"I thought Caladra was a place," Dae said quietly.
"No," Kaelion replied, voice stripped of its usual calm. "She was a person… and she remembers you."
The throne behind him groaned. Not from age… from something pushing back.
Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface. Light spilled through them—purple, not gold. Pulsing with a heartbeat Dae had never heard before, but felt like it lived inside his chest.
"Who was she to me?" Dae asked.
Kaelion's gaze dropped.
"You already know. That's why your memories were taken. She wasn't just someone you knew… she was someone you created."
Dae staggered back.
"What…?"
"You didn't just wield creation. You birthed something into this multiverse that wasn't supposed to exist."
Kaelion stepped down from the throne as the chains around him started snapping one by one.
"She was your first rebellion. Your first sin."
Another chain snapped. Dust shook from the vault walls. Above them, the floating architecture began to shift… like a city exhaling after a long coma.
"And now," Kaelion whispered, "she's waking up."
…
Back at the academy…
The sky had turned a different shade.
Not night. Not morning.
Just… wrong.
Pix's voice chimed nervously through the intercom system. "Dimensional stability fluctuating. Monitoring… anomalous warmth… Subject: Caladra."
Every instructor's office was locked.
Because none of the instructors were inside the dome anymore.
Nobody knew where they had gone.
Except maybe Selene.
She stared out the dorm window with arms crossed, dark bangs shadowing her eyes.
"She's returning," Selene whispered.
Zane, still chewing on a popsicle stick, raised an eyebrow. "Wait… who is she?"
Selene didn't answer. Just looked over at Rea.
And Rea…
Was already floating.
Not flying. Floating.
Like gravity didn't apply anymore.
Something ancient in her bones was reacting.
…
Meanwhile, Jin and Vera were running diagnostics.
"I swear I just saw a layer of code flash in ancient script," Vera hissed. "And it wasn't from Pix."
Jin's chains uncoiled slightly. "The dome isn't real anymore. It's… being rewritten."
And Nira, sitting on the stairs alone, looked up with a small, icy sigh.
"She's here already," she said.
"I can feel her."
…
Back inside the vault—
Dae was standing in front of the crumbling throne as Kaelion stepped away.
"I'll buy you time," Kaelion said. "This memory was locked for a reason. And the moment you hear her name… everything will unravel."
"But I need to know."
Kaelion didn't argue.
He just smiled sadly and stepped into the shadows.
"Then go."
The floor beneath Dae cracked.
And the Book of Knowledge opened again—its pages turning so fast it became a blur of white and gold.
Then stopped.
One page.
One word.
CALADRA.
And suddenly…
He was somewhere else.
…
A garden.
No… the garden.
From that recurring dream. That place he'd always dismissed as nostalgia with mood lighting.
Vines curling around floating stones… a gentle lake shaped like a spiral.
And her.
Sitting at the center.
Back turned.
Silver hair glowing with stardust.
Barefoot. Humming.
"Dae," she said without looking.
And his chest tightened like something old had been yanked free.
She turned around slowly.
Her eyes were a mirror.
Like literally—his reflection stared back at him from her pupils.
But her smile… was hers alone.
"You're finally here," she said softly.
"I've been waiting."
…
She stood. Light gathered around her like she was the garden.
"You forgot me."
Dae stepped forward. "They took you."
She tilted her head. "But you let them."
Pain.
That single sentence hit harder than anything in Vault 0.
"I didn't mean to."
"I know," Caladra said.
Then she touched his chest—over the ring—and he felt the world bend.
"I wasn't just someone you made. I was someone you loved. And they said that wasn't allowed."
His breath caught. "Why?"
"Because I was never supposed to feel real."
The garden flickered.
And for one terrifying second—
He saw her in a tube. Bound by wires. Eyes wide and alive.
Selene.
Rea.
Kaelion.
All watching behind glass.
"No," Dae gasped.
"I was your test," Caladra whispered. "Before Selene. Before An. Before… everything."
"And I passed."
Tears filled her eyes.
"And that's why they erased me."
…
Back in the dome, the vault door burst open.
Rea, Selene, Echo, Vale, and Kio stormed in—too late.
Dae wasn't there anymore.
Only the garden.
And the voice that lingered in the air.
"You can't stop her," Selene whispered.
"She's back."
The Book of Knowledge lay in the center of the space.
Glowing.
And open to one word.
Caladra.
…
Dae stood at the edge of the dream-garden, knees buckling.
Caladra knelt beside him, catching his face in her hands.
"I never wanted revenge," she said softly.
"I just wanted to exist."
He reached up slowly.
Touched her hand.
"It's not too late."
But she shook her head.
"It is for me."
A tear slid down her cheek.
"But not for us."
The garden shook.
And above them, cracks bloomed in the sky.
The multiverse… reacting.
From inside her chest, light burst forth.
Caladra smiled one last time.
Then whispered:
"I'll give you what they tried to steal."
She leaned in.
Kissed his forehead.
And vanished.
…
Dae collapsed.
The garden dissolved.
And he woke—
—back in his bed.
Breathless. Sweaty. Heart breaking.
Selene sat in the corner chair, one leg over the other, looking at him with unreadable eyes.
"You saw her, didn't you?"
Dae nodded slowly.
"She remembered me."
Selene stood up.
Took one step toward him.
"Then everything's going to break," she said softly.
And for the first time in days, Dae didn't argue.
He just said, "Let it."
…
To Be Continued in Chapter 34 – The Ones Who Remembered