The Black Glass Tower stood like a wound in the ground. Windowless, lightless, and made of obsidian so dark it seemed to absorb hope itself.
> "This isn't just a building," said Serenya. "It holds fates that were removed. Dangerous ones. Ones too... divergent."
> "So it's like the system's trash bin?" Kael asked.
Lirieth sighed. "Yes. But sometimes, the bin eats back."
---
The first floor was total darkness—but not empty.
The walls held fragments of fate, many burned or forcibly erased. Kael touched one.
> [Warning: Accessing fragment may destabilize mental integrity.]
[Proceed?]
Kael: "Let's make this a new regret."
---
Fragments Kael Accessed:
📜 Fragment 00123-BX:
> "Subject: Virdane K-9. Potential Class: [REDACTED]. Activation Forbidden."
"Reason: Entity beyond system touched core soul layer."
📜 Fragment 00457-MN:
> "Too close to Gate of Dimension Zero. Possibility: 'Living Rift'. Monitoring required."
📜 Corrupted Note:
> "…If he awakens too early… they will… awaken too…"
---
> "Who are 'they'?" Kael asked.
No answer. Not even from the system.
---
On the second floor, they found a broken fate circle—and a woman standing in the center.
Hair like moonlight. Clothes that flowed like time itself.
But her face... looked drawn from forgotten memory.
"Who are you?" Kael whispered.
> "I was once a Fate Keeper," she replied. "Now I'm called... The One Who Never Was."
Serenya stepped forward, guarded. "She's not human. Not system. Something... in between."
> "My name is Aeyra. I remember you, Kael.
Before your fate was erased."
---
The Indescribable Thing
Before Kael could ask more, something moved in the shadows.
Not man. Not system. Not beast.
It had no form.
Only presence—like a thought that should not exist.
Even the system couldn't classify it.
> [Entity: Unknown. System memory disrupted.]
[Visual unstable. Do not observe directly.]
Kael trembled. "I... hear it. But it doesn't speak."
> "That's not sound," Aeyra said. "It's... pure intent.
You are being seen."
---
Aeyra drove the thing back using a spell that reversed time, forcing it to retreat… but not vanish.
> "They know you exist, Kael," she said.
"And now… they want to know why the system cannot contain you."
---
Lirieth looked terrified.
> "We need to leave. Now."
Before they left, Aeyra gave Kael a cracked crystal, pulsing like a second heart.
> "This is a shard of your former fate.
But you can't read all of it. Not yet."
---
Kael looked her in the eyes.
> "If my fate was deleted… who did it?"
Aeyra gave a ghostly smile.
> "Not who. But… what."