They rested in the corner of the room beside the unsealed door, their shadows shifting with the torchlight along the path like memories that refused to settle. The air, thick with the scent of iron and ash, was filled only with the slow breaths of three people who had lost something they could not forget. Sora sat motionless, his hand still gripping the hilt of his sword, the fresh wound on his hand throbbing beneath the torn cloth used as a bandage. The pale markings of the rune on his chest felt like they wanted to awaken, a sensation that pulsed in the palm of his hand still clutching the sword, like the echo of something ancient. It was something bound to him by the origin of his power, or by an eternal curse. Kaelith, having placed her new bow beside her the one given by the figure of bone and bandages was now leaning against the wall to rest. Her eyes were half-closed, as if listening to the silence would ignore something whispering to her from the direction of the door. Meanwhile, Vael sat cross-legged to the side, silently dressing a new, bleeding wound on his hand from the statue's attack, preparing for something far more dangerous that awaited him behind this door. "Rest for now, but that is the only remaining truth we can still pretend to believe," Vael told them as they rested.

  Sora looked around when he felt he had rested enough, his instincts telling him that something was waiting for them inside that door. He slowly stood from his seat and prepared his sword for what awaited him. There were no words, only a purpose to find out if what Vael had said was true or just his manipulated perspective to trap them. Sora strode towards the sealed door, which prompted Kaelith and Vael, who were sitting, to also stand and follow him. Kaelith and Vael prepared their weapons before Sora opened the door. "We finish this now. Whatever is behind this door is not just an ordinary fight. It is the soul of Borreal, moved by someone who awakened it only to corrupt it," Vael said, his voice firm yet calm for the battle that awaited them all. They stepped forward and stood beside Sora, who now faced the door before him.

  And then, Sora pushed the door wide open. Behind it, hiding a long-buried mystery, dust fell from above, and an unseen wind roared from the dark tunnel beyond. The smell of the chamber was older than decaying corpses, older even than the scent of burnt bones. They stepped inside until they saw writing beside them on a long-fallen plank, naming the place the

  Hollow Basilica: a colossal throne room, a tomb beneath the Borreal kingdom as a final resting place for its past kings. Damaged statues lined the walls, not of kings, but of nameless figures, all their faces lost and destroyed by civilization. The dome high above the room was shattered, its light entering through the cracks. And at the far end of the room was a blackened, exquisitely carved throne, waiting for someone worthy to occupy it.

  However, someone was already sitting on that throne, dressed in white robes stained with the ash of bone and corpses. The figure also wore a silver crown of thorns, and its eyes shone like red stars, visible even from a distance. The figure was the king of the undead and the Varnished. The figure saw their arrival from afar, finally rose from its throne, and its hoarse voice echoed throughout the colossal space. "You have come through ash and memory... but you will not leave this place with either, for the mystery is about to be revealed." The figure raised its hand, and the undead rose from the ground near it, knightly figures with rusted swords. The walls around them began to tremble violently, as if in an earthquake, because the undead king's summons was awakening dozens, or even hundreds, more soulless warriors. Some of them were like the knights, while others were fused with plant roots that twisted around their bodies, as if contorted by their loyalty and their purpose to silence those who sought the truth behind Borreal's fall. Sora drew his sword from its scabbard, Kaelith prepared her first arrow, and Vael gripped his sword tightly in anger, now only raw will for revenge and a soul slowly burning beneath his skin.

  The undead king spoke again, his voice hoarse, pointing at them with his bony fingers: "This is not a punishment for those who seek the truth behind the veil; this is a liberation for them. Do not fear the dark, newcomers, and let us begin the feast.". And then the undead began to run towards the three of them in unison, and their battle against the undead king began. It would be a long and brutal fight before the throne of the undead palace. With their weapons ready, they fought within the circle of death created by the dead king, an engine of death that would deliver their doom. Sora ran forward quickly, leading the attack, his blade slashing through the undead horde. He moved swiftly through the openings he found, but with every ounce of energy he had, the pain from his wounds intensified as he pushed his body to its limits. Each strike pierced not only the rotten flesh of the undead but also their memories, and his eyes slowly began to change with the emotion of his frustration, trying to uncover a truth that should be revealed to those who seek it.

  Kaelith ran to the side while releasing her arrows with speed and precision. She searched the area for higher ground, a vantage point for archery that could protect Sora and Vael from above. Kaelith found a spot among the pillars and shattered altar fragments, her hair becoming covered in dust and ash. Vael roared and began to swing his sword, his arm continuously moving, forcing his muscles to bear the weapon's weight. Despite the pain of every scratch from the undead that hit him, he remained standing, fighting against impossible odds, believing in even the smallest chance to uncover the truth. Their fight seemed endless; for every one undead that fell, two more crawled from the ground to take its place. "This is endless!" Kaelith shouted, drawing her bowstring until her arm began to tremble with exhaustion. "That King, he keeps summoning them to finish us. Do something!"

