Chapter 28: The Sister Who Never Was

The Reclaimer stood between realms, its body shifting in and out of existence like a living paradox. Each time it flickered, a different face appeared—some Yun Xi had forgotten, some he wanted to forget, and one that shattered him from the inside:

His younger sister, Lin Yue.

"Yun-ge…" the voice whispered—not from her lips, but from the shape the creature had borrowed.

He knew it wasn't real.

He knew she was already gone.

And yet… her eyes. Her voice. The way her fingers curled just like they used to when she clung to him after waking from a nightmare. It wasn't just illusion—it was the stolen memory of her, weaponized against him.

Yue Lan held her ground behind him, bow drawn, but she trembled.

"She's not real," she whispered. "Don't let it get to you."

Yun Xi said nothing.

The system buzzed in his mind.

> [Emotion Surge Detected: Sibling Anchor – 92% Match.]

Warning: Host's mental stability may waver under memory distortion.

The Reclaimer took a step forward, and the chamber rippled. The golden altar began to hum again, responding to the corrupted timeline invading its space.

"You didn't save me…" the thing crooned.

Yun Xi's knuckles whitened around the spectral hilt of the Blade of Before.

"I know," he said quietly.

His sister had died during a temporal surge in the lower districts—an accidental side effect of a failed Academy experiment. He'd been too far away. Too unimportant. Too weak.

No one had even told him until days later.

"You cried for three nights," the Reclaimer whispered, its voice layered with dozens of regrets. "You promised you'd get stronger. But it was too late. It always is."

Yun Xi raised his blade.

"That's why I'm here now."

With a roar, the Reclaimer lunged. It didn't move like a creature—it moved like a broken hourglass. One moment it was far; the next it was everywhere, dragging temporal blades across the ground as it fractured the stone with timelines that had never been.

Yue Lan loosed a volley of light-tipped arrows. They pierced the creature's body but passed through like wind through water.

"It's not bound to this realm!" she shouted. "You have to drag it fully here!"

Yun Xi didn't answer. His focus narrowed, eyes glowing faintly with golden threads—traces of memory resonance.

"System," he murmured.

> [Awaiting command.]

"Pull forward Anchor Protocol: Memory Lock. Subject: Lin Yue."

> Accessing… Memory Anchor found.

Memory Lock activated. Forcibly syncing false projection to real memory.

The moment the protocol activated, the Reclaimer screamed—not in pain, but in surprise.

Its body stopped flickering.

It became real.

Yun Xi felt the shift—the way time solidified, how its mass became weighted in the chamber. He didn't hesitate.

"NOW!"

He dashed forward, light blazing around him like collapsing stars. The Blade of Before shimmered with fragments of his past. Every footstep echoed with the burden of memories he'd chosen to bear.

The Reclaimer swung down with a blade shaped like a crumbling clocktower.

Yun Xi ducked under it and slid forward, slashing upward through its ribcage.

The impact wasn't physical—it was emotional. The blade didn't cut flesh—it severed regret. The creature's form shattered where it was struck, pieces disintegrating into golden dust.

It screamed with his sister's voice.

"You never said goodbye!"

Yun Xi's heart clenched, but he didn't stop.

"You never gave me the chance."

He slashed again—twice, three times—each strike aimed at memories too heavy to carry but too precious to lose.

Yue Lan joined in, her arrows now finding real targets. Each impact caused the Reclaimer's form to destabilize, flickering between reality and unreality.

> [Vital Threshold reached – Reclaimer destabilizing.]

"Final lock!" Yun Xi shouted. "System, release memory surge!"

> Executing…

Time around him burst open like a floodgate.

He saw Lin Yue's face—the real one. Not distorted, not twisted by guilt. Her laughter, her pride, her silly questions about why the moon didn't fall. He let it all in.

And then—he let her go.

The Blade of Before glowed with warmth instead of fire.

Yun Xi whispered, "Goodbye, Yue'er."

He pierced the creature's core.

Silence followed.

Then—an implosion of golden light. The Reclaimer let out one last echo, not of pain, but of peace. Its form crumbled, and from the center, a shard of crystal floated down into Yun Xi's palm.

> [Echo Shard Obtained: Memory of the Sister Who Never Was.]

Trait Acquired: Unbreakable Anchor – Your will cannot be broken by memory illusions.

The room dimmed. Yue Lan lowered her bow and walked to him.

"She'd be proud," she said quietly.

"I hope so," Yun Xi replied.

He held the shard close to his chest. It pulsed once and faded into his skin.

"I'll carry her—not as a weapon, but as a promise."

He turned back to the altar. The golden motes from the shattered Seed hovered above the glyphs, rearranging themselves into a new pattern.

> [Route unlocked: Path to Sector Five – The Hidden Origin.]

Yun Xi looked back one last time at the place the Reclaimer had fallen.

"I remember everything now. I'm not running from it anymore."

Yue Lan smiled faintly. "Then we're ready."

Together, they stepped into the light.