Haruto stared at the mirror of ash, its swirling images burning into his mind.
Not summoned… split?
"What do you mean?" he asked, his voice steady despite the dread curling in his gut.
The Keeper walked slowly around the dais, hands behind her back. "When you crossed worlds, it was not a divine ritual. It was a fracture—of reality, and of self."
Lucien frowned. "That's not possible. Summoning magic doesn't work like that."
"That's because you only know the magic you're allowed to remember." The Keeper's tone was laced with pity. "This world—Arcavelle—is not the only one ruled by lies. In your former world, you were already breaking through the false veil."
Haruto stepped closer to the mirror. Images shifted faster now—snippets of the world he had come from: crowded cities, neon skies, memories buried under layers of pain and silence.
He saw himself—on both sides.
One version of him stood alone, lost, wandering the broken gridlines of a digital city. The other—the version here—stood with sword in hand, at the edge of magic.
"We weren't just split…" Haruto murmured. "We're still connected."
The Keeper nodded. "Two sides of the same soul, forced apart to contain something ancient. The Nullblade is not your weapon—it is your tether."
Serenya stepped forward, concern in her eyes. "So what happens if that connection is broken?"
"You'll forget everything," the Keeper said. "Again. And next time, you may not come back."
The weight of her words settled heavily over them.
Lucien crossed his arms. "So what do we do? Just accept he's living on borrowed identity?"
"No." Haruto's grip tightened around the Nullblade. "We find out why it was done—and who did it."
The Keeper slowly extended her hand, revealing a shard of obsidian etched with glowing script.
"This is your next key," she said. "A fragment of your origin—hidden in the ruins of Vel'Tharion, the city swallowed by the skyfire. There… your other half may awaken."
Haruto took the shard. It pulsed in his hand—warm, like memory.
"I'm done running from the past," he said.
The Keeper smiled faintly. "Then be warned… the past is not done running toward you."