The inner gates of Vel'Tharion groaned open, as if stirred by the echo of Haruto's reclaimed memory. A path unfolded, leading into the base of the glowing spire—the heart of the city that time abandoned.
Haruto stepped forward, the crystalized shard now embedded into the hilt of his Nullblade. It pulsed softly, not with power, but with memory—echoes of a self that had long been buried.
"This place," he murmured, "was built not to crown kings… but to erase them."
Lucien's boots crunched over blackened tiles. "I've read about arcane memory prisons. Whole cities rewritten to bury inconvenient truths."
Serenya added, "Then Vel'Tharion isn't just ruins. It's a tomb."
They entered the spire.
Inside, there was no throne room—only a vast chamber of glass and crystal, suspended like a cathedral in the sky. Fragments of reality floated midair: shards of time, frozen moments.
Haruto stepped onto the glowing platform in the center. The instant his foot touched it, the room rippled—and then shifted.
A throne rose from the center, forged from starlight and ash. It was broken in places, charred and cracked—but unmistakably his.
A voice echoed through the chamber. Low. Calm. Familiar.
"So… the exile returns."
From behind the throne stepped a figure draped in obsidian robes, his face hidden behind a helm of flowing shadows. Around his neck hung a key shaped like a broken crown.
Serenya tensed. "That's not a guardian."
"No," Haruto said. "That's a warden."
The figure lifted a hand, and illusions bloomed around him. They saw Haruto—his other self—standing atop this very throne, eyes ablaze, leading armies that tore stars from the skies.
"You were a weapon," the warden said. "Forged to fight gods, tempered by memory. When they couldn't destroy you, they shattered you. And I… was chosen to keep the pieces separate."
Lucien snarled. "So this whole place was just a giant lock?"
"No," the warden said. "It was a warning."
Haruto's eyes flared. "And I'm done being warned."
He drew the Nullblade—now fully awakened, glinting with crystal memory and forgotten power.
"I came for the truth," he said. "Now I'll take it back."
The warden smiled beneath the helm.
"Then claim your throne, Ash-Born."