The sky inside Layer Twelve wasn't sky at all—it was a dome of frozen light, cracked like ancient stained glass. Above Raen, echoes flickered in slow-motion: battles lost, gods forgotten, and memories that didn't belong to him.
He had never been here before.But something here remembered him.
They stepped into the dome's radius, and instantly the air felt heavier—not hostile, but watching. Listening.
Raen clenched his fist as they walked, eyes scanning the terrain. A glacial desert stretched endlessly outward, shards of crystalline snow cutting through the boots of even Hollowfang.
No wind.
No stars.
No time.
Jester Wyrm, who never shut up, now hovered silently. His long, curled body rippled like a question that didn't want to be asked. Even Despair Maw's movements had slowed, as if it were wading through liquid memory.
"Where are we?" Ember Vow murmured, her voice barely more than breath.
Raen didn't answer at first.
Then, from somewhere inside him—perhaps from the System, or perhaps from something deeper—an answer emerged:
"This is where gods store what they regret."
A ripple of glass cracked underfoot.
And then…
A voice.
It didn't speak in sound, but in knowing. Not to the ears, but to the spine.
RAEN.
He froze.
The others didn't react—not visibly. Perhaps only he could hear it. Or perhaps the voice chose him alone.
YOU WERE MINE.
Raen's heart slammed once against his ribs. He looked upward—there was nothing above. Just shifting crystal and distant flickers of time.
He whispered, "Who are you?"
The reply came like a tremor through his bones:
I FORGOT MY NAME.BUT I REMEMBER YOURS.
A pulse of white fire shot from the horizon, carving a pillar into the dome. Where it struck, a shape formed—a humanoid figure made of broken divinity. Half-statue, half-flame. Its face was a mosaic of crumbling expressions: weeping, laughing, furious, loving. All at once.
[System Alert: Warning—Unsealed Divine Echo][Identity Match: 43% — ARCHON OF MERCY (FALLEN)][Status: Residual Consciousness | Bondability: No | Narrative Risk: Critical]
Raen narrowed his eyes. "Why are you in the Abyss?"
The being didn't move. Its mouth opened, but instead of words, images surged into Raen's mind—
—A war from a thousand years ago.—A general kneeling before a radiant throne.—A promise made to spare a city, then broken by divine decree.—A boy watching from the shadows.—A god turning away.
Raen staggered back.
"You—" His breath caught. "You were there. When my home burned."
The being flickered. Its voice fractured across him.
I DID NOT STRIKE THE MATCH.BUT I REFUSED TO STOP THE FLAMES.
Raen trembled.
He remembered now.
The stories. The cathedral before the capital fell. The sky opening in judgment. The god who spared no one—not even children.
"You judged us," Raen said bitterly. "And now you're here. Why?"
I WAS CAST DOWN.I WAS MADE TO REMEMBER.AND YOU……YOU CARRY MY MEMORY BETTER THAN I DID.
Jester Wyrm finally stirred. "Is it just me, or is this divine ghost really into you?"
Raen didn't smile.
The god stepped closer. Not in threat—but in reverence.
And then it knelt.
A broken god.
Bowing to a mortal.
"I don't want your apology," Raen said. "Not after what you took."
THEN TAKE MY POWER.AND BURN A NEW NAME INTO THE SKY.
A fragment broke from the being's chest—light crystallized into a shape: a rune. Spinning, unclaimed, waiting.
[System Update: Optional Bond Available – Godshard of Regret][Effect: ??? | Warning: May Alter Destiny Thread Permanently]
Ember Vow stepped beside him. "Raen…"
"I know," he whispered. "This is a trap."
"But it's also a choice," she said. "You decide what kind of king you'll become."
He hesitated only a moment more.
Then he reached out.
The shard floated into his hand.
And everything changed.
Visions pierced his skull: timelines that weren't his, empires that rose and fell in seconds, beasts speaking with human voices, Raen crowned in flame, Raen broken and alone, Raen laughing with a child who called him Father.
And through it all—Kael's face, always just out of reach.
The pain was unbearable.
But Raen bore it.
He always had.
[Bond Established: Godshard – Regret][Effect Unlocked: "Mercybrand" – All damage inflicted leaves behind a memory. Enemies who survive remember your pain as their own.]
The dome cracked.
The god vanished.
And the light above collapsed inward.
Layer Twelve folded around them—and a staircase formed, made of fractured halos.
At the top: the gateway to the next level.
Raen looked back once, to where the god had bowed.
"Let's go," he said softly.
The Abyss was watching.
But now… so was Heaven.