  And then, Sora, busy swinging his sword to thin their numbers while listening to Kaelith's shout, noticed something very strange about the undead king's summoning. Beneath his throne, there was a crevice that shone with a strange dark light, like a spring from which blackness flowed, pulsing with every stream that poured darkness into the flesh of the undead, animating them. Vael cursed the king for using the souls and bodies of Borreal's people for his summoning, all while being swarmed by the undead. "He's using the long-dead people of Borreal, their names and faces brought back from death only to be moved by him. They are bound by his summoning!" Sora, hearing this, acted without hesitation. But what could he do when his old and new wounds piled up all over his body until he could no longer feel the will to fight back against the undead that continuously emerged? After felling them one by one, dozens more rose and began to attack him brutally, causing him to stagger from severe blood loss until he knelt, powerless. Kaelith, focusing on firing her arrows, was about to prepare a new one when a group swarmed her from below, knocking her from the pillar. The horde began to attack her while she was vulnerable. Kaelith was forced into close combat, screaming profanities at the undead surrounding her, "THAT BASTARDS, ARGH!" Kaelith, having prepared her emergency staff and quickly slinging her bow on her back, began to beat the undead with rage, but she still sustained many wounds until she was beaten back and finally cornered. Vael tried to charge forward to help them, but the endless horde blocked his path, with Kaelith cornered and Sora already on the ground after collapsing from his pain.

  As despair washed over them Kaelith wounded, Vael unable to help, and Sora collapsed and being relentlessly attacked like prey that had surrendered Sora rose from his hopelessness. The wound on his chest glowed again, just like before. A light of fire and shadow burned like an ember, emerging from his wounded body like a second soul. It was the presence of someone who had continuously hidden a truth that was never revealed, rising to expose hypocrisy, lies, and manipulation. All the undead attacking him froze from the power that radiated like a fire in their midst, and then, Sora, holding his sword, began to slash them until they turned to ash. Kaelith, cornered and still fighting back, was shocked to see the strange but familiar phenomenon coming from Sora. Vael could only stand in silence as he witnessed this strange power emerge from the quiet Sora. Meanwhile, the lord of the undead, who had been in his throne area, finally descended slowly via the stairs when he saw Sora release his power. "So you are the one who carries that fire. The last memory of the godless fire seed..." the undead king hissed upon seeing Sora.

  Sora, having cleared a path and now facing the undead king directly, raised his sword, which now shone with a blazing, living fire of memory and ruin, and pointed it at him. The undead king only laughed hoarsely at this action, mocking Sora. "If that is your wish, godless fire, then let the world and everything in it burn again.". The throne behind him crumbled into rubble, and the undead king stood tall in the middle of the nearly destroyed colossal hall, raising his hand towards the cracked dome above. His shadow grew from the seams of his robe, and something shimmering with a pale purple color swirled along his body with symbols older than faith. "You are not the savior awaited by the living; you are a threat to this world," the undead king continued firmly to Sora after his laughter stopped. He summoned his magic staff, made of bone with a black magic orb at its tip, which emerged from the ground. Sora did not respond to his words, but his eyes, now blazing, spoke louder than any words in this world. The first clash between them occurred, with Sora moving first to attack. Sora leaped with agile movements, his sword now wrapped in the radiant fire from his body, and the slash he aimed at the undead king left a trail of burning flame as it collided with the Sovereign's bone staff. Sparks flew, and the sound shattered the remaining glass in the dome above, causing shards to rain down around them like fragments from a battle against someone hiding a buried truth.

  The undead king responded to Sora's attack by summoning a burst of fire, not from the ground this time, but from within his own bones. Kaelith, who had been screaming as she was cornered, managed to free herself from the surrounding undead using her emergency staff again. She was wounded, with blood dripping from several parts of her body, but she fired her arrows again, faster than she could breathe. Each arrow became her frustration over what she had experienced and the endlessness of this battle. Her new bow sang, making the enemy's burden too heavy as her arrows began to strike them one by one. One undead from behind reached her and began to attack with its rusty sword, but Vael was there to prevent it, stabbing his sword into the creature's skull. Black blood splattered on the earthen floor, and Vael swung his sword at the undead's neck, separating its head from its body, which was trying to rise again after the headshot. Kaelith, surprised to see Vael behind her, could only say, "I owe you my life, just this once!" as she continued to fire her arrows in rapid succession. Vael, hearing her, focused on what was in front of Kaelith and began to observe the undead's attack patterns. "They keep coming from the ground, hold on as long as you can!" Vael said, readying his sword before moving forward to finish off the rest of them trying to rise from the ground. "Then let's bury this whole god damn cursed colossal!" Kaelith said, spitting blood-mixed saliva onto the ground as she released her arrow.

  Meanwhile, Sora did not lose his concentration for a second and continued to advance, step by step, towards the undead king, even as illusions appeared to confuse him. Sora managed to find the real one by observing his patterns and swung his sword at one of the magical illusions, causing the real undead king to be grazed by his attack. The undead king's rage intensified, and he raised both hands with his staff still in his grasp, beginning to chant another magic spell while the undead kept Sora busy. As he began to chant, the air around the area seemed to bend, and from above, pillars of black-purple fire descended rapidly, forming a spiral firestorm. Sora, occupied by the undead, saw the firestorm and dodged quickly, but unfortunately, as he did, his foot caught on a stone, and he fell hard on the stone floor with a sound like his spine breaking. One blast from the firestorm hit the pillars around him, causing them to melt into ash and leaving blackened stones. Kaelith, seeing the attack, quickly ducked behind the rubble. When she saw an opening, she came out from her hiding spot, rolled to the side, aimed her arrow, and shot it right through the undead king's shoulder. The undead king growled as an arrow struck his shoulder. He turned towards where the arrow was shot, but Kaelith had already vanished from her spot, having leaped over the rubble and disappeared into the storm of battle. Kaelith knew that staying there too long was a death sentence for her.

