They climbed the spiral staircase quickly, the crystal steps glowing beneath their feet with shifting colors at every step. The sound of the battle grew closer, tremors shaking the tower intermittently, and pale lights flickered from the high windows.
"Sentinels!" Nila shouted as she looked out one of the narrow windows. "This isn't a regular patrol. It's a full assault squad."
"Why go to such lengths to retrieve one person?" Cairn asked, pausing to catch his breath.
[Because they know who you are. They know what we can achieve together.]
"Because you're not just anyone," Nila replied, motioning for them to keep climbing. "You're the only key to dismantling their entire system. Your mere presence here, in Eidolith, threatens the entire Order of Forgetting."
When they reached a circular platform midway up the tower, they paused. Before them lay a crossroads: three staircases branching off in different directions.
"The middle path leads to the Library of the First Memory," Nila pointed. "The other two are traps for those who don't know the way. I'll stay here to mislead the Sentinels if they arrive."
"I'm going alone?" Cairn asked.
"No," said Serena, who had been silently climbing behind them. "I'll go with you. The library needs its guardian."
[Serena is hiding something. We don't yet know her true motives.]
Cairn ignored the voice of the shadow and nodded in agreement. He and Serena began ascending the middle staircase, while Nila remained on the platform, preparing to defend.
The middle staircase was narrower than the main one, its steps twisting more sharply. With every turn, the light shifted—from dim blue to golden, then to pure white.
"The library is haunted by the memories of all those forgotten," Serena said as she climbed ahead of him. "You'll feel them when you enter; they'll try to reach out to you."
"How do you know so much about the Eternal Shadow and its connection to me?" Cairn asked.
Serena paused for a moment, a mysterious smile crossing her face. "Because I was there at the beginning. One of the researchers on your original project."
[Do you remember now? Serena, your first assistant. Before the project was stolen from you.]
Suddenly, the tower shook more violently than before, and they heard the sound of a nearby explosion, followed by screams.
"We must hurry!" Serena urged, quickening her pace despite her age.
At last, they reached the top of the staircase, where a massive white crystal door stood before them, engraved with a complex symbol of interwoven lines. The tower pulsed with a radiant white light, brighter than any Cairn had seen in this place.
"The Library of the First Truth," Serena whispered reverently. "Where the original version of every memory since the dawn of human consciousness is preserved."
Serena placed her hand on the door and murmured ancient words Cairn didn't understand. The engravings began to glow more intensely, and the door itself seemed to shift, as if it were breathing.
"Declare yourself," Serena instructed Cairn.
"What do I say?"
"The truth. Who you are."
Cairn stood before the door, feeling the shadow within him stir, urging him to speak.
"I am Cairn, bearer of the Eternal Shadow. I've come to restore balance."
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the door glowed brighter, and slowly, it opened inward, revealing a blinding white light.
They entered together into a vast circular space, far larger than seemed physically possible from the outside of the tower. The ceiling was a transparent dome, through which a strange sky was visible, filled with stars and luminous shapes unlike anything Cairn had ever seen.
At the center of the hall rose a colossal crystal pillar, far larger than the one on the lower level. It glowed with shifting colors, flowing and changing constantly, and within it, images, forms, and scenes moved in a strange harmony. The space was filled with ancient books, scrolls, and glowing crystals, arranged on circular shelves surrounding the central pillar.
"The Core of the First Memory," Serena said in an awed voice. "The oldest known consciousness in the world."
[Our home. The essence of what we were protecting. What we sacrificed everything for.]
Suddenly, voices began to echo in the air, like overlapping whispers and rhythms coming from every direction:
"The first keeper has returned…" "Will he right the wrong?" "The divide must end…" "Shadow and light… unity…"
"The voices?" Cairn asked.
"Memories of all who have entered this library throughout the ages," Serena replied. "The last was you, five hundred years ago, when you created the device that changed the world."
Cairn approached the central pillar, his hand extending toward it involuntarily. He felt the shadow within him pulse, moving, as if preparing for something.
[The time has come. We are ready.]
"What will happen when I touch it?" Cairn asked.
"You will regain your full memory," Serena answered simply. "And the shadow will regain its full power. The final outcome… no one knows for sure."
[Cairn, before you proceed, you must know… the unity is irreversible. You will no longer be you, and I will no longer be me. We will become something entirely new.]
"And if I don't?" Cairn asked.
Serena sighed. "The Order of Forgetting will persist. The world will continue losing its memory, piece by piece, until nothing remains except what the Keepers want people to remember."
It was a difficult choice. To give up his identity, his sense of self as he knew it, in exchange for restoring balance to a world he no longer fully remembered.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of a violent explosion from below the tower, followed by screams.
"They've reached the middle platform!" Serena shouted. "There's no time to hesitate."
[Now or never, Cairn.]
Slowly, with determination, Cairn extended his hand and touched the crystal pillar with his fingertips.
