The ground beneath Kael's feet trembled. At first, it was a slight vibration, then a steadily increasing pressure… As if the world were drowning within time. The scenery around him began to ripple; the ceiling, floor, and walls were dissolving and reassembling at the edges of existence. But this dissolution wasn't physical—it was like a mental collapse. Were these memories? Or just echoes? Kael couldn't tell.
He took a deep breath, but the air settled into his chest like a heavy burden. When he took a few steps, it felt as though time itself had lost its flow. Hours, minutes, and seconds… they were now fragmented concepts within Kael. Past, future, and present; all of them were blending together. He was just moving forward—or so he thought.
And then three doors appeared.
The doors rose before him like colossal monuments. Each one was different, yet somehow they felt like they belonged to Kael.
The first door had a matte black surface. There were no markings on it, but as Kael approached, he felt something echoing from its depths—not a being, but an emotion. It was raw and unrefined pain. A stabbing, indescribable weight in his chest… Kael thought this might be a real memory, but which memory?
The second door was completely cracked. It was as if something inside had tried to escape but couldn't break its chains. When Kael turned his eyes through the narrow gap, he heard an echo whispering to him—his own voice. But the words weren't clear, just a muffled murmur reverberating.
And the third door… compared to the others, it stood completely sealed. The chains on it bore writings in an ancient sealing language even Kael didn't know. The moment he approached, the chains began to tremble slightly—as if they knew of Kael's arrival and were reacting to it.
At that moment, a muffled, echoing voice rang in his ears.
"Choose your path."
Kael flinched. In that instant, a shiver spread through his entire body. Where had the voice come from? From within his mind? From a broken fragment of time? Or was it a command from a being that had shaped his past?
Kael closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. But breathing was no longer as easy as it once was.
This wasn't just a trial.
This was a journey where his very existence was being shaped.
Now, he had to decide. But… one of those doors had already begun pulling him in.
Kael glanced over the doors. Each one stirred a different echo within him. However, one of them wasn't waiting for him to make a choice.
The chains on the third door began to tremble.
Kael stepped back. Something… was trying to pull him in. Kael instinctively tried to flee, but his body couldn't move a single step. As he pressed his hands against the wall and struggled to resist, one of the chains suddenly snapped and whipped backward. The rusty metal hit the ground and echoed.
And then the door creaked open on its own.
Kael's mind throbbed. It was as if a nail had been driven into his brain… His throat tightened, his heart suddenly raced. At that moment, he didn't feel panic, but a more primal fear. His entire body was screaming "run," but his mind… his mind was locked.
"B-big sister..."
His voice trembled. When he realized what he'd said, the whole world blurred.
Beyond the door, there was a scene. It wasn't clear, flickering and blurry as if he were looking up from underwater. But Kael saw the silhouette within that blur.
His brain couldn't comprehend what this scene was. But his heart was pounding.
His legs were shaking.
He felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach.
His eyes caught on the figure's white dress.
On the fluttering long hair.
Was it someone he knew?
His mind said no. But his heart knew.
He was seeing someone he knew.
The scene trembled. Did the figure turn, or was it just an echo? Kael tried to understand, but his eyes were burning. A headache so intense pressed down on him that his knees buckled.
Through the narrowing gap of his fading vision, he could swear he saw the figure's eyes.
And then a voice—where was that voice coming from?
"Kael..."
At that moment, the gap in the door closed.
Kael had collapsed to the ground. His whole body was trembling. He slumped to the side, breathless and panting.
He didn't know what he'd seen. But his body remembered. The only thing he knew was that what he felt in that moment was strikingly similar to the previous figure, perhaps even the same person. Yet who it was remained a mystery, and this mystery had deeply enveloped Kael.
And at that moment, for the first time, he wanted to run.
Kael was on the ground. The cracks in the cold stone floor dug into his palms, but he didn't feel it. His eyes were open, but he wasn't sure what he was seeing. It was as if he'd locked onto a single point… but there was nothing there. Behind his eyelids, that figure still lingered. That voice, that tone whispering from the depths of the past… a single word. It had said his name in such a tone that it felt like the only real thing emerging from a chaotic nightmare. The only truth.
His heart was pounding wildly, his breathing erratic as it rose and fell. His chest felt trapped, as if in a shrinking room… or as if something had been ripped out of it. The emptiness wasn't just in his mind—it was felt in his body too. It was as if someone had opened his chest, pulled out all the light, and left behind an empty, echoing darkness.
But even that darkness wasn't silent.
Echoes whispering his name swirled within it. "Kael… Kael… Kael…" All in different tones, with different emotions, but carrying the same weight. For the first time, Kael truly questioned himself: What am I? Who am I? Why do these echoes feel so familiar? That figure… why did its name slip from his lips on its own?
Kael suddenly leaned his head back and shut his eyes tightly. His head was burning inside. There were no images, but there were sensations. The warmth of someone who once held his hand… a gentle touch stroking his hair… and then blood, a scream, an echoing void. He didn't remember, but his instincts were screaming.
Slowly, almost crawling, he pulled himself up. His face was drenched in sweat, his hair sticking to his forehead. There was a weight on him. Not just physical, but the weight of a memory. The burden of a past he couldn't recall.
