Chapter 123 - The First Betrayal
The Sanctuary fell into complete silence.
Even the seven glowing leaves stopped swaying.
Kai looked at Aurelia, searching her face.
"Who created the Nameless Horror?"
Aurelia did not answer immediately.
Instead, she touched the small tree.
A single golden fruit fell into her hand.
"Some truths," she whispered, "can only be understood by witnessing them."
She offered the fruit to Kai.
"Eat."
---
The Codex of the Beast Sovereign shimmered.
Ancient Memory Seed
Origin:
World Heart
Purpose:
Witness the Unaltered Past
Warning:
The memories cannot be changed.
Only understood.
---
Kai accepted the fruit.
The moment he bit into it...
The Sanctuary disappeared.
---
He stood beneath an immense tree.
Not the small sapling of the Sanctuary.
Not even the World Root.
This tree stretched beyond the stars themselves.
Its branches held entire galaxies.
Its roots reached into the fabric of reality.
"The World Heart..."
Kai whispered.
"No," Aurelia's voice echoed.
"This was the Tree of Origin."
---
Three figures stood beneath its branches.
The first was the young Beast Sovereign.
The second was Noctis, still wearing the robes of the Keeper of Seals.
The third...
Made Kai's heart stop.
It was the Origin King.
Without the mask.
Without the loneliness.
He smiled as he spoke with his two closest friends.
They laughed together.
Shared ideas.
Dreamed of a future where every world could flourish.
"They were... friends?"
Aurelia answered softly.
"The first guardians of existence."
---
Years passed in moments.
Civilizations spread across countless worlds.
Knowledge grew.
Peace endured.
Until...
A group of ancient rulers arrived before the Tree of Origin.
They knelt.
"Grant us eternal power."
The Origin King refused.
"The World Heart is not a weapon."
The rulers bowed...
But hatred filled their eyes.
---
That night...
They returned in secret.
Using forbidden rituals, they attempted to drain the Tree of Origin.
Golden sap flowed into crystal vessels.
Reality trembled.
The Tree cried out.
---
Noctis immediately raised his chains.
The First Beast Sovereign rescued the wounded creatures caught in the chaos.
The Origin King confronted the invaders.
But it was too late.
A wound had already been carved into the heart of creation.
---
From that wound...
Something impossible emerged.
Not a beast.
Not a spirit.
Not a god.
A hole.
A place where existence itself had been torn away.
It consumed light.
It consumed sound.
Then...
It consumed one of the ancient rulers.
Not killing him.
Erasing him.
The other rulers screamed.
They fled.
Their names vanished from history before they had taken ten steps.
---
The Codex revealed new text.
Historical Truth
The Nameless Horror was born when existence itself was wounded.
It is not evil.
It is the universe attempting to erase an impossible contradiction.
---
Kai stared in disbelief.
"So it isn't invading..."
"It's healing the wound."
Aurelia's voice was heavy with sorrow.
"Yes."
"But it no longer knows where the wound ends."
"It now tries to erase everything."
---
The vision continued.
The First Beast Sovereign and Noctis fought side by side.
The Origin King held the expanding void at bay.
Then...
The First Beast Sovereign shouted,
"Seal it!"
Noctis hesitated.
"If we do..."
"You'll be trapped inside!"
The Origin King smiled peacefully.
"If one life can preserve countless worlds..."
"It is a small price."
With tears in his eyes, Noctis forged the first Eternal Chains.
The First Beast Sovereign planted the first World Root.
Together...
The three friends sealed the wound behind what would become the Gate of Origins.
---
The memory ended.
Kai found himself back in the Sanctuary.
His hands were trembling.
"So..."
"No one betrayed anyone."
Aurelia nodded.
"The greatest tragedy was never betrayal."
"It was sacrifice misunderstood."
---
Far beyond the Sanctuary...
Noctis stood alone before the Gate of Origins.
For the first time in twelve thousand years...
He remembered the smile of his oldest friend.
A single tear ran down his face.
"I never forgot..."
"I only forgot why we smiled."
At that same moment, a faint crack appeared on the Origin King's white mask.
Inside the Gate...
The Nameless Horror became still.
As if...
It, too, remembered something.