  Furious, the undead king summoned another group of undead from the ground. This time, the summoned undead had their mouths stitched shut, their skin peeled back to show a mix of flesh and bone, and were the skeletons of forgotten nobles and knights. The undead king also chanted a spell in silence, and a curse of destruction hissed from his mouth after raising his undead. As the spell was chanted, Sora suddenly knelt for no reason, as if he was being pressed down by something on his shoulders. Sora's skin slowly began to peel from his hands to his feet, with blackish-red blood flowing from the areas. Vael, recognizing the spell, quickly dove in front of Sora as the undead king had a chance to shoot a black fireball at the kneeling Sora. Vael quickly dropped his sword and crossed his arms, trying to absorb the blast meant for Sora. He screamed as blood gushed from his nose and ears from taking the blast alone. "GO, QUICKLY!" he shouted, followed by a spray of blood from his mouth and heavy coughing. Sora forced himself to break free from the king's curse, thanks to his rune reactivating, and he shot forward with the speed of an eagle spotting its prey.

  With his sword now covered in his own blood dripping from his peeled arm, Sora clashed with the undead king once more. His sword met the staff for a second time, and sparks enveloped his blood-covered blade. The weapons of Sora and the undead king seemed to clash between the crimson fire of truth and the dark black fire that gambled with truth itself. The undead king laughed with a cruel, echoing voice as he saw himself clashing with what he considered Sora's godless fire. "You carry a fire that the gods have abandoned, and you think that will make you whole?" he hissed, trying to provoke Sora. However, Sora did not care for his cheap taunts. He stabbed his sword into the side of the undead king's skull when he had an opening, his blade cutting through layers of curse and old flesh that resided between the bones. It was not blood that came out when Sora managed to wound him, but a purple pus that flowed from the wound, pooling at one of his vital points. Ignoring Sora's attack, the undead king retaliated with his magic, deflecting Sora's attack back at him, which sent Sora flying across the room. His blood flew through the air once more before his body crashed into the ruined throne steps with a very loud impact. The sound of breaking bones could be heard throughout the place as Sora was thrown by the deadly attack. Sora groaned and writhed on the ground, coughing up blood due to internal bleeding.

  Kaelith, seeing the brutality Sora was experiencing, shouted at the undead king with emotion, "BRAINLESS CREATURE, JUST DIE!" Kaelith released a dozen arrows with uncontrolled rage, each one flying like lightning. Three arrows hit their mark, catching the undead king unprepared after Sora's successful attack. They pierced his robes, cracking and shattering parts of his skeletal body. However, to defeat the undead controller, it would take hundreds or thousands of arrows to put him back to rest in the ground. "You are not the one who bears his destiny; you are just a pest to him and a nuisance," he whispered furiously as he was hit for the second time by Kaelith. Kaelith, seeing his reaction and now knowing his location, quickly ran and changed her position. Kaelith turned to retreat, but the ground beneath her split open, and a bony hand emerged, grabbing her leg tightly like a vine. Kaelith, caught, screamed in pain and knelt instantly. The undead king had apparently cast a spell on her silently and raised his hand again to continue his curse spell towards Kaelith. Kaelith, kneeling and unable to move despite trying to break the strong grip that could crush her leg, could not avoid the spell.

  And at that moment, Sora saw it with eyes still blurry from his serious wounds, once again on the brink of death. Even with blurred vision and unable to control his breathing, Sora forced himself once more with the help of his active rune to move to save Kaelith and cancel the undead king's curse spell. Sora, with all his remaining strength, threw his sword, which struck the undead king's magic staff, causing the spell to backfire and explode on the king himself, like being hit by his own black fireball. Seeing this gave Sora an opportunity to defeat him once more. He rose again with his remaining energy to face the undead king, empty-handed and his hands soaked in his own blood. And as he approached the vulnerable king, the rune within him fully awakened. The Godless Fire erupted from his chest like a second sun, and with his body already shattered by wounds, he refused to fall before the undead king as a form of his resistance. Sora raised his hand to the side and summoned back his previously thrown sword. The weapon flew through the air and returned to his grasp, reforged in the burning fire of its essence.

  The undead king's body began to collapse on its own from the severe damage of his own power exploding, but he still tried to speak as he was unable to rise. "You are all too late. Borreal was always cursed, and you, you carry its ash and its curse..." But Sora raised his sword and silenced him without giving him a chance to finish his last words before his second death. With one final slash, Sora brought his sword down from above, piercing through the undead king's crown. It went through his skull and through the throne he had given himself, splitting him in two. The inhuman roar was no longer heard in the ruins of that place. The undead king's body disintegrated into ash and dust, blown away by the wind. The undead he had summoned vanished into ash, finding their rest for a second time. The undead king's throne was shattered to pieces, signifying nothing was left but the remnants of the battle. After everything was over, silence returned once again after the long end of their fight. Kaelith, seeing it was all over, ran with her remaining strength towards Sora as he fell from where he stood, unconscious and covered in so many wounds that the severe bleeding made him truly collapse this time. Now, there was no other way to help him like before, and it was only a matter of time before he met his death after what he had done.

