Crescent City – Inner Core SectorYear: UnknownSeason: Endless Rain
The imperial bells tolled thirteen times—each chime echoing across the spires of Crescent City like the heartbeat of a dying god.
And yet, deep within the Forbidden Quarter where no commoner dared to tread, the world was unnaturally silent.
In a black marble temple shaped like an eye with no pupil, the girl knelt in the center of a spiraling lotus formation made of ancient bones.
Hair white as snow. Eyes silver as stormlight. Skin pale enough to vanish in moonlight.
She was beautiful—eerie, unnatural, almost artificial.
But the strangest thing was her stillness.
"It has begun," she whispered.
The air in the room shifted. Shadows coalesced into the shape of a man cloaked in eternal dusk.
"He's awakened the Memory Flame," the shadow said. "Shall we intervene?"
She opened her eyes—silver irises spinning with thousands of runes.
"No. He'll come to me. He must."
"And if he remembers who he is before you bind his soul?"
"Then I'll have no choice but to kill him. Again."
Meanwhile…
He wandered through the mountain path, barefoot and bleeding.
The roots on his arm pulsed with eerie heat—each beat like a second heart syncing with something far away.
The world here felt different. Too quiet. Too watchful.
For hours, no beasts, no wind, no sky birds. Just silence and shadows.
"The girl who remembers everything…" he muttered. "Why does that name feel like it belongs to me?"
Suddenly, the path ended.
Before him: a gate made of white stone, carved with thousands of names in a language older than paper.
It opened with a whisper—not a sound, a memory.
He stepped through.
Inside was a city that shouldn't exist.
Clean. Empty. Lit by floating lanterns that carried memories like fish in glass bowls.
He followed the lanterns. Each one replayed something as it passed:
—A man burying a ring beneath a cherry tree.—A woman screaming as a red-robed monk burned her journal.—A child hiding a shard of broken mirror in a cake of rice.
Memories. Fragments. Lies and truths preserved in flickering glass.
And then, she appeared.
The girl.
Not walking. Floating.
Hair like moonlight. Eyes swirling with runes.
Her voice echoed before her lips even moved:
"You came. I wasn't sure you would."
He froze, hand gripping the broken spear tied to his back.
"Who are you?"
"I am the one who remembers everything I've ever been," she said. "Every life. Every death. Every betrayal."
"Then you must know who I am."
Her eyes dimmed slightly.
"No," she said. "You are the only thing I've never remembered."
"Why?"
She stepped closer, feet never touching the ground.
"Because I killed you. In every life I've lived."
Silence.
Then—
"That's impossible."
"And yet, here you stand. Rootless. Nameless. A paradox carved from flame and loss."
She reached out and touched the mark on his arm.
The world fractured.
He fell—no, was pulled—into her memories.
Flashes.
He was her protector.A bodyguard with no name, always at her side. He once loved her.She once ordered his death.
Then again. Another life.
He was her brother.A prodigy. She sabotaged his cultivation path out of jealousy.
Then again. Another life.
He was her executioner.She betrayed the sect. He carried out the sentence.
Dozens. Hundreds. Always at odds. Always ending in death.
He gasped, staggering back.
"You… You've lived hundreds of lives…"
"Eight hundred and sixty-four," she whispered. "And in every single one, you've always returned."
"Why?"
"I don't know. But I remember the moment your root burns bright."
She raised her palm.
A flame flickered.
Not hers.
His.
"You're the Origin Root. The first cultivator. The one who discovered how to anchor the soul beyond time."
"And that makes you the greatest threat to the ones who rule this world."
"Who… rules this world?"
She said one word.
"The Forgetters."
Suddenly, the temple trembled.
From outside, bells rang again—but this time they were off-beat, corrupted.
Her eyes widened.
"They found you already?! No—it's too soon!"
The walls cracked. Lanterns shattered, flooding the temple with uncontrolled memories.
"They'll erase us both," she said. "Unless…"
She grabbed his hand.
"Unless we bind roots."
"What does that mean?!"
"It means if I die again, you die with me."
He stared at her.
"And if we don't?"
"They'll tear your soul out and feed it to the Well of Forgotten Flames."
Outside, a howl shook the sky.
"Decide, Origin Root!"