Chapter 7
Silence.
Then a scream — metal shrieking against reality, light bending around flame.
Velgrim stumbled back from the explosion, his blade cracked, his breath stolen. Where the Mirror Gate once stood, a crater of molten stone now pulsed with radiant heat. The Warden was gone. But so was Nezutsu.
"No…" Velgrim whispered, falling to one knee. "He wasn't ready."
But the world didn't wait.
The ceiling collapsed, forcing Velgrim to retreat into the lower catacombs, vanishing in smoke and grief.
Somewhere Else: The Emberlight Vault
Nezutsu awoke on obsidian glass.
His vision spun — ceilingless, skyless, a void lit only by red cinders falling like slow snow. He lay at the center of a great circle etched into the black floor, surrounded by hundreds of glowing runes pulsing in rhythm with his breath.
"This is not death," he murmured. "But it's not life either."
A voice responded — low, ancient, and without origin.
"You crossed the threshold, child of fire. You claimed a piece of what was once yours."
"Where am I?"
"The Vault of Emberlight. A realm between pulses. Only one who bears the Flame's echo may stand here."
Nezutsu rose shakily. The runes began shifting, forming a spiral that led deeper into the darkness.
He followed.
Each step brought him closer to memories not his own: visions stitched into the fabric of this place.
A dragon of ember and bone soaring through red skies.
A mage with eyes like mirrors weeping as cities burned.
A boy alone, holding the world together with fire, teeth, and pain.
At the center of the Vault, a pillar of glass rose from the floor, with a small ember burning inside it.
As he approached, the ember flared.
A woman appeared beside it — ethereal, translucent, cloaked in ash-gray robes.
"You again," Nezutsu said. "The Witness."
She nodded. Her voice was quieter now, as if the Vault itself muted even truth.
"This is the second flame. The shard of memory sealed long ago. Not even the gods found it."
"Why me?"
"Because you are both new and old. Forgotten and chosen. The world needs what you were, but only if you become something more."
She extended her hand.
"Take it. And know pain, truth, and power."
Nezutsu hesitated. But his fingers met hers.
And the Vault exploded in light.
Flashback: Before the Fracturing
Nezutsu was no longer himself.
He stood as someone else — someone greater, older, feared.
He saw through their eyes.
He burned through empires.
"The gods will fall," he declared, flames pouring from his skin.
"You cannot rewrite the Pillars," a divine voice protested.
"I can unmake them."
He raised a hand. The stars bled.
Reality tore.
And then—
A scream. His own.
Betrayal.
Seven spears of godly essence pierced his chest.
He fell into the void.
The world reset itself.
And the Flame was scattered.
Present: The Awakening
Nezutsu collapsed as the vision ended.
His skin steamed, his veins aglow. The ember within the glass had vanished — now resting in his heart.
He had no mana. Still.
But he could feel something deeper now: a rhythm,a beat, older than magic.
"Will."
"That's what I am."
He turned toward the Vault's exit.
This time, he walked like someone who remembered.
Someone who had burned gods and defied stars.
Meanwhile: In the Depths of Zephyrium
The Council of the Eye stirred restlessly.
"He accessed the Emberlight," said the tallest shadow. "The Echo is accelerating."
"He remembers more than we allowed."
"Then we have no choice."
"Begin the calling."
"Send the Void Seraph."
Final Scene: On the Edge of the Emberlight Realm
As Nezutsu reached the edge of the Vault, he saw a doorway carved from frozen time.
It led back to the mortal realm.
But standing between him and the exit…
Was a mirror.
And in that mirror, he saw himself.
But not himself.
The reflection had white hair, golden eyes, and wore the robes of a god-killer.
"Who are you?" he whispered.
The mirror-self smiled.
"The question isn't who I am. It's who you become."
And then the glass shattered.
[TO BE CONTINUED...]