In that instant, his mind exploded with thousands of memories all at once:
A laboratory bathed in blue light… intricate devices surrounding him… years of research and experiments…
The moment he discovered the possibility of storing memories outside the human mind… the joy of a groundbreaking discovery…
The first test… the Eternal Shadow, an old friend, volunteering to help… "Together, we'll protect humanity's legacy"…
Presenting the project to the High Council of the Seven Cities… their suspicious interest… their strange questions about "alternative applications of the technology"…
The betrayal… the theft… the pain… then darkness…
Cairn withdrew his hand from the pillar, breathing heavily. "I remember…" he said slowly. "I remember everything."
[And so do I. Now, we are ready for the unity.]
"Serena…" Cairn turned to her, but froze when he saw what was in her hand. She held a small device, resembling a metallic gun glowing with white light. A device of erasure.
"I'm sorry, Cairn," she said sorrowfully. "But the unity cannot happen. The risk is greater than you realize."
"What are you doing?" he asked in shock.
"The Eternal Shadow doesn't want to restore balance," Serena said. "It wants to change the very fabric of reality. If you merge with it completely, it will have the power to rewrite truth itself as it sees fit."
[Lies! She's working with the Keepers. She's been with them all along. She deceived us all.]
"Why should I trust you over it?" Cairn asked, his hand slowly moving toward the Memory Blade. "Because I am the only one who remembers the whole truth," Serena answered, her hand trembling as she aimed the device at him. "The Eternal Shadow was the one who betrayed you first, Kyren. He convinced you to create the device so he could control the memories. The Keepers were trying to stop him, but they failed and became what they were fighting against."
The voices around the hall grew louder, sharper, and more urgent:
"The end is near..."
"The circle completes..."
"Truth and illusion, two sides of the same coin..."
"Kyren!" Aliana screamed as she burst into the hall, her clothes torn and a wound on her forehead. "Don't believe her! She's trying to stop the merging!"
"Aliana?" Kyren turned to her in confusion.
"I managed to hold off the Axials temporarily, but they're coming," Aliana said quickly, then glared at Serena with anger. "You... you were the one who summoned them, weren't you?"
Serena stepped back. "I was trying to prevent a greater catastrophe. The Eternal Shadow must be stopped."
"And what about stopping the Keepers?" Aliana shouted, drawing a knife. "Have you ever tried that?"
[Kyren, we must do it now. Before it's too late. We must unite.]
At that moment, the ground shook violently, and the crystal door exploded, revealing three Axials clad in advanced white armor. Behind them stood a fourth figure, dressed more formally, with a large emblem on his chest bearing the symbol of an open eye.
"Marin the White..." Aliana whispered in terror. "The High Commander of the Keepers."
The man advanced confidently, his gaze locking onto Kyren. "Bearer of the Shadow," he said in a calm, deep voice. "At last, we meet. Or rather, meet again."
"You..." A memory flashed in Kyren's mind. "You were the one who led the betrayal. You stole the device."
Marin smiled coldly. "I am the one who saved humanity from the chaos of absolute knowledge, from the burden of heavy memories."
"By erasing everything that doesn't suit you!" Aliana shouted.
Marin ignored her and continued addressing Kyren. "You think you're right. That you're the hero of this story. But have you ever considered the burden humanity carries because of its memories? Endless wars caused by ancient grudges? Suffering that never ends because of past traumas?"
"You have no right to decide what people remember," Kyren replied angrily.
"I have every right to protect them," Marin responded calmly. "And that's exactly what I've done for five centuries. I granted them a peace they never knew."
[Kyren, don't listen to him. He's playing with your mind, just as he did five hundred years ago.]
Marin gestured to the Axials, who surrounded Kyren and Aliana, while Serena retreated to his side, the device still in her trembling hand.
"I had hoped you would understand," Marin said. "That you would remember we worked together before the Shadow corrupted your mind."
"Lies!" Aliana screamed. "You betrayed him, used his invention against him!"
Marin sighed. "Serena, please. Do it now. Erase his consciousness before the Shadow achieves full merging."
Serena raised the device, her hand shaking. "I'm sorry, Kyren. I saw what the last freed Shadow did. I can't allow that to happen again."
In that critical moment, Kyren looked at the crystal pillar, then at Aliana, who gave him a silent, encouraging nod.
[Now, Kyren. Everything depends on this moment.]
Kyren suddenly leapt, bypassing the Axials, and unleashed the Memory Blade in his hand. He charged toward the pillar and, in one swift motion, plunged the blade into the heart of the crystal.
"No!" Marin shouted.
But it was too late. The pillar exploded in a blinding white light, momentarily blinding everyone in the hall. In the midst of this light, Kyren felt the Shadow stirring within him, expanding, merging with his consciousness, fusing with his soul.
The pain was immense, as if every cell in his body was burning and being reborn at the same time. He screamed, but his scream intertwined with another voice—deeper, older—the voice of the Shadow itself.
[We are one now. We are the complete truth.]
The entire place shook, the light grew brighter, and the world around them began to change. Kyren felt an immense power coursing through his veins, limitless knowledge flooding his mind. He saw everything, understood everything.
The past, the present, the potential future. All memories, all truths, all lies.
And in that moment of complete merging, Kyren finally knew the whole truth—the truth behind the Era of Forgetting. A truth that would change everything forever.