Location: Lazrith Core – Observation Tower
A mechanical hum rose beneath the floor. Red lights spun in warning cycles. The walls glowed with runes that hadn't lit up in over 4,000 cycles.
The Forgemother, once known as Archon Draysa, stood before the master console. Her fingers—now half-machine—danced across the interface.
> [Target: Kael Riven – Seed Level: PRIME]
[Fragment Detected: XIII – Core Gate Status: OPENING – 27%]
[Authorized Protocol: Reclaimer Zero – Condition: "Contain Or Destroy"]
[Weapon: Soul-Rend Cannon, Array-9 | Status: Charging – 83%]
A younger technician stared at the readings.
> "This is suicide. If you fire that at him—"
> "—the world lives."
> "But what if he's still in control?"
Draysa's jaw clenched.
> "That thing is not Kael Riven. Not anymore."
> "That's a throne trying to wear a man."
---
Meanwhile: Inside Kael's Mind
Yanis stood at the edge of the psychic fracture where Gate XIII pulsed like a wound in time.
The girl in red stood across from her, calm now—but vast. Her form flickered between child, queen, and something divine.
> "She's powering the gate with his guilt," Yanis whispered. "Feeding on the pieces he lost."
Kael knelt behind her—eyes flickering. Pulse erratic. Seed runes flaring.
> "If he wakes now," Yanis muttered, "he'll take the gate into the world."
> "And if I pull us out—he might die."
---
Back in the Real World
> [Weapon Charge: 96%]
[Override Locks Releasing]
[Coordinates Locked: Signal Trace – Subject Heartline Acquired]
The Forgemother raised her hand.
A final authorization code glowed.
Yanis.
She was the one who had placed it long ago.
> "She built the last lock," the Forgemother muttered. "Let her decide whether he lives."
A light began blinking.
Yanis's life-link shimmered.
> [Warning: Incoming Strike – 34 seconds]
[Override Available: Abort Dive / Extract Host / Trigger Countermeasure]
Yanis whispered, "Kael…"
She looked at him—what was left of him—and placed her blade across her own palm.
> "One last gamble."
She cut.
Her blood fell onto the mindscape floor—onto the base of the thirteenth gate.
The girl in red hissed.
> "You would bind yourself to me?"
> "No," Yanis said. "I bind you to him. Not the king. Not the tyrant."
She placed her palm on Kael's chest.
> "To the man who chose to forget, so no one else would have to remember."
The mindscape shattered.
---
In Reality
The console sparked.
> [Target Sync Broken — Weapon Firing Canceled]
The Forgemother stared in shock.
> "What—"
> [Gate XIII Sync… Dropped to 0.1%]
[New Link Detected: Soul Anchor – Subject YANIS DRAE]
> "She did it," the tech whispered. "She sealed it… using herself."
---
Kael gasped awake.
Yanis collapsed beside him, her aura flickering—burned, but alive.
Kael looked at her—still himself, barely.
> "You're insane."
> "So are you," she coughed.
> "Let's not die today."
---