Silence.
The single word spoken by the Watcher continued echoing throughout the Fourth Lock.
**"Gardener."**
The voice carried neither hatred nor anger.
It was calm.
Perfectly calm.
As if it had simply recognized an old acquaintance after countless years.
Kael's heart pounded.
The silver eyes within the mirror remained fixed upon him.
He could not feel killing intent.
He could not feel malice.
That frightened him more than any murderous aura ever had.
A being driven by rage could be understood.
A being driven by hatred could be opposed.
But the Watcher...
Felt nothing.
The Traveler broke the silence.
"...Do not answer."
Kael didn't move.
The World Tree's branches rustled somewhere beyond the chamber.
Even that ancient existence seemed unusually tense.
The Watcher's voice came again.
**"You remember."**
Not a question.
A statement.
Kael slowly raised his head.
"...I do."
The Traveler's expression changed.
"You answered..."
Kael never looked away from the silver eyes.
"It already knows."
The chamber remained perfectly still.
Several moments passed before the Watcher spoke once more.
**"Unnecessary."**
Kael frowned.
"What is?"
The silver eyes did not blink.
**"Memory."**
The single word sent a chill through his body.
The World Tree finally spoke.
"Explain."
For the first time...
The Watcher answered another being.
**"Memory creates suffering."**
**"Memory creates hatred."**
**"Memory creates war."**
Images suddenly appeared within the mirror.
Kingdoms burning.
Children crying beside ruined homes.
Brothers killing brothers.
Cities drowning in blood.
Civilizations collapsing beneath endless greed.
Kael recognized many of them.
Some belonged to the ancient age.
Others...
Had not happened yet.
The Watcher continued.
**"Forget."**
The burning cities disappeared.
The battlefield vanished.
The crying children smiled once more.
No one remembered loss.
No one remembered betrayal.
No one remembered pain.
The vision looked...
Peaceful.
The Watcher's voice remained completely emotionless.
**"Without memory..."**
**"...there is no grief."**
Kael stared silently.
For a brief moment...
He understood.
Not agreed.
Understood.
The Watcher wasn't destroying the world because it hated life.
It genuinely believed memory was the source of suffering.
The Traveler whispered,
"...So that was your conclusion."
The World Tree answered with quiet sadness.
"No."
"It was its mistake."
The silver eyes shifted toward the World Tree.
**"Pain repeats."**
**"Erasure ends repetition."**
Kael finally spoke.
"And joy?"
Silence.
"What happens to joy?"
The Watcher did not answer.
Kael took a single step forward.
"What happens to love?"
No reply.
"What happens to hope?"
The silver eyes remained still.
"What happens to promises?"
Kael's voice grew firmer.
"What happens to a mother's smile?"
"A child's dream?"
"A friend's sacrifice?"
"What happens to them?"
The chamber shook.
Not because Kael released mana.
Because every memory preserved within the Hall of Forgotten Names responded.
The laughter of forgotten children echoed faintly.
The sound of church bells drifted through the darkness.
The warmth of countless ordinary lives filled the chamber.
The World Tree quietly whispered,
"Answer him."
The Watcher remained silent.
Kael slowly understood.
It couldn't answer.
Because it had never tried to preserve happiness.
It had only tried to erase suffering.
Those two things...
Were inseparable.
Kael looked directly into the endless silver eyes.
"You think memories only create pain."
The Gardener's Key floated beside him.
The blue lantern burned brighter.
The silver sapling he carried began to grow tiny blossoms.
"But everything precious I've found..."
He remembered Mira returning the wooden bird.
He remembered Eli taking his hand.
He remembered Aren quietly sharing his meal.
Lyra studying through countless sleepless nights.
Selene recording forgotten names.
Old Rowan laughing beneath the World Tree.
"...exists because someone remembered."
The Fourth Lock trembled violently.
The final crack upon the mirror began glowing.
The Watcher spoke once again.
**"Statistical anomaly."**
Kael smiled faintly.
"No."
"It's called living."
The silver threads connecting Kael to his companions suddenly appeared throughout the chamber.
One by one.
Then hundreds.
Then thousands.
Each thread represented a choice.
A friendship.
A promise.
None had been created by fate.
All had been created through memories shared together.
The Watcher observed them in silence.
**"Bonds create suffering."**
Kael nodded.
"They do."
"They also create courage."
"They create families."
"They create people willing to sacrifice themselves for strangers."
"They create civilizations."
The World Tree's leaves began falling like rain.
The Hall of Forgotten Names answered.
Millions of silver lights appeared around Kael.
Not warriors.
Not kings.
Ordinary people.
The baker from the forgotten city.
The little boy from Astera.
The mother who had smiled while preparing dinner.
The old man who taught a child to listen to the wood.
The nameless healer.
The fisherman.
The teacher.
The gardener.
Countless forgotten souls quietly stood behind Kael.
Not because they had been summoned.
Because they had been remembered.
The Traveler's voice trembled.
"...Three thousand years..."
Old Rowan laughed softly somewhere beyond memory.
"You finally found the answer."
The Watcher looked beyond Kael.
Toward the countless ordinary souls.
Toward the Hall.
Toward the World Tree.
Then...
For the first time...
Its emotionless voice carried the faintest trace of confusion.
**"...Why?"**
Not "Why resist?"
Not "Why remember?"
Simply...
Why?
Kael looked at the forgotten people standing behind him.
Then smiled.
A warm, ordinary smile.
The same smile the little boy in the mirror had once worn.
"Because they lived."
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
"They laughed."
"They cried."
"They loved."
"They dreamed."
"If I erase their memories..."
"...then it's as if they never reached this world at all."
The final crack shattered.
Not with violence.
With light.
The entire Fourth Lock erupted into brilliant silver radiance.
The World Tree's voice echoed across the endless chamber.
**"The Fourth Lock..."**
A pause.
As if even the ancient tree felt pride.
**"...has been conquered."**
The mirror dissolved into countless fragments of light.
Each fragment transformed into a glowing leaf.
They circled around Kael before merging into the Gardener's Key.
The key changed.
A fourth branch bloomed from its living wood.
The blue flame within Eli's lantern grew brighter than ever before.
Then...
The chamber slowly disappeared.
A new doorway appeared before Kael.
Unlike every previous door...
It was made entirely from intertwined silver roots.
Ancient runes pulsed across its surface.
Beyond the narrow gap beneath it...
Only endless starlight could be seen.
The Traveler slowly walked beside Kael.
His usually calm face carried an expression Kael had never seen before.
Concern.
"The Fifth Lock..."
He whispered.
"...is where everything changes."
Kael looked at the ancient door.
Behind him, the echoes of forgotten civilizations still rang softly.
Ahead of him...
An unknown destiny waited.
Without hesitation...
He reached for the silver roots.
The moment his fingers touched the door...
A deafening scream echoed across every corner of existence.
Not from the Hall.
Not from the World Tree.
From the Watcher itself.
For the first time since the beginning of the world...
It had lost.