  Vael walked haltingly towards them, his body also covered in blood and wounds, and said faintly, accompanied by a cough of blood. "Is he..." Kaelith, who had reached the side of the collapsed Sora, whose condition was beyond human comprehension, said with a tremble, "Still breathing, but I don't know for how long." Vael, reaching Kaelith and looking at the young Sora, clearly had not expected a human like him, who would go to such lengths to save them and be the first to sacrifice his life when danger came for him and others worthy of being saved. They looked down dejectedly at Sora's condition after what he had done for them. Kaelith whispered with a trembling voice, tears welling in her eyes, "You, I told you not to do that, but..." But Sora's eyes were already closed. His sword, which he had been holding with a burning flame around it, now dimmed and lay beside him. Far above, in the ruined dome, light began to shine for the first time after the undead king had long resided in the deepest darkness. Silence once again took over the ruins, without a single sound to observe the struggle of the mute boy against a power that could not be comprehended by any word. There used to be a relentless fire, like steel and rage. Now there was only smoke, the scent of rotten blood turned to ash, and a breathless silence followed by a man-made disaster. Now, Sora lay motionless, his breath slowly fading until his heart stopped beating. The throne was destroyed, and the undead king was back to rest. But a part of them was also destroyed as they saw Sora's body collapse after delivering the final blow, his blade falling from his hand as if it had lost its purpose, his skin peeled along the lines of his rune, and now, his heart was only beating faintly.

  Kaelith knelt beside him, her trembling hands on his chest, and began to whisper things he could not hear. The words were not a spell or a prayer, but a private plea she was ashamed to utter softly. "Don't go die yet, you silent fool," she murmured to the still-lying Sora. Vael stood nearby, his arms crossed tightly over his wound, letting blood flow down his temple. His eyes, usually harsh and empty, flickered for a moment with something like the fear of losing someone he respected. And in the midst of this tragic event, with only moments to spare. The sound of slow, echoing, and irregular footsteps was heard, accompanied by the clinking of glass bottles and a bell. From the charred archway of the unsealed front door behind them, someone stepped lightly over the ash and dust: a man in a worn traveler's cloak with a wide-brimmed hat shadowing his face, and a simple curved wooden staff tapping the barren and cracked ground. "Again? It seems I arrive just when things get bad, or... have already ended, apparently," said the wandering merchant, recognized by Kaelith by his voice, as dry as dust. Kaelith's head snapped towards him, her eyes wide with shock at seeing him again. "You—" Kaelith said, surprised to see the wandering merchant before her again. "My presence is always full of unusual and pathetic events, isn't it? I believe you owed me for a bottle, that one time. Glad to see you're still breathing to collect on your debt," the merchant said with a faint smile, reintroducing himself by cutting off Kaelith's unfinished sentence.

  Vael stepped forward, his blade not yet lowered, and asked Kaelith about the merchant. "You know this man?" Kaelith, wiping away her tears and suppressing a sob, nodded slowly. "He's the one who gave me the medicine that saved Sora's life... before." Not wanting to waste time, the merchant immediately knelt slowly beside the unconscious Sora, holding the brim of his hat, his pale golden eyes observing the shattered figure with unexpected gentleness. "Twice now, and you have lived longer than your deaths, as if you are just playing with your lives," the merchant whispered to them. He then turned to Kaelith and Vael and gestured with two fingers, explaining. "He needs rest. Right now, you have torn his body to shreds like parchment and tortured him until I no longer know if this is normal for a human's wounds." Kaelith tried to explain, saying "We were trying to—" "I know what you meant, and I saw it. The fire within him should not exist... not without a sacrifice from him," the merchant interrupted before Kaelith could finish. Finally, the merchant reached into his bag and took out a series of strange bottles, opening them one by one under Sora's nose for him to inhale. A faint hiss escaped with a bitter and metallic scent from the bottles. Kaelith leaned closer to check on his condition after being given the medicine, asking the merchant. "Will he survive his brush with death this time?" The merchant did not answer Kaelith's question directly. Instead, he put down his bag, sat cross-legged beside Sora, and began to wait to see if it had an effect. "He fascinates me, a vessel without a voice... yet his silence bends the world around him," the merchant murmured softly, his eyes never leaving the boy.

  "What do you want from him?" Vael asked, frowning as he heard the merchant's mumbling. "Nothing. The boy is not conscious, is he? Nor can he give an answer to his choices right now. I am only watching and waiting for him, just like you in here right now," the merchant said in response to Vael's question. Kaelith, still worried about Sora's condition, finally moved closer to his side. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself, watching his face. "If you expect an answer from someone who cannot speak, wait here with us. If he wakes from his fight against his own death," Kaelith told the merchant in a low voice, to which the merchant nodded slowly, understanding her meaning. And so, the three of them an archer, a knight, and a wandering merchant sat beside the person who had sacrificed his life and could not speak, having defeated an undead king. Outside the room, the wind blew through the ruins, stirring the flying ash and the remnants of a buried history. But inside the ruined chamber... there was still the sound of a very small breath, stirring the chest of the one named Sora, who had managed to topple a figure that had buried a long-hidden truth. He was unconscious now, but no one knew that Sora's life was on the edge of a cliff, as if playing with his own death time in his sacrifice for the people he had just met. The campfire before the three of them, as they waited for someone to rise from his fight against death, crackled softly and so warmly as they rested near it.

