The mist swallowed the figure.
Noé stood frozen, hand still clutching the frame of the window, heart racing not in fear—but in recognition.
It had not attacked.
It had not spoken.
And yet... it had looked at him like it knew him.
Then—
A faint pulse from his pendant.
He looked down.
The silver surface flickered—light curling into runes.
Words appeared:
"Sequence located."
"Unlocking path: Core Archive 01."
A map unfolded—projected midair in faint starlight, pointing somewhere beneath the academy.
Noé didn't hesitate.
He grabbed his coat, ignored the cold, and followed the coordinates—out of his dorm, down through hidden stairwells, into silence and shadow.
The academy was asleep.
But something beneath it was awakening.
The stairway spiraled deep beneath Arkana.
Each step buzzed with ancient energy—like walking into a memory trapped in stone.
At the end of the descent, Noé stood before a massive gate.
It wasn't made of metal or wood.
It was made of light—solid, woven from pure runes, humming in rhythmic pulses.
A voice echoed, not from the air, but from the space itself.
"Identify: Sequence bearer."
Noé didn't speak.
The pendant did. It glowed, and the gate responded.
"Aeternum fragment recognized. Opening Pathway: Archive Core 01."
The runes unraveled. The gate parted.
And behind it—only shadow.
Noé stepped forward.
"Stop right there."
The voice was sharp.
He turned—
Professor Elenya Vael, robed in dark indigo, her eyes burning with disbelief, stood at the entrance of the chamber.
Two Academy Guardians flanked her, runestaves at the ready.
"This section is restricted under Chrono-Order Five," she said. "No student—no one—is permitted here."
Noé didn't flinch.
"The door opened for me."
Elenya stared at him.
Then at the still-glowing runes.
Then back at his pendant.
"...That shouldn't be possible," she whispered.
Behind Noé, the room breathed—low, resonant.
And the voice came again:
"He is not trespassing."
"He is returning."
Elenya didn't lower her staff. But she didn't move either.
Noé stood at the edge of the runed chamber, eyes fixed on the swirling light inside.
Behind him, the voice echoed again—neither male nor female, more memory than sound.
"Aeternum Fragment 01. Chrono-link confirmed. Initiating memory alignment."
The air shifted.
The chamber responded.
A circle in the center of the floor began to glow—old metal, etched with spells older than language.
It clicked once.
Twice.
And then—
Images burst into the air.
Flickers. Shadows. Memories.
Noé, younger. Noé, not alone. Noé inside a glowing cylinder with wires running from his chest to a massive hourglass.
"Noé—" Elenya whispered. "Is that... you?"
"I don't know," he said. But his voice wavered.
The images twisted.
A younger version of Elenya—barely twenty—standing before the same device. Watching.
Behind her—Professor Lior.
Elenya took a sharp breath. "That... that's not possible. That was sealed before I ever—"
"You were there," Noé said, turning slowly.
He didn't say it with anger. Only with understanding.
"But... that means..."
The Archivgeist interrupted.
"This is not your past."
"This is your purpose."
Elenya's staff lowered. Her voice cracked.
"You're not a student."
The chamber brightened—casting Noé in silver light.
"You're the reason the Core Project was erased."
The room trembled.
Noé stood still, bathed in light and memory, the images still spinning slowly above the device.
Then—
Steps.
Firm. Familiar.
Lior entered the chamber.
His eyes widened the moment he saw the device.
He didn't blink. He didn't breathe.
"Elenya," he said. "You shouldn't have brought him here."
"I didn't," she replied. "He brought himself."
The chamber responded.
"Dual-instructor presence confirmed. Memory Protocol Level 2 unlocked."
Lines of glowing script scrolled across the air—entries, dates, formulas.
All marked: Project Aeternum – Terminated.
Lior stepped closer. "I've seen this interface. Once. In the lower archives. We thought it was broken."
"It's not broken," Noé said. "It's waiting."
Elenya glanced at him. "Waiting for what?"
Noé looked down at his hands.
"Waiting for me."
Lior's voice was low. "That project was shut down before you were born."
Noé's eyes didn't waver.
"Was I ever really born?"
The room dimmed.
The glowing interface pulsed once more.
And then, from the center of the device, a shape rose—flat, crystalline.
A voice echoed. This time not from the walls.
From within the crystal.
"To Fragment 01. If this message plays, then I have failed."
Noé stepped forward.
The figure inside the crystal was blurred—but it looked like him.
"You were not meant to awaken like this. You were meant to be silent. But if the seal broke... then the Cycle has restarted."
Elenya stared at the image.
Lior clenched his fists.
"You were not born. You were remembered. From a time that no longer exists."
The voice faded.
The crystal cracked.
Noé didn't say a word.
But his eyes... had already made a decision.
Noé stood at the edge of the eastern gate, a small satchel over his shoulder.
He didn't say goodbye.
He didn't tell them why.
But Mira was already there, blocking the road.
"You think you can just vanish?"
Lysira stepped from the shadows behind her. "You're not going alone."
Noé looked at them. He didn't have the words.
So Mira stepped forward and simply said:
"We're not here to stop you."
She smiled.
"We're coming with you."
They walked without speaking at first.
The moon was high, casting pale light over the road that led away from Arkana. The trees whispered in a language none of them understood, and for once... the world was quiet.
Noé didn't know where they were going.
Only that he couldn't stay.
He glanced sideways—Mira was humming softly, her steps light. Lysira walked behind, silent but sharp-eyed, like every branch might be a test.
Somewhere deep inside him, the mark on his arm pulsed once—like it, too, was searching.
"Where do we even start?" Mira finally asked.
Noé stopped.
He looked out at the forest ahead. The air shimmered faintly with runes—old ones, half-faded.
"We go where the world forgot to look," he said.
He turned—and his eyes met Lysira's.
For a moment, she didn't look away.
Her mask cracked—just slightly. In her eyes: worry, fire... and something soft.
Something only he was allowed to see.
Noé opened his mouth—but said nothing.
He didn't have to.
She gave a faint nod, barely visible.
And then they stepped into the unknown.