Chapter 37: ECHOES OF THE FORGOTTEN
The veil of light flickered as Kaito stepped through it, and for a moment, it felt as if time itself paused.
There was no sensation—no sound, no air, not even the thud of his own heartbeat. It was like stepping into the center of a dream that had been frozen in place.
Then everything changed.
The chamber beyond was vast—impossibly vast. More than a chamber, it felt like an entire pocket dimension, detached from the physical world.
The sky above was a swirling canvas of starlight and void, constantly reshaping, whispering untold truths through its slow motion.
The floor beneath him was a mirror-black obsidian circle, cracked faintly at the edges, as though it had seen battles from forgotten ages.
At the very center of this grand hall stood a towering monolith. Midnight-black stone wrapped in silver vines of flowing script. The runes pulsed in rhythm, like the beat of a living heart.
Kaito took a slow breath, but even the air felt ancient—too heavy to be real.
He stepped closer.
As he did, the runes on the monolith began to shift. The silver light flowed upward, forming shapes—memories, as if the stone was reaching into his mind and displaying pieces of his soul.
He saw flashes: the death of the Guardian, the storm at the edge of the realm, his first encounter with the Abyss, and then... Nyra. Again and again, her image appeared—laughing, crying, fighting, screaming.