"All relics were forged by truths… except one.
The spear was forged by a lie so powerful, even gods believed it."
— The Silent Archive
---
The city of Adras continued collapsing long after Kaien left it.
He didn't walk.
He didn't fly.
He moved—like a thought someone had tried to forget but couldn't.
His cloak, woven from broken scripture, dragged ash in every direction.
The spear rested across his back.
Not glowing.
Not pulsing.
Just waiting.
And every step he took left no footprint—
because the earth beneath him had already remembered his presence once before.
---
Scene: The Memory That Bled
Kaien's first stop wasn't a battlefield.
It was a lake.
Silent. Still.
Its surface shimmered with fragments of things that hadn't happened yet.
He knelt. Touched the water.
And the visions returned.
> A battlefield soaked in betrayal.
Vayren—before the name.
Lyra—unburned, laughing.
Serenya—wingless, weeping.
And himself.
Smiling.
> "This time, you won't save them," the reflection whispered.
"This time, you'll remember who broke first."
---
Kaien stood. Looked to the east.
> "Vayren," he whispered. "You were always the hardest to kill."
> "Let's see if you're harder to forgive."
---
Meanwhile: Vayren and Lyra
They felt it.
Not physically. Not magically.
Existentially.
The moment Kaien stepped onto the surface of the world, something shifted inside them both.
Lyra's flame stuttered.
Vayren's Mark pulsed once, violently.
He doubled over.
> "What was that?" Lyra asked.
He didn't answer for a moment.
Then:
> "Someone just woke up… and they remember me."
---
Final Scene: Kaien's First Target
Deep in the southern outlands, an Echo-bearer stood watch over a sealed relic vault.
He was nameless. Faithful. One of the Church's hidden warriors.
Kaien appeared behind him.
No sound.
No threat.
The Echo-bearer turned.
> "Who—"
> "You don't need to remember me," Kaien said.
He raised the spear.
> "You only need to remember what you promised.
And what it cost you."
He struck once.
There was no scream.
Only regret.