When the gray door opened, Rant did not find himself in darkness… but in broken light.
A light that did not resemble light — as if carved from ashes itself; it illuminated without shining, revealing less than it concealed.
A strange weight pressed on his chest, as though the air carried the memories of all who entered but never left.
There was no real ground beneath his feet — only a cracked glass surface stretching into the horizon, and beneath that glass… shadows slowly moved, like souls drowned in eternal sleep.
> "Where… am I?"
His voice echoed a hundred times around him, and each echo returned different — once as a child, once as an old man, and sometimes as a tone that didn't belong to him at all.
He lifted his head — and saw something he had never seen before.
There were no stars in the sky… only eyes.
Thousands of gray eyes staring through the mist — unblinking, merciless.
In that instant, he understood the truth:
This wasn't a new world — it was the collective memory of all who had been forgotten.
A realm of shared consciousness, bound by the souls that were no longer remembered.
He took one step forward, and the glass beneath him trembled, breathing like the world itself was alive.
Then a voice came from behind him — calm, familiar, yet distorted as if spoken through a broken mirror:
> "You're late… heir of flame."
He turned quickly.
A man stood there, cloaked in gray light tinged with black.
Half of his face was human — the other half, shadow.
His eyes carried within them the dim light of a thousand fires that had died long ago.
> "Who are you?"
Rant asked cautiously, raising his hand slightly in defense.
The man laughed — not with joy, but with emptiness.
> "I am the one who gave up his name… to remember you."
He stepped closer.
With each step, the light around him weakened — his presence itself seemed to devour existence.
> "I am the Third Guardian — Keeper of the Gate of Oblivion.
My duty…"
He lifted his hand, and behind him appeared a chain of floating mirrors — each reflecting a different version of Rant's face:
One smiling, another crying, a third screaming, a fourth faceless.
"…is to show you all that remains of you."
He touched one mirror, and it exploded into countless shards floating through the air around Rant.
Each shard reflected a memory — his mother pulling his hand as the fire raged, his friends betraying him, his first fear, his final tears.
> "Enough!"
He shouted, but the shards clung to his skin, each burning into him, leaving marks of gray light along his body.
The Guardian's voice deepened:
> "Every memory bears its own weight.
You cannot cross until you accept all that you were — not as a hero, but as a perfect human mistake."
> "I don't seek redemption,"
Rant said, blood gathering in his palms from the pain.
"I seek the truth."
The Guardian paused, then murmured:
> "Then prepare yourself — for truth is never given… it must be torn from the world."
He raised his hand, and the gray earth ignited with dark light.
The sky cracked open, and thousands of mirrors fell at once, surrounding Rant.
Each one whispered his old name: "Kim… Kim… Kim…"
As if the world itself was judging him for forgetting.
> "Stop!"
He cried — but the voice wasn't his own anymore; it was a faint echo of fire buried deep inside him.
Then came a whisper — soft, like wind through ashes:
> "Do you remember me, Rant?"
He froze.
That voice…
It wasn't strange.
It was hers.
Elena.
But she was dead.
Burned alive — before his eyes.
He lifted his gaze and saw her reflection in one of the mirrors — standing, looking at him just as she had before the flames swallowed her.
She smiled sadly and reached out from within the glass.
> "You didn't save me… and yet, I never hated you."
> "Elena…"
He spoke her name like a wound opening, the word itself burning in his chest.
"I tried… I swear I tried…"
But she shook her head and whispered:
> "Those who try to save others from the fire… forget that the fire was waiting for them."
Then she vanished.
The mirror shattered — followed by another, and another — until the entire realm erupted in blinding chaos.
The mirrors turned to luminous ash, swirling around Rant like a storm of the past.
But he did not run.
He spread his arms wide and screamed with all the pain left in his heart:
> "If you are forgetfulness… then know this — I created you!
You are my memories… and you will never be my cage!"
The black light burst from his chest once more — stronger than ever.
The mirrors shattered, the glass world beneath him split, and the Guardian was consumed by gray fire, leaving behind only his final echo:
> "He who remembers everything… ceases to be human."
Rant fell into the void — not in fear, but in calm.
For he knew that falling was not the end… but a descent into a deeper layer of truth.
And as he sank into the nothingness, he saw far above him —
the gray girl, watching in silence…
then turning away,
as if afraid to witness what he would bec