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  Inside Sora's Subconscious:

  Deep in Sora's subconscious, the Tower returned. The Tower of Memories, rebuilt and standing tall and strong after its previous destruction, was now before him once again. Its peak curved into the void with an impossible geometry, and a sea of whispers emanated from within its walls. Sora stood once again inside the tower, wearing only torn clothes, his body covered in still-bleeding wounds, and holding the nameless sword. Seeing this, Sora felt this was his test this time, remembering that this tower only provided a memory of someone who had entered it and interacted with the place. Sensing something strange was about to happen, Sora prepared himself. Not long after his instinct, the First Being who had given him the sword and a burden he should not have shouldered appeared from the darkest corner of the room. "You still carry it, speechless one. The sword you carry has been reforged since its previous owner broke it." The creature's voice echoed around the place. Sora, seeing the First Being again, lowered his guard and did not respond to what it said to him. However, Sora knew that the First Being's presence must have a cause and effect from what he had done in his shattered world, and he was ready for a test to return to his world, tightly gripping the sword given to him by the First Being. The First Being, seeing Sora's reaction, could only remain silent and pointed its finger at Sora, then said; "To move forward, you must first know what holds the burden on your back that you are carrying to this day."

  The First Being tapped the ground beneath it with a stomp of its foot, and a gate emerged from the ground behind it. When the gate had fully appeared, it opened with a resonant sound. Inside was not rock, rubble, or another of Sora's memories, but a memory that would guide Sora to the meaning of his presence in the shattered world and the purpose of his journey. And so Sora walked into the gate without a word or a written question for the First Being. Sora now stood in a place so destroyed that he could only see a burning village before his eyes. There, Sora saw a child standing, crying over something, and it was clear the child was holding in unbearable pain after seeing what had happened to his home. The village that did not want him now showed all the faces that had turned away from him, their heads impaled on rusty, blood-stained spears and used as a display for anyone to see. When Sora approached the crying child, everything before him turned into an absolute darkness that left nothing, only pitch blackness to see. When everything turned dark, a shadowy figure appeared from behind Sora, and the shadow showed all the memory fragments of Sora's past before him, like a moving picture with light showing a recording of his journey from when he was a child until his current condition. Seeing this, Sora immediately looked behind him, but the shadow figure had disappeared before Sora could see it, leaving behind the echo of its soft chuckle.

  In the middle of it all, Sora faced his fragments again and saw a woman resembling someone he knew, but he did not approach her, as he did not know her name or even recognize her. But as quickly as Sora tried to recognize her again, the place slowly turned dark, and the woman Sora had seen faded into the darkness within. The sword Sora had been holding vanished from his hand, and in its place, the shadow figure appeared in the darkness before him. The place immediately transformed into a ruined village with nothing left but the wooden rubble of its houses and a moonlit night sky, a silence that gnawed at the faith of anyone standing there, facing their past. The shadow figure that reappeared had the exact reflection of Sora's appearance, with red eyes and a burning vengeance from another side of Sora. The shadow figure resembling Sora created a copy of the nameless sword and said to Sora before him. "You want to forget me, don't you? But I am the only reason you are still alive today." The shadow that resembled him hissed, but it could speak like a normal human. Sora, seeing this, began to clench his fists without his sword, feeling frustrated by its words. "Hahahaha... you are so pathetic, you can't even speak or scream to say anything important, can you? You are just an empty vessel that can only be filled with vengeance and despair. Why don't you just give up, silent boy?" the shadow said, mocking and provoking Sora, who had already clenched his fists, with its laughter and condescension.

  Sora, unable to stand the sight of this being that resembled him, began to move forward and face it with his bare, tightly clenched fists, even though his opponent used a sword that resembled the one given to him by the First Being. They fought each other to determine who was right between them: the real, mute Sora, a human unwanted by anyone, or the shadow that resembled him, filled with hatred, vengeance, and a desire to destroy everything that had made him accept his fate in suffering. Between the ghost and the real, this fight was not with strategy but with the desperation between them to silence the side they disliked. The sword held by Sora's shadow began to slash at Sora brutally and without mercy. Each of its attacks did not inflict physical wounds on Sora's body, but a pain in the meaning within him was wounded by its attacks. Blood continued to flow from within Sora's body after receiving several attacks from his shadow. The shadow laughed and mocked the wounded Sora. "You wear pain like thick armor, but it still leaves you empty and lonely."

