Inside Kael's Mindscape – Beneath the Spiral Sea
Yanis descended through the cracked memory staircase, the weight of the thirteenth Gate pulsing behind her like a second heartbeat.
The crowned shadow of Kael did not follow her.
She moved past memories that screamed — collapsing cities, dying allies, a girl singing to herself in the dark.
The world shimmered—and she stepped into the sealed memory.
> [Memory Anchor Access: PRIME LEVEL]
[Memory Title: "Genesis Protocol // Gate XIII"]
[Warning: Emotion Filters Disabled]
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10,000 Cycles Ago – Seed Nexus Prime
Yanis stood in a massive cathedral-like hall of floating runes and fractal machines.
At the center:
Kael — no, the King — kneeled on a glowing platform, twelve Seed fragments orbiting him like slow moons. His crown blazed with fractal code.
He was surrounded by generals and scientists. All afraid.
A woman in a white lab robe approached.
> "The simulations failed, sire. No mind can hold all twelve."
"Even you—"
> "Then make a thirteenth," Kael said.
Silence fell.
> "My lord?" the woman asked.
Kael stood.
> "A gate. Not outside the world, but inside me. A prison gate. A lock."
> "If I fall… if I fracture… let this thirteenth fragment seal what remains."
Yanis realized…
He knew. Even then, he knew he'd fall.
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Hours later – The Birth of the Gate
Kael screamed as all twelve fragments fused into his body, blood pouring from his eyes. Reality bent inward. Lightning tore across dimensions.
> "NOW!" he roared.
And the machines obeyed.
They burned a hole in his soul.
A gate formed—inside his core.
Runes wrote themselves into his DNA.
A girl screamed somewhere behind the walls.
And the thirteenth fragment was born — a lock made from pain and memory.
Yanis watched as he fell, twitching, eyes blank.
> "Seal it," he whispered.
> "Seal me."
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Back in the Present – Inside the Mindscape
Yanis collapsed on the floor of Kael's subconscious. Trembling. Tears streaming.
The crowned Kael stepped forward.
> "Now you see it."
> "I made the thirteenth gate… not to protect the world. But to protect the world from me."
He touched his chest.
> "And if it opens… no one walks away."
Behind him, Gate XIII cracked wider.
And the girl in red stood in the opening.
Her voice calm. Hollow.
> "You locked me away with it. You called me 'the key.'"
> "Now I remember."
> "I am not the key…"
> "I am the thirteenth."
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