Chapter 40

Kye didn't move at first.

The other him—Kaelion, the unsealed version—stood close, one hand on his wrist, the other hanging loosely at his side. No weapon drawn. No rage in his eyes. Just... familiarity. The kind that ran deeper than blood. Like looking into a scarred mirror and seeing the version of yourself who never blinked.

Behind them, Renna and Veika froze mid-step.

The boy stood still, watching silently, as if he had expected this moment all along.

Kye was the first to speak.

"What do you want?"

Kaelion tilted his head. "I could ask the same."

"You came here. Found *me*."

"No," Kaelion replied. "I remembered. You're just the one who's been *forgetting*."

He let go of Kye's wrist.

The mirror behind them remained dark, humming faintly like a sleeping storm.

Kaelion looked around the vault—the broken cylinders, the sealed memories, the discarded fragments of lives.

"They wanted to bury this place. Just like they buried you."

"I'm not buried," Kye said. "I'm still here."

Kaelion's gaze met his. "Are you?"

There was no anger in his tone. No venom. That made it worse.

Because Kaelion wasn't here to fight.

He was here to *replace*.

Kye stepped back slightly, lowering his sword. "I didn't ask to be split."

"No," Kaelion said. "But you accepted it."

The words hit harder than expected.

Renna stepped forward, tension coiled in every muscle. "You're not going to erase him."

Kaelion looked at her calmly. "I don't need to. He's erasing himself. Every time he hesitates. Every time he doubts."

Veika raised her pulse-stick. "Back up, shadow-boy. This isn't some anime monologue."

Kaelion's smile didn't reach his eyes. "You really think I'm the villain."

"You're not *not* the villain," Veika shot back.

Kye held up a hand.

"Then what are you?" he asked quietly.

Kaelion looked at him again. "I'm the part of you that remembers why we started. The throne. The lies. The sword. The promise you made. To her."

Kye frowned. "Who?"

Kaelion stepped to the side.

And in the mirror—

A new figure appeared.

A girl.

Young. Wearing robes like Eleska's, but different. Cleaner. Untouched by exile. Her hair was pinned up with silver bands, and her eyes were bright with belief.

Kye's breath caught.

He didn't know her.

But he *felt* her.

Kaelion spoke softly.

"She believed in us. When no one else did. Before Eleska. Before the sword. She was our tether. And when the council made you forget, they made sure she was the first thing to go."

The girl's image shimmered, then faded.

Kye took a step toward the mirror. His hand hovered again, unsure.

Kaelion didn't stop him.

"She died thinking we would fix it," he said. "Now they don't even say her name."

Kye's hand dropped.

"You don't care about her," he said. "You just want vengeance."

Kaelion raised an eyebrow. "Would vengeance rebuild a broken archive? Would vengeance try to unseal names no one dares speak? I'm not burning the world. I'm *exposing* it."

"And if it collapses?"

Kaelion's voice dropped.

"Then it deserved to."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Renna broke it.

"There are people out there—innocents. Cities that don't even know the past was altered. If you shatter the veil, they'll break."

Kaelion turned to her.

"Good. Let them break. Let them *choose* who to be, not who they're told to be."

Kye stared at his other self.

"What happens to me… if you succeed?"

Kaelion walked to the edge of the pedestal, back to the mirror.

"I don't want you gone," he said. "I want you whole. But the version of you that bows, that doubts, that *hesitates*—he can't lead."

Kye drew his blade—not as a threat, but as a symbol.

"I don't want to lead."

Kaelion looked over his shoulder.

"That's the difference between us."

Renna moved beside Kye.

"So what now?"

Kaelion shrugged. "Now? I return to the surface. I've already unlocked three of the Five Memory Vaults. The fourth is buried under the old citadel. I thought I'd need time, but now… with what I've seen?"

He paused.

"I won't need long."

Veika stepped up. "You realize we're not just going to sit and let you rewrite the world, right?"

Kaelion nodded.

"I wouldn't expect you to."

He began to walk—right past Kye.

And as he passed, he paused, inches away.

One last whisper.

"If you want to stop me, Kaelion… you'll have to remember *everything*."

He walked into the dark corridor.

And this time, Kye didn't stop him.

Because he knew—

That wasn't someone pretending to be him.

That *was* him.

Unbound.

---

They stood in silence for a long moment.

Veika finally sat down, hands in her hair. "Okay. Okay. I'm officially confused. Who are we even fighting anymore? The government? Evil memory clones? History itself?"

Renna looked at Kye.

"Well?"

He stared at the mirror.

At the place where the girl had appeared.

"I need to remember her name."

The boy walked up beside him.

"There's a way."

Kye didn't look away. "How?"

The boy raised a hand. Placed it on the mirror.

And whispered one word.

> "Trade."

The mirror pulsed.

A question appeared, etched in light:

**"What are you willing to forget?"**

Kye stared at it.

Because he understood now.

To regain what was lost—he had to *give* something up.

A memory. A moment. A piece of his own story.

Renna touched his arm.

"You don't have to do this."

Kye looked at her.

"I do."

He stepped forward.

Closed his eyes.

And whispered:

**"My mother's face."**

The mirror flickered.

His chest *ached.*

Not from pain—but from the sudden *absence.*

He could still feel warmth.

Still remember lullabies.

But her *face*—the details—were gone.

And in its place—

The girl appeared again.

Alive.

Laughing.

Spinning in the garden of a city long gone.

The mirror whispered her name:

**Sena.**

Kye whispered it too.

And for the first time in years, a tear slid down his cheek.

He turned to Renna. "I remember her."

Renna stared at him. "Who was she?"

"Our promise."