  Sora, having reached his limit, could only fall to the ground, lying on his back and powerless against its attacks. His shadow began to press its sword against Sora's throat as Sora tried to block the attack that he had barely caught. His hands were now covered in blood as he held back the direct thrust to his neck, trying to refuse the death of his soul, which would be claimed by the vengeance and hatred from the shadow that would then take over. In the midst of that brutality, Sora, still holding back his shadow's attack, remembered the warmth of Kaelith's hand he had once touched, the silence of Vael cultivating his guilt over the oath he had broken, and his own emptiness that felt hollow but had a purpose to keep living without throwing away the life that had been saved by Eyla Varn. Sora took a long breath as he held back the attack from his shadow and began to show the strength of someone who was almost hopeless and had sacrificed his life for others he had never known before. He threw the shadow's sword away, kicked the shadow, sending it flying back, and rose once again to fight it. Even the broken and voiceless Sora began to show what he had to fight for in his own inner battle, besides the physical and mental battles in his world. Sora walked towards his shadow's sword and grabbed it with his bare, blood-soaked hands.

  Then, the unexpected happened, something no one would have ever thought to do: Sora stabbed his shadow's sword into himself, which was connected to his shadow's heart, causing the shadow to roar in pain while cursing Sora, still writhing on the ground, "BASTARD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU WANT TO KILL US ALL HERE? YOU DAMN BASTARD!" The shadow resembling Sora only roared in pain, while Sora could only smile bitterly as the sword was lodged in his heart area, and blood began to come out of his mouth, soon followed by a non-stop gush of fresh blood from within. And both figures, Sora and the shadow that resembled him, lay dead on the broken ground. Sora's heart now shattered into luminous fragments, becoming pieces and the truth of his real self and what his purpose to keep living would be.

  Outside Sora's subconscious:

  Sora's breath began to catch, and he looked to be in great pain, his body arching in a pained groan. Kaelith, who had been beside him, was startled, her eyes wide, and she began to calm him down, maintaining his condition, which was already wrapped in many bandages from the wandering merchant, saying with panic to the merchant. "He—" But the merchant quickly raised his hand and cut off Kaelith's unfinished sentence. "Not yet. He... almost did it and needs time to finish his own inner business." Vael narrowed his eyes when he heard the merchant's statement again. "What do you know about what he's experiencing?" The merchant turned to Vael, began to lean against the stone ruins behind him, and played with a silver ring on his glove. "His soul is beginning to release its chains, or shatter them." Kaelith, not knowing this, began to ask what she should know, her voice lowered. "Will he wake up?" "Perhaps. But don't get your hopes up. It depends on the outcome and what he will choose in his subconscious," the merchant replied.

  The merchant finally stood up from his seat and looked at them, who were hoping that Sora would wake up and live as they wished. "When he wakes up, and perhaps succeeds in his subconscious, I want to offer you all something that might be an advantage for you and for me as well," the merchant added while stretching his body from sitting for too long, offering something that caught Kaelith and Vael's attention. "An offer?" Vael asked, confused and surprised by the merchant's offer. The merchant turned around, his cloak dragging over the broken marble, and said to Vael. "There is a land, a kingdom, and a habitable place that can be called a home, perhaps." Kaelith frowned and began to question the offer. "Why are you offering us that?" The merchant turned to Kaelith, who was beside Sora, calming him, and said again softly, "Because the place you are heading to... is older than the Borreal kingdom and even older than the destruction you are feeling right now." After his words, the merchant began to look at the pale night horizon and the few stars that formed a constellation, perhaps. "A kingdom that still stands against the darkness and refuses the destruction this world offers, not because of its power to withstand it, but because of its belief to refuse to be destroyed and become extinct in the world's current condition."

  "You want us to come with you?" Kaelith asked, still confused and not understanding the merchant's meaning. "You are already part of what is to come, aren't you? Especially that boy who is desperately trying to live for you, perhaps," the merchant replied, pointing at the still-lying and writhing Sora to simply explain his impossible offer in the midst of this world's destruction. The merchant turned to Sora with a strange smile curving at the corner of his lips, which looked not cruel but melancholic. "He carries more than just pain and suffering. He carries meaning and a burden that he should not have to bear alone, and the darkness within him thirsts for meaning more than anything to claim him right now."

  Inside Sora's subconscious: The final step of the final test

  Sora found himself lying in one place and woke up with irregular breathing on the floor of the Tower of Memories. Sora immediately got up and saw that he was not covered in wounds, nor was the sword still stuck in his chest; everything seemed as if nothing had happened, back in the very quiet starting place. Sora stood and saw before him a large mirror that stretched from top to bottom, with a reflection of his current self. The mirror showed him the reality of his purpose and his current existence, both in his subconscious and in his broken world. The mirror, which at first only showed Sora's reflection, now showed the memories recorded by Sora in his past, starting from his village that saw him as Mireborn, the rejection from everyone, the pain when the only person who cared for him died before his eyes, and witnessing the entire massacre. However, amidst all that painful past, there was still the warmth of Kaelith's hand when she treated his wounds, Vael's words of regret for his actions and his hope for help in atoning for his sins, the gift from the First Being of the nameless sword to uncover the hidden truth, and the silent burden he had carried since the day he was abandoned as his duty to show what this world needed to be borne by him.

