"Some memories are graves. Others are weapons. And some… never belonged to us in the first place."— Unknown Veil Inscription
[Veil Layer 2.3 – The Hollow Mile]
The tunnels narrowed.
Gone were the ancient vaults and faded sigils. Now, Kael and Sarai moved through tight corridors of pale stone, where the light from Sarai's glyph-flame flickered like a candle in the underworld. The walls pulsed faintly — veins of silver-threaded crystal hummed along the ceiling.
Kael's fingers grazed the rock.
It felt… warm.
"This place remembers," Sarai said, not turning. "Touch it too long, and it'll use your past."
He pulled back instinctively.
But even that short moment was enough.
"…Kael, you're not fast enough."Taro's voice — clear and mocking
"Shut up."
"No really. If we ever face a real Aith-user, you'll die first. I'll at least be dramatic about it."
The memory struck like a blade — raw, uninvited. Kael blinked hard, grounding himself back in the dim tunnel. He didn't notice that his fingers had clenched tight enough to spark a flicker of black flame between them.
Sarai saw it. Said nothing.
They walked on.
"Where are we going?" Kael finally asked.
"Not where. When."
He stopped.
"...What?"
Sarai turned at last, eyes gleaming with something older than her voice.
"Some places in the Veil run deeper than time. You'll see. But you must choose which part of you arrives."
Before he could question further, the corridor widened into a circular room— half-flooded with fog. In the center: a mirror. Fractured, but suspended in the air. Its shards floated around it like moons held together by threads of dying light.
Kael approached carefully. The reflections didn't show his face. They showed…
The Warden's Chair. Blood still fresh. Taro slumped, eyes wide in disbelief."Run, Kael.""NO—!"Too late. The ignition bolt struck. His friend flinched - once. Then he froze..
Kael staggered back.
"What is this?!"
Sarai stood by the edge, palms open.
"Your anchor. You cannot awaken without facing it."
"I'm not trying to awaken!"
"You already are."
She stepped forward and laid a single hand on the air above the mirror.
A glyph ignited in the space — Edras-signature. A contract seal.
"I'll show you what's real. But I must give something in return."
"Sarai, don't—"
Her hand trembled. A flicker of pain crossed her face.
"I sacrifice my brother's name. Let it be ashes."
The glyph consumed itself. Light swallowed the chamber.
[Memoryscape – Echo of the Warden's Block]
Kael blinked. They were there. Not a memory — not exactly — but an echo. A Veil-constructed mimicry of the execution room.
The walls shone lightly.
The floor was littered with failed timelines.
And standing in the center… was Taro.
Not really Taro. This one was still breathing. Still smiling.
"Kael," he said, voice warm. "You're late."
Kael fell to his knees. The fire in his chest cracked open.
"You're not real."
"Neither are you. Not fully."
The Taro-echo stepped forward. And for a moment, Kael wanted to believe. But his Aith pulsed.
"He's a gate," Sarai whispered behind him. "This construct is tied to your guilt. If you touch it, you stay here. Forever."
Kael looked up at the boy who had once been his home.
"Then maybe I should."
The fire flickered black-blue across his knuckles.
"Kael.""I failed you.""No.""I ran.""You lived."
Taro-echo extended a hand. Kael reached.
But just before his fingers touched, his flames roared alive — not in rage, but in grief.
The Aith around him cracked the Veil's construct. The false Taro flinched — eyes darkening, glitching, distorting.
"You can't burn memory—"
"No," Kael said softly."But I can burn what never should have been remembered."
His Aith surged.
Flames devoured the echo. The chamber screamed. The mirror above the room outside shattered with a sound like crying glass.
[Back in the Veil]
Kael collapsed.
Smoke curled from his back, his hands, his breath.
Sarai knelt beside him, face pale.
"You burned a gate. That's not supposed to be possible."
"I didn't want to stay," he rasped.
"No," she said gently, but with something darker behind it."But something else came through when you opened it."
She looked down at her hand.
Where once a glyph had been, there was now only ash.
"I don't remember who I gave up," she whispered.
"I'm sorry."
"You should be."
Far above them, in the surface-world of Vandral, a black flame flickered across every sensor on Tower-9.
"Sir…" Agent Lurien stared at the resonance spike."He didn't awaken."
General Velk watched the readout.
"No. He refused."
Then:
"Deploy the Verseuchten Tribunalisten. It's time they remembered why we buried the Veil."