The Memory That Wasn't Yours

The Core shimmered like a living cathedral of glass — towering spires twisting toward a sky that was neither light nor dark, but a vortex of color and sound. Reality flickered. Not in decay, but in evolution — as if the place itself was breathing, watching.

Aeris's boots landed with a soft, almost silent step on the reflective crystal floor. It rippled beneath her as if alive, reacting to the energy she carried.

Behind her, Kael followed, slower, his hand gripping the hilt of his weapon not out of threat, but instinct. His breath came in shallow, controlled intervals. Every heartbeat echoed louder here, like it wasn't just inside him, but in the walls themselves.

"It's not just a place," he said under his breath, eyes darting between the pillars, "it's... memory incarnate."

Aeris didn't speak. She didn't need to. Her body was tense — not with fear, but recognition. She had been here before. Not physically.

But in a dream.

A dream she never remembered until this very moment.

As they moved forward, a shift in the air stopped them.

A gust of cold.

A crackle of light.

And then — the soft echo of laughter.

Childlike. Broken. Familiar.

Kael snapped around. "Did you hear that?"

Aeris's eyes widened. "No. But I felt it."

From the edge of the spire, a light blinked into form — a floating shard, small and humming, rotating slowly. It blinked once. Then twice.

And then—

It shot forward and embedded itself into Kael's chest.

His body jerked. Eyes wide. Breath stolen.

He dropped to his knees.

Aeris screamed his name and dove forward, catching him before he collapsed fully.

"Kael?! KAEL!"

But his eyes were already glowing — not with power, but memory.

He was somewhere else.

INSIDE KAEL'S MIND

He stood alone in a corridor of mirrors, each one showing a different version of himself.

One wore the armor of the Paradox Guard.

Another bled from the chest, cradling Aeris's lifeless body.

One was smiling — but alone, always alone.

And the last...

...the last mirror didn't reflect him at all.

Kael stepped forward, hand outstretched.

The mirror rippled like water, and a voice hissed from within.

"This version of you let her die. Are you ready to see it?"

The mirror split open, swallowing him whole.

BACK IN THE CORE

Kael's body twitched in Aeris's arms, his lips moving without sound. His pulse flickered under her touch.

She clutched his face. Her voice broke.

"Come back to me. Kael — don't you dare get lost in there."

Suddenly, another shard floated in front of her. It pulsed, waiting — offering her the same choice.

She hesitated.

"If I follow him in... I may never come back."

But then she saw it.

A flicker.

A tear rolled down Kael's cheek — and he whispered something.

"Don't let her... become me."

Aeris stood. Tall. Ready.

"I'm not leaving him behind. Not again."

She stepped into the shard.

INSIDE THE MEMORY REALM

The world was a ruined battlefield.

Ash rained from a broken sky. Black lightning forked across distant, jagged hills. Bodies littered the ground — some human, some not. And in the center:

Kael knelt before a throne of wires, metal, and blood.

A masked figure towered above him.

It was Kael.

Another Kael.

Twisted.

Darkened.

"So... you finally came," the twisted Kael sneered at Aeris. His voice was deeper, gravel coated with regret and rage. "Come to see how it ends?"

Aeris drew her blade slowly, eyes never leaving him.

"I came to remind you who we are."

The dark Kael smiled.

And snapped his fingers.

The battlefield shook.

Dozens of Rift creatures burst from the earth, rising around them.

Kael — the real one — staggered to his feet, blood staining his chest, eyes wild.

"Aeris... run!"

But she didn't.

She whispered: "I remember this. I died here."

The earth split open behind them. A chasm of light.

The memory realm was falling apart.

The dark Kael advanced.

And just before the chapter ends, the real Kael looks up — his gaze locked on a figure floating above the throne. A silhouette cloaked in flame and shadow.

It wasn't just a twisted Kael. It was someone else. Controlling it all.

A voice echoed across the broken skies.

"You thought Null was the end?"

"I am the beginning."

Then everything goes white.