  Sora, seeing this, did not break the mirror in an emotional response to what he saw from the brief images of his past echoes, but instead touched the glass of the mirror. When he touched it, the world around him felt very light, and a dazzling light shone brightly before him—

  Back at their resting place:

  Sora woke up suddenly, taking a deep breath like someone who had gone through many things in an endless nightmare. His eyes were wide as if he could not believe what he had seen in his dream. In that place, he could clearly hear Kaelith's voice calling his name, which made his ears ring for a long time. The merchant in the area only raised an eyebrow when he saw Sora was conscious and immediately sat up, and Vael breathed a sigh of relief, nodding slowly without a word. Sora exhaled his irregular breath, feeling the poignant pain all over his body. But this time, his condition did not leave him alone again. Kaelith, seeing Sora's reaction, reached for his hand and held it while saying. "You are the most foolish person I have ever met in my entire life. You're finally back, you idiot." Kaelith said, her voice filled with unstoppable sobs because the person who had saved her was alive again, though covered in severe and numerous scars, his entire body wrapped in white bandages with dried bloodstains. Sora, seeing her reaction, was so surprised he didn't know how to respond to his current condition, so he just nodded once, covered in a great deal of sweat, and observed himself wrapped in so many bandages, even on his head. The merchant, seeing Kaelith's reaction and Sora's silence, could only smile and said as he walked towards the still-sitting Sora. "In that case, should we talk about the kingdom I offered you when you woke up earlier? About what's behind that kingdom and the benefits you might get later?" Sora, sitting slowly, sweat on his bandages mixed with dried blood, listened to what they had discussed while he was unconscious. Their journey was not over; it had just begun after what they had gone through as their first obstacle before facing the second. The moonlight had thinned into a silvery silence and still shone through the cracks in the dome above. Sora straightened his sitting position, regulated his breathing slowly, and his gaze began to focus on what they would discuss with the man known as the wandering merchant. Some minor bleeding still soaked his bandages, though most of his wounds had dried, and they were dressed with a strange ointment that felt slightly burning on his skin before being bandaged. Kaelith slowly released her hand from Sora's when the situation between them became serious and they began to discuss their next destination.

  The merchant stood near Sora and Kaelith with his hands folded behind his back, staring at the nearly extinguished embers, as if the fire itself held a map that no one else could see, and said in his characteristic way. "You're finally awake, lad. Good, you've arrived before the main event begins." He said, his voice calm and serious. He turned to them, the firelight catching his sharp eyes, which were soft like a stone eroded by a drop of water and a choice that had to be considered for centuries. "Now that you are breathing again, I must tell you why I am still alive today in the midst of this world's destruction." He stepped forward, his cloak trailing behind him like smoke on a ruined battlefield. "Far from this ruined place... beyond the southern wastelands, there is a kingdom that still stands today, and that place is called Elarion." His voice lowered like the sacred silence of a preacher guiding his lost flock. Kaelith's brow furrowed slightly, but she said nothing, instead listening intently to the merchant's words and what he actually wanted from them. "That place is untouched by the creatures you faced, but it endures, protecting its people within. Fighting the dark things that claw from beneath its soil, fighting the silence that creeps from a forgotten age, and the people who still hope and still build to remember the peace they desire. It may not be as perfect as you think, but with the full meaning within it, you will know when you see it with your own eyes," he continued, looking at each of them one by one with his now-tired eyes.

  "And those who live within it are in need of a sword that has tasted ruin or has been tested by ruin itself. And I, standing before you now, offer a journey to Elarion for you who have been tested by your own ruin, to see what you have not seen before and have long forgotten to imagine what tranquility and peace are in this broken world. To meet the king of Elarion, I have seen that what you carry may be more than just scars?" He let his words settle in their minds. The immense silence that followed his question made them wonder if there was some truth to what the merchant said. Even the wind seemed to stop blowing as his question still hummed clearly in their ears. Then the merchant added with a grin on his face and his smile: "But I am not your leader. I do not command you to accept my offer or to consider this advantage, especially for you, but he has the right to choose your next destination, right?" The merchant shifted his gaze to Sora and pointed to him as the leader he meant for them at that moment. Kaelith, hearing this, began to think twice about what the merchant meant and unconsciously agreed with his words. Even Vael, the knight who held fast to his oath of loyalty to the Borreal kingdom, stood up from his seat and stepped forward to the campfire, making everyone there watch him closely. "This is where our paths may part, because I... cannot go with you," Vael said softly, his voice like cracked stone. Sora, sitting, slowly looked up at him to watch him intently. "Borreal is my grave, my home, and my penance for its destruction. My oath binds me here until I am destroyed into dust blown by the wind," Vael continued in a low tone, which made Kaelith open her mouth as if to protest, but the knight quickly raised his hand to stop her. "I know what you want to say. We both know this, and I was a ghost from the beginning for you, only using you to carry out my penance."

