The morning after the Core incident arrived like a hesitant dawn. The light above the Skyforge seemed slower, as though even the sun feared to rise too quickly over what we had seen. The city below us shimmered faintly, alive with whispers of power that refused to rest.
I could not sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard that voice again soft, endless, speaking through the pulse of the Rift. It wasn't words that frightened me. It was how much they sounded like my own thoughts.
Ren was already awake, tinkering with a fragment of Elyndran metal by the fire. Sparks danced in the air, casting shadows across his face. Kael was cleaning his blade in silence, while Lyra sat apart from us, her head bowed in prayer. Soren stood near the edge of the platform, gazing into the rising light as though waiting for something unseen.
"The Vault is below the Forge," he said finally. "It was built by those who first opened the Gate, long before humans ever dreamed of this world."
I looked up. "You've been there before, haven't you?"
He hesitated before nodding. "Once. But I was not meant to enter. The Vault responds only to those who carry the light of both worlds." His gaze met mine. "You."
That word sat heavy in my chest. The light of both worlds. I still didn't fully understand what that meant. All I knew was that each time I got closer to the Rift, I felt less like myself and more like something that shouldn't exist.
We began our descent through a narrow stairway that wound deep beneath the Skyforge. The air grew colder with each step, humming faintly with echoes of forgotten voices. The walls glowed with faint blue veins of light that pulsed in rhythm with my heartbeat.
Ren whistled softly. "Feels like we're walking into a memory."
Lyra nodded. "That is not far from the truth. The Vault is made of echoes,fragments of thoughts preserved by the Forge."
Kael's voice was low. "Then we should tread carefully. Memories can be more dangerous than monsters."
At last, the stairway opened into a vast underground chamber. The Vault was nothing like I expected. It was not a room of stone or metal, but of glass, each surface reflecting a thousand different versions of reality. Floating symbols hovered in the air like frozen light, shifting whenever we breathed.
At the center stood an altar of smooth white crystal. Upon it rested a single sphere, no larger than my hand, pulsing with soft blue light.
Soren stepped forward slowly. "That is the Echo Core. It records everything the first Gateborn saw before the collapse."
Ren tilted his head. "And what happens if we touch it?"
Soren's expression darkened. "You will see the truth. Whether you survive it depends on how much truth your soul can bear."
I took a deep breath and stepped closer. The Core pulsed brighter, as if recognizing me. My reflection shimmered across its surface, splitting into countless copies of myself each one a little different. Some smiled. Some cried. Some looked like strangers entirely.
I whispered, "Watashi wa junbi ga dekiteiru."
Lyra asked softly, "What did you say?"
"I said I'm ready."
The moment my hand touched the Core, light swallowed everything.
The Vault disappeared. My body dissolved into fragments of memory. I was standing in a laboratory but not the one I had left behind on Earth. It was cleaner, brighter, filled with both human machines and Elyndran energy conduits. The air shimmered with the same hum that filled the Skyforge.
And there he was. My father.
He looked younger than I remembered. His hair was black, his eyes clear and determined. He stood beside a large portal frame, the same design I had built years later, as if I had followed his blueprint without knowing.
"Project Horizon," he said to someone unseen. "If we can align the quantum field with the Elyndran energy pattern, we can merge the two realms without collapse."
Another voice answered a woman's. "But what about the cost? You can't merge two worlds without consequence."
My father turned, and for a moment I saw something in his eyes that broke me fear. "The cost is already written. I just hope my daughter never sees it."
The light shifted. The lab shattered like glass, replaced by a battlefield of silver and shadow. The sky burned red. Two suns collided overhead. And standing between them was the same Riftborn entity we had seen at the Core.
But it wasn't alone. It was surrounded by figures,humans, Elyndrans, and something else, something between. They were Gateborn, wielding energy that twisted the very air.
And among them, I saw her. A woman who looked like me.
She turned her head slightly, her eyes glowing the same blue as the Rift. "If you see this memory, it means the Gate has opened again. Do not make our mistake. The Rift cannot be controlled. It must be balanced, or it will consume both worlds."
Her voice cracked as she whispered, "Forgive me, Akiya."
The light imploded, and I was thrown backward into reality. My body hit the cold floor of the Vault. Kael caught me before I fell completely. His voice was distant. "Akiya, breathe. Come back to us."
I gasped, shaking, my eyes burning with light. "I saw them. The first Gateborn. My father was one of them."
Soren's face went pale. "Then it is worse than we feared. The Gate is not a creation. It is a wound,one your father tried to heal and failed."
Lyra knelt beside me. "What did the woman say?"
"That the Rift can't be destroyed. Only balanced."
Ren scratched the back of his head, frowning. "Balanced? How do you balance a hole between worlds?"
No one had an answer. The Vault was silent except for the faint hum of the Core.
Then the light inside it flickered one last time, and a projection formed in the air a map, glowing softly, pointing to a location far beyond the Skyforge. The northern lands, where storms never ended.
Soren exhaled slowly. "The Cradle of Storms. That is where the first Gate was built."
Kael's hand tightened around his sword. "Then that's where we're going next."
I stood shakily, still feeling the echoes of my father's voice in my chest. The Rift whispered faintly again, not as a threat this time, but as a memory repeating itself.
Akiya… balance is not peace. It is survival.
I turned to the others. "Then we find the Cradle of Storms. And this time, we finish what they started."
The Vault's light dimmed behind us as we left, the walls echoing softly with voices of the past. I could not tell whether they were warning us or guiding us, only that they would never be silent again.
Above us, the Skyforge trembled once more, as if awakening from a long sleep. The air shimmered with quiet dread and fragile hope.
The path forward was clear, and yet, for the first time, I wondered if clarity was just another illusion crafted by fate.
...".to be continued..".. .