(Lawless Arc: Part XXIII)
The universe didn't have time to scream.
The moment Kael whispered "Unseal.",
the Unremembered Expanse buckled—
not collapsing like a building,
but recoiling like something alive
that had just been stabbed by a memory.
The air folded inside-out.
The sky shattered into silent equations.
The ground twisted like a dying god.
The Origin's limb jerked backward—
its surface fracturing into impossible runes.
For the first time in eternity…
The Origin retreated.
---
The Architect's Horror
The Architect fell to their knees, hands over their face.
"YOU—YOU FOOL—
YOU UNSEALED YOURSELF HERE?!"
Kael exhaled through gritted teeth.
"I didn't have a choice!"
The Architect looked up, eyes glitching.
"You always have a choice—
and you chose the worst one!"
The Echo flickered in and out, half-body barely holding shape.
"Architect… shut up…"
Kael stood in the center of a crater of collapsing reality,
power spiraling out of him like black fire laced with unmade light.
The Crown above his head turned slowly, like a predator waking up.
The Forgotten Star in his chest pulsed—
thud.
thud.
thud.
With each pulse, the Expanse screamed.
The Architect finally forced words through trembling lips:
"Kael, listen…
If you remain unsealed in this place—
the Origin will stop retreating."
Kael frowned.
"Why?"
The Architect's voice cracked:
"Because you are what it wants back."
"You unsealed yourself in its cage."
"You are glowing like a beacon—
a lost piece returning home."
Kael's blood froze.
The Echo shouted, voice breaking:
"KAEL! MOVE! NOW!"
---
The Origin Learns
The sky split.
The limb reappeared—
but different.
It had changed.
It had adapted.
Before, it reached with instinct.
Now, it reached with intent.
The cracks along its surface twisted into symbols—
symbols resembling words Kael didn't understand,
but that his bones reacted to.
Symbols trying to become a name.
Kael's.
The Origin was learning him.
Recognizing him.
Reclaiming him.
Kael staggered back.
"Oh hell no."
The Origin's voice vibrated through the Expanse:
"YOU ARE NOT UNSEALED."
"YOU ARE UNFINISHED."
Kael felt the world tilt.
The Echo screamed:
"It's reading you!
It's reconstructing you!
If it completes that pattern—
it won't need to take you!"
"IT WILL BECOME YOU!"
Kael's breath hitched.
"I need a way out."
"There is no way out!" the Architect shouted.
"This place is forgotten by reality!
You can't recall a location with no memory!"
Kael smirked—despite everything.
"Watch me."
---
The System Returns
A cold chime echoed.
Then another.
Then another.
The Architect's eyes widened.
"No…
No, Kael, you didn't—
YOU DESTROYED THAT SYSTEM!"
Kael looked down.
A glowing panel of extinct, forbidden runes materialized before him.
The System Kael killed in Chapter 1.
The System that feared him more than the void.
The System that begged to be erased.
It flickered violently—
unstable—
but obeying.
[SYSTEM RECONNECTION: ERROR]
[HOST NOT FOUND]
[IDENTITY: UNKNOWN]
[REBUILDING CONNECTION…]
Kael laughed darkly.
"Good.
You don't know me.
That means you can't limit me."
The Origin roared.
The System pulsed.
[OVERRIDE DETECTED]
[ESTABLISHING TEMPORARY FUNCTIONALITY]
[GRANTING ACCESS TO LOST PROTOCOLS]
Kael extended his hand.
"Give me a path."
The System responded instantly:
[PROTOCOL: REALITY RECALL]
[STATUS: FORBIDDEN]
[PRIORITY OVERRIDDEN BY UNSEALED HOST]
A rift of light opened behind him—
not a portal,
but a memory of a place that once existed.
A door reality had forgotten…
but Kael had not.
The Architect whispered:
"Kael…
that's not a way out."
Kael stepped toward it.
The Echo hissed:
"That's a way back.
Back to the moment you erased yourself."
Kael turned his head slightly.
"Exactly."
The Origin lunged.
Kael stepped through the memory-door—
and the universe snapped shut behind him.
---