Darkness.
Not the absence of light — the memory of it.
Kael floated, weightless, unbound. Around him, whispers moved like dust in deep water. Each murmur carried pieces of a world that no longer existed — dying laughter, falling stars, the echo of prayers swallowed by silence.
He tried to move. The void responded with resistance — soft, alive, as though it recognized him.
> [System Connection: Severed.]
[Location: Undefined.]
[Memory Reconstruction: In Progress.]
Fragments appeared before him — visions flickering like broken glass:
A child kneeling before a dying sun.
A shadow feeding upon itself.
A name carved into nothingness — Kael — erased by unseen hands.
Then, from that black ocean, it rose.
A figure without face, wearing Kael's own outline, woven entirely from voidlight. Its steps made no sound, yet every motion rippled through infinity.
"Why do you remember, when you were meant to forget?" it asked.
Its voice was his own.
Kael's throat trembled. "