The doors of the Ardent Spire creaked open before Riku Tanaka could touch them.
He hesitated.
The ancient obsidian tower loomed above him like a grave marker from a time no one remembered. The wind hissed across the cracked stones, whispering in a language he didn't speak—but somehow understood.
A chill climbed his spine.
He was never supposed to be here. Not in this world. Not in this body.
But the world didn't care about "supposed to."
Behind him, Kaela tightened the wrap on her arm, eyes never leaving the tower. "Whatever's inside," she said, "it's calling you. Not me."
Riku gave a weak nod. "Yeah… and it knows my name."
---
Inside, the Spire was silent, vast, and alive with echoes. Runes pulsed faintly on the walls, casting flickers of blue light that danced across ancient carvings. Every step Riku took sounded like it was being heard by something waiting deep below.
The air felt thicker with each level down. Like he was walking through someone else's memory.
Or maybe… his own.
---
They stopped before a wide chamber.
At its center, a throne rested on a stone dais. Not gold. Not jeweled. Just black rock veined with fire. It wasn't meant to rule from—it was meant to remember.
Riku stepped forward.
The flames that laced the throne flared gently at his presence. Not in warning… but welcome.
> "You've returned."
A voice. Not heard, but felt.
Riku froze. "Who said that?"
Kaela backed away slowly. "Riku, there's something wrong here."
He reached out instinctively.
As his fingers brushed the stone, visions exploded in his mind.
---
He saw battlefields drenched in shadow. Wings of fire slicing the skies. A sword—not his, but familiar—plunged into the earth, screaming with light. Faces he didn't recognize, but felt like he'd lost.
A name echoed in his skull, but it wasn't "Riku."
He stumbled back, eyes wide. "This… this isn't my memory. It's someone else's."
"No," the voice returned. "It's both."
---
Riku dropped to his knees.
He gritted his teeth as more fragments poured in—shards of dreams, ancient voices, and a single truth pounding like a heartbeat.
> He hadn't just arrived in this world by accident.
> He was summoned to continue what someone else could not finish.
---
Kaela knelt beside him, gripping his shoulder. "Look at me."
Riku met her gaze, chest heaving. "I don't know who I am anymore."
"You're Riku," she said. "Even if the past claws at you, you're still you."
But the throne disagreed.
> "You carry more than your own soul."
---
The fire dimmed.
A reflection shimmered on the black surface of the throne—not Riku's, but someone older. Fiercer. Tired.
Riku clenched his jaw. "I won't become someone else. Not again."
The figure nodded once.
> "Then become what they could never be."
---
He rose.
The chamber pulsed with quiet light, acknowledging his choice. No transformation. No glowing symbols. Just… stillness.
But something deep inside him had shifted. Not taken over—aligned.
He wasn't here to replace anyone.
He was here to forge something new.
---
Kaela stood with him, her expression unreadable. "Is it over?"
"No," Riku said, turning away from the throne. "It's just beginning."
And as they left the Spire, its doors sealed shut behind them—quietly, like a secret going back to sleep.