They passed through the arch.
No transition this time.
Just immediacy.
One moment they were walking—
The next, they stood in a library made of screams.
Not literal ones.
But emotional echoes trapped in every spine, every scroll.
Juno stopped breathing for a second.
Lyle almost dropped the Codex.
Because every book here… bore their names.
> Lyle – First Regret
Juno – Last Betrayal
Lyle – That Day in the Rain
Juno – When She Couldn't Stop It
And in the center of the library, sitting in a chair woven from torn pages—
Waited the Guardian.
Not a monster.
Not a machine.
Just a man.
With Lyle's face.
Older. Cracked.
Eyes hollow like paper left too long in firelight.
He looked up.
Smiled bitterly.
"I remember everything you buried."
---
Juno drew her blade. Lyle grabbed her wrist.
"Don't," he said.
"She's not part of this," the Guardian said. "Yet."
Then stood.
And when he did, every book opened at once.
The air was filled with pages flapping like wings—each one shouting a memory.
Lyle saw himself screaming after the letter.
Juno saw her mother's eyes when the healers gave up.
"No one else can hold these," the Guardian said, walking slowly toward them. "So I held them for you. Until you were ready to see."
Lyle clenched his fists.
"I don't need you."
The Guardian stopped.
"You don't get to say that until you take me back."
"What?"
"You left me here. The part of you that never moved on. I'm not a threat. I'm what you gave up to keep going."
> "And now… I'm all that stands between you and the Codex's root."
---
The fight didn't begin with magic.
It began with emotion.
Memories surged from the air like blades.
One slammed Juno into the shelves—her first failed leadership trial, over and over, until she thought she'd drown in it.
Another cut through Lyle's defenses—his father's silhouette disappearing into fog, again and again.
They didn't bleed from the wounds.
They bled trust.
But they kept moving.
Kept reaching for each other.
Until, at the exact same moment—
Lyle looked into the Guardian's eyes…
…and said, "I forgive you."
Juno whispered, "And I forgive myself."
The memories stilled.
The books shut.
The Guardian exhaled.
And vanished.
Leaving behind one key—
Not metal.
Not magic.
But a tear, crystalized and warm.
---
The Codex pulsed:
> [Root Access Unlocked]
Proceed to Truth Layer.
Warning: You may not come back the same.