Kael didn't blink
He couldn't
His eyes were wide open but what they saw wasn't this world
It was a cradle
Not his
A golden cradle floating in the void
Wrapped in silk that shimmered with laws older than time
Inside it
A baby with closed eyes
No heartbeat
But endless breath
Kael's hand trembled
He didn't remember being that baby
But the breath said it was him
A soft voice echoed around the vision
Neither male nor female
More like a rhythm than speech
"You were born breathing You just forgot"
The divine figure watching from afar couldn't move
Its authority was bound by chains made from Kael's presence
The older Kael behind him had vanished
Melted into light
A part of the breath now
Kael reached toward the cradle
And touched it
The moment he did
The void collapsed
And a rush of memories hit him like a tidal wave
None of them were his
But they all belonged to him
A child who challenged an emperor
A warrior who killed a god with a whisper
A man who sat at the edge of the universe
And chose not to become a god
Because he wanted to be free
Kael staggered
Blood pouring from his ears
He was seeing too much
But the breath didn't stop
It pulled him deeper
Now he stood in a broken palace
Skulls littering the floor
An ancient banner torn and burned
On the throne
A corpse
Its eyes open
Its chest still breathing
Even in death
Kael stepped closer
And the corpse looked up
Same face
Same eyes
Same Kael
But this one had died a thousand times
Kael opened his mouth
But the corpse spoke first
"If you came this far then you're ready"
"Take the breath I left behind"
"And finish what I couldn't"
Kael knelt
And breathed in
The entire palace
The bones
The memories
The pain
The rage
The grief
All entered him
And the system screamed
[Unregistered Sovereign Memory Absorbed]
[Path Divergence Detected]
[Existence Ranking Adjusted]
[ERROR: Undefined Entity Achieved Breath-Class Sovereignty]
Kael stood up
His eyes now glowing like two fragments of time
And whispered
"Now I remember who I never was"