The scream echoed across existence.
It did not shake the heavens.
It did not shatter mountains.
Yet every living soul instinctively looked toward the northern sky.
For a single heartbeat...
The world itself seemed to stop breathing.
...
The Imperial Academy.
Students froze in the middle of conversations.
Training swords stopped inches before striking their targets.
Spells dissipated before they could be cast.
Even the wind ceased blowing.
Aren slowly looked upward.
"...Did you hear that?"
Nearby students exchanged confused glances.
"Hear what?"
"There wasn't any sound."
Aren frowned.
He knew he had heard something.
Not with his ears.
With his soul.
The silver mark on the back of his hand pulsed once before becoming calm again.
Far away...
The Crystal Throne shone brighter than ever.
Another ancient rune awakened upon its surface.
The Throne had sensed it.
The Gardener had overcome another Lock.
...
Deep beneath the World Tree...
The silver-rooted door slowly opened.
Not outward.
It dissolved.
The countless roots intertwined before separating like curtains, revealing a vast sea of stars stretching endlessly into the distance.
Kael stepped forward.
The moment his foot crossed the threshold...
The Hall of Forgotten Names disappeared.
The World Tree vanished.
The Traveler.
Old Rowan.
The echoes of forgotten civilizations.
Everything faded.
Only Kael remained.
Floating.
Weightless.
Surrounded by endless stars.
Each star glowed with a different color.
Blue.
Silver.
Crimson.
Gold.
Some burned brilliantly.
Others flickered weakly, as though on the verge of extinction.
Kael looked around.
"...Where am I?"
No answer came.
For the first time since entering the Locks...
Neither the Traveler nor the World Tree replied.
He was alone.
A soft breeze drifted through the endless cosmos.
Then...
Footsteps.
Kael immediately turned.
Someone was walking toward him across empty space.
One step.
Another.
Each step created ripples among the stars.
The figure gradually became clearer.
A man.
Tall.
Dressed in simple white robes.
Long black hair reached his waist.
His face...
Looked strangely familiar.
Not because Kael remembered him.
Because...
The man looked remarkably similar to the child from the Fourth Lock.
Only older.
Perhaps thirty years old.
His silver eyes carried unimaginable gentleness.
He smiled.
"So..."
"...you finally came."
Kael instinctively reached for his sword.
"Who are you?"
The man chuckled softly.
"I wondered how long it would take before you asked that."
He stopped several meters away.
Instead of introducing himself...
He looked around at the countless stars.
"They're beautiful."
Kael remained cautious.
"You haven't answered me."
"No."
"I haven't."
The man slowly raised his hand.
A single fading star drifted gently into his palm.
It immediately became brighter.
Its dying light returned.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"...What did you just do?"
"I remembered."
The answer confused him.
The man smiled.
"The Fifth Lock isn't a place."
"It isn't a battle."
"It isn't even a trial."
He looked directly into Kael's eyes.
"It's a conversation."
Silence followed.
Kael studied the mysterious man carefully.
He felt no hostility.
No overwhelming aura.
No divine pressure.
Yet...
Everything about him felt impossible to ignore.
Finally...
Kael asked again.
"Who are you?"
The man's smile became wistful.
"I've had many names."
"Some called me the First Traveler."
"Others..."
He laughed quietly.
"...used stranger titles."
"But before all of those..."
He gently placed a hand over his own chest.
"...I was simply a man."
Kael frowned.
"You're avoiding the question."
"I am."
"Why?"
The man's gaze shifted toward a distant silver star.
"Because if I tell you my name now..."
"...you'll stop asking the questions that matter."
Kael fell silent.
The Fifth Lock felt completely different from the previous ones.
There was no pressure.
No urgency.
Only questions.
The mysterious man began walking once more.
"Come."
Kael hesitated before following him.
As they walked among the stars, Kael noticed something strange.
Every star they passed contained countless tiny scenes.
One showed a child taking his first steps.
Another showed an elderly couple watching a sunset together.
Another showed soldiers returning home after a long war.
Millions of ordinary moments.
Millions of lives.
Kael whispered,
"These are memories."
The man nodded.
"No."
Kael looked closer.
"They're still happening."
The man smiled.
"Exactly."
"They aren't memories."
"They're possibilities."
Kael stopped walking.
"Possibilities?"
The mysterious man extended his hand toward the endless sea of stars.
"Every choice creates another future."
"Every act of kindness."
"Every betrayal."
"Every promise kept."
"Every promise broken."
He looked back at Kael.
"The Fifth Lock is the Lock of Possibility."
"The previous Locks taught you to remember."
"This one..."
He pointed toward the countless stars.
"...will teach you responsibility."
Kael slowly understood.
His choices...
Did not merely affect the present.
They shaped futures he would never personally witness.
The man continued.
"Tell me, Kael."
"If you save one village..."
"...but condemn another..."
"Did you make the right choice?"
Kael opened his mouth.
No answer came.
"If you save your companion..."
"...and a thousand strangers die..."
"Were you selfish?"
Again...
Silence.
"If you kill one innocent person..."
"...to save the world..."
"Will the world still deserve saving?"
Kael felt his chest grow heavy.
There were no simple answers.
The mysterious man smiled gently.
"I told you."
"It's a conversation."
He pointed toward a lone silver star shining brighter than all the others.
"Touch it."
Kael stepped closer.
The star pulsed warmly beneath his fingertips.
Instantly...
The endless sea of stars disappeared.
...
He found himself standing upon the walls of a burning city.
Smoke covered the heavens.
The sound of battle echoed everywhere.
Below...
Aren.
Lyra.
Selene.
Princess Seraphina.
The First Son.
The Fourth Brother.
Every companion he knew fought desperately against an endless tide of darkness.
Far beyond the battlefield...
The World Tree was burning.
Its silver leaves turned to ash.
The Hall of Forgotten Names collapsed one chamber after another.
The Watcher descended from the fractured sky.
Then...
Kael noticed something impossible.
At the center of the battlefield...
Another Kael stood.
Older.
His hair streaked with silver.
His eyes carried endless exhaustion.
He held the Gardener's Key.
It had seven blooming branches.
The older Kael slowly turned.
Their eyes met.
His older self smiled.
Not happily.
Sadly.
As though he had been waiting for this meeting for a very long time.
He raised a trembling hand toward the younger Kael.
Then whispered words only Kael could hear.
**"When the time comes..."**
His voice broke.
**"...don't make the same choice I did."**
The vision shattered.
Kael stumbled backward into the endless sea of stars, his breathing ragged.
The mysterious man was watching him quietly.
"What..."
Kael whispered.
"...was that?"
The man looked toward the brightest star.
"A future."
"One of many."
He paused.
"But not one..."
His silver eyes met Kael's.
"...that has to come true."
Far away, hidden beyond the sea of possibilities, something stirred.
Not the Watcher.
Not the World Tree.
Something older than both.
And for the first time since entering the Fifth Lock...
Kael realized that the greatest enemy waiting ahead...
Might not be fate.
It might be the choices he would one day have to make.