Chapter 15: The First Memory's Judgement
The Citadel stood still—paralyzed in a moment stretched by awe and fear. The First Memory hovered before them, cloaked in obsidian armor that shimmered like liquid void, his face veiled beneath a mask that rippled with ancient runes.
"I am not your enemy," the figure said, voice echoing like forgotten prayers. "But I am your reckoning."
Kazuki stepped forward, hand instinctively reaching for Aria, who stood beside him with Lyra and Kael. The broken Lyra remained crouched, watching silently as if seeing a ghost of divinity.
"What do you want?" Kazuki asked, his voice steady despite the pressure in the air.
"I want balance. I want the cycle to end. You—Kazuki Amano—disrupted the code that weaves reality. You loved too fiercely, remembered too deeply, and challenged entropy itself. You must be judged."
The air behind the First Memory cracked open, revealing fragments of other worlds—realities consumed by their own failure to find equilibrium.
One showed a version of Kazuki who never found Aria. Another, a world where Lyra was never born. And yet another, where Kael turned into a tyrant.
"These are echoes of what could've been… and might yet be."
Zeren stood beside Kazuki now, his staff glowing with layered inscriptions. "We've seen your kind before. The Sentinels of Order. You don't judge—you erase."
The First Memory tilted his head. "You confuse preservation with tyranny. If I must cut away rot to save the tree, so be it."
The ground split beneath them, revealing a throne made of fractured memories. The Origin shimmered overhead, resisting the First Memory's pull.
Kazuki turned to his family. "We stop him together."
Aria's hand slipped into his. "Always."
---
The Memory Trial
The First Memory raised his hand and constructed a trial of remembrance. Each of them—Kazuki, Aria, Lyra, Kael—were pulled into separate arenas formed by their past.
Kazuki's Trial: He relived his youth—abandoned, hated for a power he couldn't understand. But now, he faced the darker version of himself—the one who embraced solitude and wrath.
"You could've had peace if you stayed alone," his mirror whispered.
"But I found something worth fighting for," Kazuki answered.
He summoned the memory of Aria's song, Lyra's laughter, Kael's pride. These memories burned away the void.
Aria's Trial: She stood on a battlefield of silence, her voice lost. Across from her was her doppelgänger, the one who chose silence over compassion.
"You think your songs healed him? They only delayed his fall."
Aria wept but sang. A broken melody, trembling at first, then growing in power—echoing the love she shared with Kazuki and her children.
The silent world cracked and shattered into light.
Kael's Trial: Kael faced the warlord he could've become—cold, efficient, undefeated.
"Emotion makes you weak," the dark Kael hissed.
Kael grinned, blades out. "Then I'm the strongest weakling you'll ever meet."
He fought not to win, but to protect his ideals.
Lyra's Trial: The two Lyras—real and broken—stood face to face in a sea of stars. Each star was a version of their life.
"I was forgotten," the broken one said.
"You were never forgotten," the real Lyra replied, tears falling. "I remember for you."
She embraced her counterpart. Light poured from them, and the sky sang.
---
Verdict Denied
The trials ended. Each returned, shining brighter than before.
The First Memory's mask cracked. "You defy judgment."
"No," Kazuki said. "We rewrite it."
He unleashed All-Father Resonance—a forbidden ability that combined love, memory, time, and willpower. The Origin amplified it, connecting every memory across timelines.
The First Memory trembled, his form destabilizing. "This… this is not possible."
Aria stood beside Kazuki, her voice binding the light. "You forgot the one thing stronger than inevitability."
"Which is?"
"Hope."
The energy overwhelmed the First Memory. His mask shattered, revealing not a face—but thousands of shifting images of people who were erased from timelines, all screaming for a second chance.
He didn't die. He transformed. The memories returned to their homes. The void became a river.
"Judgment… postponed," the voice whispered one last time.
---
Aftermath
The Citadel stood whole again. The Origin pulsed with a soft hum, and the sky cleared. Aria wept into Kazuki's shoulder, overwhelmed.
Kael sat by the broken Lyra, who was now peacefully asleep, her memories safe.
Zeren spoke softly, "The cycle didn't end… but it's paused. That's enough."
Kazuki looked at his family—every timeline, every fragment, now part of something whole.
"We'll be ready," he said.
From the highest tower of the Citadel, a new constellation shimmered.
The spark of a new era.
To be continued in Chapter 16: Legacy Rewritten