Trial by Memory

Trial by Memory

Location: Gaia HQ – Memory Chamber: Sanctum Synapse

Beneath the heart of Gaia Headquarters lay a rarely accessed chamber—Sanctum Synapse, a convergence zone designed to synchronize memory sequences across synchronized Divine Artifacts. It was here that the Council, after the incident in Frostveil, demanded a collective Memory Link Trial—a method used to locate corrupted mental signatures and determine truth through shared recall.

The Octagon stood within the ceremonial circle, etched with runes glowing a faint, nervous blue. Their Divine Artifacts hovered in the air, each bound by threads of luminous ether.

Thea entered last, her voice composed but weighted.

"This is not punishment. It's a safeguard. Whatever entity tried to mimic Cyg's signal... it may have left traces within our memories."

Harriet's arms were folded. Sylvia paced, her heels clicking sharply.

"So we open our minds like a book?" Sylvia asked. "What if someone doesn't want to read out loud?"

"Then they may be hiding something," Astron said from the shadows.

Charlotte raised her hand.

"What if someone's memory was planted? Like Hikari's echo in the Vault."

The room stilled.

Hikari lowered her head slightly but said nothing. Cyg stood beside her, stoic and unreadable.

"The ritual reveals intrusion," said Irene, stepping forward. "We are not judging your pain—only protecting each other from betrayal."

The Memory Link Begins

They formed a circle. Orisha, Solmaria, Lexigra, Vermithar, Aetheron, Sanguira, Kyrosyn, and Aetheris pulsed in harmonic unison. Light enveloped them, and their senses drifted into the collective recall.

The first memory flickered.

Shared Memory #1 – The Abyssal Field (Mia's Memory)

A younger Mia—barely fourteen—stood alone in a ruined city of crystal spires. Her hands bled ink, pouring into a grimoire that refused to close. Abyssal creatures surrounded her, malformed and wailing. But she kept writing. Creating.

Then—

A tall man, cloaked in black and red, stepped forward. His face obscured by shadow, but his voice…

"You were born to build, not destroy."

Mia trembled.

"Who are you?"

"A friend," the man replied. "Orion welcomes all creators. Gaia only uses them."

The memory twisted. Blood on pages. Screams in the dark.

The scene shattered.

Mia gasped aloud, tears on her cheeks. Eun-Ha caught her before she fell.

Shared Memory #2 – The Corridor of Fire (Harriet's Memory)

The next pulse drew them into fire.

Harriet, age 12, kneeling at her burning home. Her hands were scorched, her wings—Vermithar's wings—were cracked and bound by chain.

Her mother stood at the far end of the inferno, laughing.

"You never learned restraint, girl. And it's cost us everything."

Harriet screamed, her flames ripping through the world—but Gaia soldiers dragged her away.

Then a figure behind them.

Erebus.

Watching.

Smiling.

The memory splintered.

Harriet staggered back in the circle, gasping. Charlotte reached for her instinctively.

"That's not how I remember it," Harriet muttered.

"Orion's already in our heads," Cyg said flatly.

Shared Memory #3 – The Train of Glass (Cyg's Memory)

It began with silence.

Cyg sat alone in a glass train, zipping through a void of equations and shattered planets. Across from him sat a version of himself—older, gaunt, eyes hollow.

"You're failing them," the older Cyg said.

"I calculate every move."

"But you don't feel them. And that's why you'll lose."

Then the train passed a station—Orion.

Erebus stood on the platform, tipping a hat.

Cyg fired through the window.

Missed.

Everything turned black.

Cyg's eyes opened in real-time. He didn't speak.

He didn't need to.

Corruption Detected

Suddenly, alarms flared across the sanctum. The ether web distorted.

Sylvia's memory activated on its own.

Forced Memory #4 – Symphony of the Forgotten (Sylvia's Memory)

The group saw a younger Sylvia playing her violin on a war-torn street. Her sound kept soldiers sane. Kept enemies lulled.

Then… came the signal.

A frequency. Subsonic. Hidden under her notes.

She wasn't playing alone.

A girl stood beside her.

Sylvia recognized her.

Nyxa Vell. Codename: Shadow. One of Orion's Chaos Generals.

Nyxa whispered:

"You don't remember, do you? You and I used to make songs together."

Sylvia dropped her violin.

The music warped into Abyssal tones.

"You're lying…"

"You offered to stay with us. Then Gaia rewrote you. Like they do all the good ones."

Back in the Chamber

The pulse snapped.

Sylvia collapsed to her knees, sweating, trembling.

"I don't know her—I don't—I don't—!"

Elaine ran to hold her. Mia wrapped her arms around her waist.

"It's not your fault," Mia whispered. "It's not."

But Thea's expression darkened.

"We now know. Orion has implanted echoes into one of our own."

Irene spoke quietly.

"It may not be Sylvia's fault. But she must be watched."

"You think I'm a weapon," Sylvia said bitterly. "Even to you."

"No," said Cyg softly, "...but you're bleeding. And even a violin can turn into a blade."

Location: Orion's Rift Chamber

Nyxa Vell leaned against a monolith of sound crystals, smiling.

"Did she remember?"

Kael approached her.

"Not yet."

"Good," Nyxa said. "Let the melody linger. Let it rot."