stilled.

Ren stood.

The old man was gone.

So was the garden.

He was standing at the mouth of the sealed gate again.

But it was open now.

Behind him, the sky was darker.

Ahead, the world waited.

And within him, two forces pulsed in harmony.

The void.

And the light.

Ren breathed deep.

"I know what I can do now."