"He never feared the flame. Only the shadow it left behind."
— Valenya Vordrakar
Scene 1: Planning the Counteroffensive
The Citadel still smoldered, but Kaien stood before the central flame with clarity in his voice.
"We're done waiting. We strike."
Valenya nodded.
Olivia gripped her new pendant tighter.
Zephyr leaned against the wall, trying not to shake.
"Where?" Olivia asked.
Kaien lifted a map etched in Voidflame.
"Rahul marked only one place never to be reopened."
"He didn't name it. Just wrote: Path That Shouldn't Exist."
Aren (quietly):
"Even the Book of Echoes doesn't list that path."
Aeyra stared at the map, pale.
"Because it doesn't exist in time."
Everyone turned to her.
Scene 2: Aeyra's Secret
Kaien knelt beside her.
"What do you mean?"
Aeyra's voice was small.
"I see the future sometimes. I know that. But there's one place… I've seen in every version of the world."
She tapped the map — where Rahul's seal pulsed faintly.
"This place doesn't show up in any vision."
"Not once."
"It's a hole in fate."
Valenya's jaw tightened.
"That's where Rahn wants you to go."
"Because it's the one place Rahul never finished erasing."
Scene 3: Into the Path
Hours later, the team stood before an ancient mountain — one that shouldn't exist.
At the base, an obsidian gate sat cracked open.
Kaien, Olivia, Valenya, Aeyra, Zephyr, and Aren stepped through.
And the moment they crossed the threshold—
Time stopped.
Sky frozen.
Air silent.
Reality pulsing like it was trying to reject them.
Olivia: "I can't hear myself breathing."
Zephyr: "That's because your breath hasn't happened yet."
Scene 4: Olivia Hears the Voice
Inside the zone, the group was surrounded by mirrors.
Not glass. Not stone.
Memories.
Olivia touched one.
And it spoke.
"Olivia…?"
"You're not supposed to be here."
"...but I'm glad you are."
It was Rahul's voice.
Not a message. Not an echo.
Real. Emotional. Young.
"This is where I left the parts of me I didn't want Kaien to carry."
Olivia stumbled back, tears in her eyes.
"He was broken. Even then."
Scene 5: Zephyr Breaks
The further they went, the more the mirrors changed.
They showed pasts the group never lived.
Aeyra dying in Kaien's arms. Valenya kneeling in chains. Olivia with white wings… burned black. .. standing over Kaien's corpse.
He snapped.
"STOP!"
He slammed his blades into the ground, shattering two mirrors.
Kaien moved toward him slowly.
"It's not real."
"I know," Zephyr gasped.
"But it could be."
"And that terrifies me."
Kaien placed a hand on his shoulder.
"That's why I brought you. Because you care enough to be scared."
Final Scene: The Door to the Truth
At the center of the ruin, a door burned with seven seals.
One pulsed with Kaien's aura.
Another… with Olivia's.
A third… with Aeyra's.
Valenya whispered:
"It's not just about Rahul anymore."
"This place… it's tied to your family now."
Kaien stood before the door.
"Then let's see what he tried to keep hidden."