Chapter 2: Echoes of the Forgotten Gate
Lina didn't look back. She could feel the gate behind them flickering and fading, but she refused to face it. Everything from Skyreach was now just a memory—a crack in space and time they could never reach again.
Kai stood beside her, hands clenched, his face serious. "We really left everything behind, huh?" he muttered, his voice tinged with regret. "Skyreach... gone."
Lina looked up, staring into the void ahead. "Not 'left behind,'" she replied firmly. "We'll come back. When we're stronger, when the gate opens again."
The platform they landed on wasn't a world—it was a junction, a point suspended in an endless void. No stars. No planets. Just cold steel beneath their feet and the hum of machinery hidden beneath the surface. The place felt alive, like it was watching them.
Kai crouched beside a control panel, fingers flying over unfamiliar symbols. "Everything's scrambled," he said, his eyes sharp with tension. "Someone tampered with the gate."
Lina sensed a strange shift in the air, and she knew instinctively that something—or someone—was coming. "Not someone," she whispered, her voice low, as if saying it aloud would make it real. "It knew we were coming."
Before she could finish, a wave of energy surged through the platform. Lights flared, turning the surroundings into a blinding blur. Lina gripped the shard in her hand, feeling it grow warmer, reacting to the disturbance in the air.
"We don't have much time," she warned, her eyes locking with Kai's. "If this is what I think it is..."
Kai straightened, drawing his sword with a swift motion, his gaze resolute. "Then we fight. Or we run."
Lina didn't respond right away. She stared at the shard in her hand, then turned to Kai, her eyes gleaming with determination. "No. We remember."
Without warning, the gate behind them cracked open, the sound of tearing fabric filling the air. And through it stepped a figure, cloaked in shadow, with a face Lina had seen before—only in her dreams.
"You," Lina breathed, disbelief in her voice.
The man smiled. "You don't remember me, do you? I am the one you've forgotten... 46 times before."
Lina took a step back, her heart pounding in her chest. She could feel the shard growing warmer in her hand, its energy vibrating in response to the presence of this man. A cold chill ran down her spine, and she forced herself to speak, despite the knot of fear tightening in her throat.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling, though she tried to hide it.
The man's smile widened. His eyes were dark, full of ancient knowledge, but there was something familiar about them—something she couldn't place. "You don't remember, but you will. You always do."
Kai moved closer to Lina, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "Stay back," he warned, his voice low but firm. "We don't know who he is, or what he wants."
The figure's gaze shifted to Kai, and for a moment, the air around them seemed to ripple. "Ah, the protector. Always there, always by her side," the man said with a smirk. "But do you truly know her? Or is it all just a cycle? Another repeat?"
Lina's grip on the shard tightened, her pulse quickening. The words he spoke were like an echo from a past she couldn't quite reach. "What cycle?" she demanded, though she could already feel the answer slipping just beyond her grasp.
The man stepped forward, his form shifting, as though he were part of the very shadows themselves. "The cycle of forgetfulness. The cycle of loss. Every time she remembers, she loses. Every time she loves, she forgets. You are not the first to stand here, Kai. Nor will you be the last."
Lina's mind reeled with his words, but one thing was certain. This was not their first encounter with him—whatever had happened before, whatever memories had been lost, they were all connected. She had to find the truth. She had to remember.
Lina could feel the weight of the words hanging in the air. A deep, gnawing sensation spread through her chest, as if something—someone—was calling to her from a place far beyond her reach. Her mind churned, searching for the missing pieces of the puzzle. Memories danced just beyond her grasp, fragments of something she once knew, and yet, could no longer recall.
The figure before them, cloaked in shadows, seemed to grow taller, more imposing. His presence filled the void like a dark storm gathering on the horizon.
"You can't escape this, Lina," the man whispered, his voice echoing in the vast emptiness around them. "Every cycle, you forget. But you always return. The truth is always the same."
Lina's heart raced. There was something disturbingly familiar about him, something that tugged at the deepest part of her soul. The shard in her hand pulsed with an energy that resonated with the man's words. The connection was undeniable. It was as if this moment had played out countless times before, in countless different ways.
"No..." Lina shook her head, trying to push the overwhelming feeling away. "I don't know you. I can't remember... I need to understand."
The man's lips twisted into a cruel smile. "Understand? You can't understand until you remember. And you will. Whether you want to or not."
Kai stepped forward, standing between Lina and the shadowy figure. His eyes were sharp, filled with resolve. "Whatever game you're playing, we're not part of it."
The man laughed, low and menacing. "You are part of it, Kai. You always have been. Protecting her, holding her back from the truth. But the truth always comes. It always finds its way to the surface."
Lina's hands trembled as she gripped the shard tighter. "What is the truth? What do you want from me?"
The figure's expression darkened. "I want nothing from you, Lina. I am the one who has been forgotten. And you... you are the one who has forgotten. The cost of your memory, the cost of your love, is the destruction of everything. You will remember... or everything will fall apart."
A strange warmth surged through Lina's chest, the shard glowing brighter in her hand. Her breath hitched as she felt something stir within her—a memory, a flicker of understanding. Something from a life long past, something so distant yet so close. It was almost there, just out of reach.
Kai's voice broke through her thoughts, filled with concern. "Lina, don't listen to him. We can find another way."
But Lina didn't respond. The flood of emotions and memories that rushed over her was overwhelming. She could feel the truth inching closer, a path that she had walked before. A cycle that had repeated time and time again.
"I have to remember," she whispered again, more firmly this time. Her voice was steady, resolute.
The gate behind them began to tremble, the air around them thick with an oppressive energy. The man's shadow seemed to stretch and writhe, his form growing even more monstrous as the light from the shard grew brighter.
"You will remember," the man hissed. "And when you do, you will finally understand. But it will be too late to turn back."
Lina's heart raced as she took a step forward, her body moving on its own accord. She was no longer afraid. Whatever awaited her, she would face it. With every ounce of strength she had left, she stepped into the light, feeling the pull of her memories, of her past, drawing her closer.
The light engulfed her completely, and everything went silent.