"⟨FILE UNLOCKED⟩
Do you want to see the Rhaizen of this world in all its truth?"
I was rooted where I stood. My hands were clasped behind me. But my voice remained even.
"Show me"
"Simulation underway."
And reality altered.
It started with cries.
Not cries of combat, but of deceit.
The heavens over the royal city of Astrell were afire with celebratory flags — the Day of Eternal Peace. People cheered. Bells pealed. Fireworks blazed.
But in the darkness at the bottom of the castle stairs, Rhaizen, the real hero of this world, stood dazed and battered. The same hands that had previously showered him with garlands now pelted him with stones.
The King's proclamation had gone out hours earlier:
"Peace has been won. The Era of Heroes is ended.".
Those who cannot release…
shall be released."
And the heroes were rounded up.
Every last one of them.
Imprisoned under the Hall of Peace.
But three escaped:
Rhaizen
Aelira — a hot-headed, fire-hearted mage and his best friend since boyhood
Dren — a brooding, mountainous knight who had once gone against a kingdom to fight alongside them
They fled — not to escape mortality, but because they still thought the world needed saving.
The world, though, had already made up their minds they were the enemy.
They fled for weeks across icy gorges and abandoned valleys.
They camped under trees that murmured like ancient deities and drank from rivers that were tainted with peace magic. No village would accept them. No door was opened. The people they'd rescued. now reviled their names.
Then — by sheer chance or divine irony — they reached a half-collapsed temple nestled within a dying forest.
There, they met him.
An old priest, nameless, frail, with moss on his robes and clarity in his gaze.
"So the Last Flame finally flickers here," he said, eyes locking with Rhaizen.
"I'm not here to be saved," Rhaizen growled.
"Of course not," the priest laughed. "You're here because no one else remembers who you were."
He provided shelter, food, heat. And more than that — quiet. No judgment. No fear. Just… humanity.
For ten days, they remained.
Aelira cared for the firewood and attempted to regrow scorched herbs. Dren cut down trees and pulled stones as if the temple were his dwelling. And Rhaizen sat with the priest under an old tree — the final one that still bloomed.
Their words were soft but profound.
"Why do they fear us?" Rhaizen asked
The priest regarded him long.
"Because you remind them of the cost of peace.Heroes are proof that the world once burned — and might burn again.And nothing terrifies those in power more… than memory they can't control."
"Save them anyway. Even if they've forgotten how to ask for it."
On the eleventh day, the temple shook.
A horn. Then steel against stone.
The King's knights had found them.
Rhaizen stood to fight, but the priest held him back.
"You must go now. To the mountain — the Center of Time."
He gave Rhaizen a sealed scroll. The wax had an ancient symbol — a spiral inside an eye.
Climb to the top. Tell your burden to the god who awaits there. He is not of this world. But he listens."
"Why save us?" Rhaizen questioned, voice shaking.
"Because I saw the world forget too many good names. I will not let it forget yours."
He emerged into the sunlight before they could complain.
They could hear him chant something ancient and potent — a lost prayer from history.
The earth cleft. Sideways lightning struck. The trees ignited.
When the knights stepped across the threshold — they were reduced to ash.
And then, so was the priest.
The three fled.
And then — they ascended.
The Center of Time wasn't a mountain. It was legend hewn from stone and encased in snow.
They climbed for hours. For days. Banshee wails shrieked on the wind. Mana in the atmosphere smothered their spells.
Then… the arrows arrived.
Dozens.
Aelira shrieked and threw up a mana shield. It trembled — she wasn't left with much.
Rhaizen clutched her hand. Dren went to the front, deploying his shield as a wall.
One arrow cut through.
It grazed Aelira's side — then her leg.
"I can't… keep it up," she panted.
And she turned.
Smiled.
"Please. Save them. Save the people. Even if they don't deserve it."
And she jumped, unleashing her final spell mid-air — a detonation of flame and light that turned the cliffside into ruin.
"AELIRA!" Rhaizen shouted, falling to his knees.
Dren pulled him back.
"No time. Don't waste her death."
And they climbed higher.
At the final ridge, Dren stopped.
"I'm staying here," he said. "You go."
Rhaizen's voice was hollow. "Not again."
"She was my sister," Dren said softly. "You get to live because she believed in you."
He unsheathed his sword. "Now so will I."
And he spun to confront the soldiers scrambling up behind.
Rhaizen, shattered, climbed alone.
The Temple at the Top was quiet.
Within: an orb hovering over a stone ring, and a giant statue of a blindfolded deity, hands outstretched as if waiting perpetually.
He unrolled the scroll.
"Put your hand on the statue. Tell your truth. The god will hear. But… he will charge a price."
Rhaizen laid his hand on the frigid stone.
And the world disappeared.
Black emptiness.
Blue waves drifted like fantasies across space.
And then… an enormous grinning mouth from out of the dark.
A voice — twisted, layered, misplaced — resonated:
"So. Hero of a thousand failures… you've come."
The original Rhaizen knelt, his body trembling.
"…Are you a god?" he asked. His voice cracked, part awe, part desperation. "Please, I—I need—"
"Shhhh."
The mouth grinned wider, curling impossibly into the void. Its teeth shimmered like broken glass and stars.
"You've already seen too much, little hero.And now, you're unraveling…"
Suddenly — the waves pulsed. The light in the void dimmed.
The air cracked like shattering glass.
"GLITCH DETECTED."
The voice warped.
The orb trembled in the real world — and in an instant, the simulation shattered.
A flash of white. A rush of static.
And I was back.
Gasping.
Choking.
Sweat soaked through my shirt. My knees hit the stone floor of the war chamber. My hands shook.
"What… was that?" I whispered.
The torches flickered wildly. The cave was cold — and yet my skin burned.
⟨ERROR 380: Glitch Detected⟩⟨System Breach Logged⟩⟨File: Unstable Timeline Fragment Accessed⟩
Red text pulsed across my vision.
I rubbed my eyes.
The smiling mouth. The voice.
It knew I was there.
It wasn't just a memory.
That… thing saw me.
Even from the past.
"What the hell is a glitch…?"