He gathered himself and stood on trembling legs. He fixed his eyes on the ground, then looked back at the door he thought had just closed. But there was no door there anymore.
In its place, only one thing remained:
A clock.
Hanging in the middle of the wall, a strange clock with no hour hand, only a second hand spinning rapidly. As if time itself were mocking him, each tick struck Kael's mind like a slap. He understood… This stage had now begun. He had to push past his emotions and move through that emptiness. It was a race against time. But this time wasn't just physical. It was the time of memories. Every second he'd fled, forgotten, or suppressed was now starting to chase him.
Kael saw the writing beneath the clock:
"How much you remember is how much you'll live."
His eyes narrowed. Something knotted in his throat. This time, it wasn't just about passing through—it was about passing through the past. While shackled to his thoughts, another door appeared—this time elegant and wooden. It was as if children's laughter seeped through it… but also the merciless coldness of metal.
Kael took a step. Then another.
And a voice from within—this time his own voice—whispered:
"The things I don't want to remember haven't forgotten me."
The door opened.
It was as if time bent, sounds distorted, and the air grew heavy. When Kael stepped inside, it felt like dimensions had shifted. It wasn't quite a room, nor fully a memory. Time itself seemed to have become a roof. Everything was utterly foreign yet so familiar… The sky was gray, the floor like a giant clock mechanism constantly turning, but that turning sound—it wasn't rhythmic; it was like the irregular beat of a malfunctioning heart.
And right in the center… a table.
On the table were three different objects.
One was a broken necklace. Its chain was rusty, the stone at its end cracked but still faintly glowing.
The second was a clock spring. But it wasn't working. Dust and broken gears embedded within it reflected time's internal decay.
The third was… a sketchbook stained with blood. Its pages were yellowed, but the childlike scribbles on them made Kael swallow hard.
An inexplicable fear rose within him. Instinctive… a fear etched into his body. These objects… had he seen them before?
At that moment, a sound echoed from the corner of the room.
"Time won't move forward until you remember."
"But your choice can speed it up."
The table trembled on its own. A light streamed from the necklace, the sketchbook's pages began flipping by themselves, and the spring twitched slightly.
Kael understood. This was a choice. Whichever he chose, time would start flowing with it… but there would be a cost.
His heart raced again. His eyes darted between the three objects. He clenched his fists, wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"If you want to set time in motion, you must awaken a memory," said that unfamiliar voice again.
"But be careful. Some memories don't just stay remembered… they call you back too."
Kael took a deep breath. Each one was like a door. But which one opened to the past, and which would drag him into an inescapable cycle, he couldn't know.
And here came the moment of decision.
He reached out and took the necklace.
When Kael grasped the necklace with his hands, his heartbeat slowly quickened. At first, there was just an odd sensation, as if he were chasing after something lost… but then, as his fingers gripped the metal of the necklace, he heard a cracking sound, it seemed. This sound was the breaking of a moment in time. Slowly, gently… but in a way that pierced his soul all the same…
For a moment, his eyes blurred again. He remembered entering the room; just for an instant, a vague and faint figure stood right in front of him. The necklace had vanished within those cold, silver threads. Something was said, but he couldn't hear what; it was as if a voice echoed only in his mind.
"Kael…?"
That word had once been spoken with a warm voice. So deeply, so protectively… And it was as if, in an instant, he recalled the reality of that voice.
Big sister.
Kael forced the word out of his mouth. Each letter felt so heavy that his throat dried up, and when he heard that voice echoing on his tongue, he felt something break. Big sister... That word had reawakened all the pain within him. His eyes blurred, the edges of everything gradually fading. At that moment, an image flashed into his mind.
A banquet room. A bright, shimmering table. But there were only two plates on the table. There was so much more, but Kael's eyes saw only one… That elegant, delicate figure sat right across from him. Kael had looked at her, praising the food in his mouth. But he couldn't see that moment clearly. His eyes were only blurred, like the shadows of memories…
Kael noticed blood beginning to drip from his eyes. But this wasn't just a slip in time; each drop merged with the emptiness inside him, forming a deeper wound. He began to forge a connection between that blurred moment and the warm metal of the necklace.
Big sister, we were eating together...
And at that moment, he fully realized who the figure was. It was as if a knot had settled in Kael's throat. The heavy truth within him surged to the surface with the necklace's effect. As a crushing sense of collapse enveloped his body, the words came out with difficulty.
"B-big sister…"
Kael was stammering. That word was big enough, deep enough for him. But the meaning in the darkened, rusted state of the necklace turned into an even greater pain with every passing second.
His mind was returning to the most painful memories of his past.
And at that moment, there was a revival. That figure, beneath the light of the necklace, appeared before Kael for an instant. But the figure's face was faint, only its shadow remained. Kael's eyes trembled, seeing became difficult, but he felt the reality. This was what I needed to remember... His heart was pounding wildly, so powerfully that it felt as if remembering this at any moment might tear him apart.
Kael covered his mouth and bowed his head. The necklace sat in his hands like a heavy burden. And with it, he made another decision.