The palace shook again, but this time, softly. Not like anger. More like a deep breath.
Kael and Ravik stood in the garden ruins. Crystal dust still floated around their boots from the broken trap. The guardians landed behind them—the phoenix folding its wings, the echo-wolf sitting still, and the pride-dragon lowering its head to the ground.
"The palace is calling you again," Ravik said quietly.
Kael looked up. The sky above the palace twisted like slow smoke, forming one glowing symbol—a circle with a crack in the middle. The same symbol he had seen in the storm.
"I know," Kael said. "It wants an answer."
A door opened in the air.
Not a normal door. It formed itself out of floating stone blocks and blue sparks. It did not have hinges. It did not creak. It simply became a door, and then it stayed open, waiting.
Kael stepped forward without fear.
THE HALL THAT DID NOT EXIST BEFORE
Inside, the air smelled old. Like stories left in a book for a long time. The hall was wide, dark, and quiet. The walls were smooth, with lines of glowing runes that looked like words but moved like fireflies.
They did not speak, but Kael felt them watching him.
At the end of the hall, a big round room waited. Light spilled out of it, glowing like water, waving slowly as if it had a pulse.
"That must be it," Kael said.
Ravik followed carefully. "Be ready. Memory can hurt more than blades."
Kael did not answer. He already knew.
THE MEMORY CHAMBER
The round room was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
Floating glass shards hung in the air like broken windows.
Each shard glowed with a different color, showing a different memory.
The floor was a circle of silver sand that shimmered like stars at night.
In the center stood a tall stone pillar with no top. It stretched upward until it disappeared into light.
Kael stepped onto the silver sand.
The room reacted.
The glass shards began to spin, slowly at first, then faster, forming a floating ring around him.
Then the whispers came.
Not like before—these whispers were not lies or doubt. These were true memories. Real voices. Some soft. Some angry. Some crying. Some laughing.
Kael's glowing sword dimmed for a moment, as if even Oath-Render respected the past.
A glass shard floated in front of him.
It showed a small Kael, years younger, standing in a burning village. His arms were thin then. His hair was longer. His face was covered in soot. A smaller sword shook in his hand.
A voice echoed in the room.
"Run, Kael! You can't fight this!"
Young Kael yelled back, "I don't run! I answer!"
Kael closed his eyes in the real world. "That was the first time I forged my heart," he whispered.
Another shard came.
It showed Orin Varros—his teacher—placing a hand on Kael's shoulder in the forge.
"Power is not given, Kael. It is answered."
Kael felt the heat of the memory in his chest. "He said that before the games too," he murmured.
Another shard slammed into the ground and shattered, showing a darker memory.
A tall man stood over Kael in a duel. He wore gold armor. His sword was longer than Kael's. Blood dripped from Kael's arm.
"You swing like fire," the man said. "But you think like dust."
Kael gritted his teeth in the present. "I remember him," he growled. "He was wrong."
A giant shard hovered above him, glowing bright white.
It showed a future that had not happened yet.
Kael saw himself standing in a world covered in snow, holding Oath-Render. Behind him stood a massive dragon—Vryllos Belyx, wings open, fire rising around its claws. Ravik lay injured on the ground behind him. The guardians were kneeling, their power fading.
And Klyn Thraxxis stood in front of Kael, smiling.
"Answer this, forge-boy."
Kael opened his eyes, breathing hard. "That future will not break me."
The shards circled faster.
The palace wanted him to panic. To choose the wrong memory. To lose himself in the noise.
Kael slammed the sword into the silver sand.
"Enough!"
The room froze.
The shards stopped spinning.
The pride-dragon lifted its head.
The echo-wolf growled low.
The phoenix's flames flickered brighter.
Kael spoke clearly, loudly, and simply:
"I do not walk in memory. I walk with memory.
I do not break because of the past.
I grow because I answered it."
The stone pillar cracked.
The silver sand turned into glowing stars beneath him.
The glass shards slowly rearranged themselves, forming a crown-like circle above Kael's head—not a crown of gold, but a crown of acknowledged answers.
Ravik smiled faintly. "It accepted you."
Kael looked up. "No. It accepted the fact that I answer."
THE MEMORY BEAST
A sudden rumble came.
The sand formed into a creature—huge, four-legged, and built like a bull made of stone and silver stars. Its horns were curved like moons. Its eyes glowed blue like the palace doors. Every breath it took blew tiny stars into the air.
It spoke—not with a mouth, but with sound in the room.
"Kael Varros. The palace remembers you now.
But can you remember the palace?"
Kael raised his head slowly. "I already do."
The creature charged, but not to attack—its forehead stopped one inch from Kael's chest, pushing him backward slightly. Not enough to hurt. Enough to test if he would stand firm.
Kael pushed back.
Their heads met, will against memory, stone against forge-fire heart.
Kael whispered with a grin:
"I answer."
The creature stepped back, then dissolved into sand again, turning into stars that swirled into Kael's armor, making the silver plates glow brighter.
New lines of runes appeared on his black-silver chest plate.
But these runes did not twist or whisper. They were still, calm, and readable.
They said one thing, in very clear language:
"Answered."
KLYN'S MESSAGE
A small shadow bird formed on the wall, made of smoke and probability thread. It chirped once, then spoke with Klyn's voice:
"I know where you are, Kael.
The palace may remember you,
but it does not rule me."
Kael smiled without shaking. "He is afraid now."
Ravik shook his head. "No. He is planning."
Kael turned and began walking out of the chamber, guardians behind him, sword glowing again, posture steady.
"Then I will answer his plan too," Kael said simply.
Because in this world, Kael Varros answered everything.
Even the unseen.
Kael enters a room that shows the past and the future at the same time. The palace asks a new question: Can memory break a warrior who always answers?