  Then Vael stepped towards Sora and knelt to look into his eyes, saying. "However, if you call me and ask... I will still follow you, leaving my broken oath and my dead kingdom behind." He said in a low voice, ready to release his honor as a knight of Borreal who had broken his oath, creating a silence among them in the room. Vael's eyes met Sora's tired ones, and a spark ignited once in the silence of their gaze. Sora, looking at Vael and hearing what he had said, slowly raised his hand and carefully reached out to grip Vael's forearm, not as a command... but as something stronger than the bond that had already been formed with him and the others. A silent plea from Sora to Vael, who had lost everything and still guarded his tainted oath, no matter how dirty or despicable. A bond was formed; the knight's eyes widened slightly, and then Vael smiled, understanding Sora's meaning. For the first time in his life, Vael was accepted with sincerity and understanding for the mistake that had become the echo of his past, and he said to Sora softly, "In that case, I am with you. One last journey for this knight of Borreal.". Sora, hearing Vael's words, released his hand from his arm, and now his eyes looked at the merchant. Sora nodded firmly, accepting his offer for the next journey to Elarion, as the merchant had discussed. Kaelith, seeing this, could only exhale a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and placed her hand on her chest while saying softly. "Elarion, then." The merchant only smiled, but not with joy, upon receiving an answer from the leader he had appointed. It was more with resignation, of course, "Well then, what are you waiting for? Gather your strength, little wolves. The road is still long, and what awaits you... is not thirsty for flesh but will be full of meaning in its journey." The merchant said with a cheerful tone. Far above, in the ruined ceiling where the stars began to disappear behind the night clouds, a decision for their next journey was made.

  However, the shadows watching from behind the veil had seen that choice, and their hearts were moved to continue watching them from a distance, even though they were not seen or heard. But they remembered that name as a threat, the figure who dared to reveal the truth they had hidden... Sora. And what he would become on his journey to meet those who hid behind the long-hidden veil of truth. No one knew about that.... The morning sun greeted them after the firestorm had quieted like the snowfall before, its rays blinding their eyes from above the room's dome. Ash still clung to the blowing wind, and the bones of Borreal dried under the weight of its ruinous memories. But in the shadow of the ruined room, something had changed from a life nearly fragile, but it was real to be felt at every moment. Kaelith was busy packing her remaining belongings in silence. What little she had saved since her bow was broken was now replaced with the one given by the robed figure in the room below, a bow born from the sorrow and ancestral oath of its previous owner. Silver markings on its limbs glittered as a cold wind crept over her hands. Across the open space, Vael stood in silence, guarding the previously sealed door. A broken knight who said nothing, his sword wrapped in cloth and lying at his hip. He would leave his homeland and the place that made his name, but his soul would remain shackled to the ruins of the kingdom where he had sworn his oath. And at the end of the ruined altar... Sora sat cross-legged, honing his sword with slow, careful movements. He had said nothing since waking up because he couldn't, and he didn't need to. Behind him, leaning against a pillar, was the wandering merchant, waiting for them to be ready to depart and begin their journey to the kingdom of Elarion as their next destination.

  The merchant watched Sora with an expression that hovered between fascination and melancholy. "You know, you remind me of someone I once knew," The merchant began his conversation in a low voice. Sora did not look at him, but his hand stopped honing his sword right at the tip of the blade. "Once, I carried something. Not a weapon, but a name. One name that was lost and one name I chose to forget," The merchant continued, stepping slowly towards Sora and sitting beside him. Sora's eyes began to look at the merchant to listen to what he was telling him. The merchant only smiled faintly as Sora watched him and continued his words. "Strange, isn't it? You want to forget a name, and automatically, the world will forget you too. But the burden... it never disappears along with the name you want to erase, does it?" The merchant leaned forward as if whispering right on the blowing wind. "You carry the same burden," The merchant said again. There was no denial, only silence between them. "That rune... the one you triggered during the fight, it's not just an ancient artifact. It was buried, and it was truly sealed and should never have been released except under certain circumstances," he said, his voice tensing.

  The merchant finally walked forward slowly. "Do you know who you are, silent one? Even your own name?" the merchant asked Sora. And that made Sora pause and contemplate the merchant's question as if he knew it too. Slowly, Sora stood up from his seat and, without a word, stepped forward. Not as a threat, but as a form of quiet understanding of what the merchant had said to him. He walked past the merchant, joining Kaelith and Vael who were waiting for him at the door of the room. The merchant could only smile again at Sora's reaction and murmured softly to himself. "You don't have to answer now. We are both forgotten names. You just don't understand it yet, do you?" he said softly while slowly following Sora. The three of them stood before the door of the room in the Borreal kingdom, and there was a path pointed out by Vael as the way out of that place, marked by a final stone arch that marked the boundary between a ruined history and the barren land outside. Kaelith looked over her shoulder. "Are you ready?" she asked, her voice firm but gentle. Sora only nodded once in response. Vael placed one hand on the ancient, ruined gate at the border between Borreal and another region; he drew the symbol of a wolf on the stone as his final farewell. As a sign from the last living knight of Borreal. "Let the dead remain here, lest the living become them," he said, almost a whisper and like a final plea before leaving his home. The merchant finally approached them while adjusting the straps of his backpack. "Alright, now to the south, through the Pale Fields then to the Bonewilds, and Elarion lies beyond the river of fog after that. If the kingdom is still there," he said with a slip of humor. No one spoke as they passed through the border gate of the Borreal kingdom, only the wind blowing from north to south as a farewell to those who had revealed a buried truth. But somewhere behind them, the tower of memories still flickered, and one echo slipped into the morning air a memory that was never restrained by anyone, except Sora had passed through it before. A name once cast aside was now carried again into the fire within him, into his shadow, and whatever awaited him ahead. And so, their journey continued on, leading them to Elarion.