The new path rumbled as it formed a trembling ribbon of gold weaving through the deepest part of the cavern, its threads flickering dangerously as if woven from the last strands of memory the world could still cling to.
Aurelianth held both recovered heart fragments in his hands one glowing weakly and the other trembling like a newborn flame gaining strength.
Solance walked beside him, silver light cradling the fragments gently.
"…They're warmer now," he whispered.
"Like they're relieved."
Lioren brushed her amber glow over them.
"And still hurting."
The fragments pulsed as though answering her sorrow.
The world itself seemed to listen the cavern walls shifting in slow waves, stone breathing with forgotten life.
Aurelianth exhaled.
"The last fragment is the deepest one. The world hid it where the Architect couldn't reach."
Solance looked up at him.
"…So it's the safest?"
Aurelianth shook his head.
"No.
It's the most damaged."
Lioren stiffened.
"What do you mean damaged?"
Aurelianth held the fragments closer to his chest.
"The first caretaker's heart wasn't just broken it was attacked.
The last piece...carries the wound."
Solance's glow dimmed in fear.
"…Will it hurt them if we reunite the heart?"
"No," Aurelianth whispered.
"It will heal them."
Lioren breathed out slowly.
"But we have to find it first."
The golden path pulsed again, pulling them forward.
And the world's ancient heartbeat echoed beneath the floor steadier now, as if sensing hope.
The cavern changed drastically the deeper they went.
The soft stone walls morphed into smooth surfaces of translucent gold, rippling like the inside of a living memory.
Solance reached out and touched the nearest wall.
His silver glow seeped into the surface and the wall responded instantly.
A silhouette appeared behind the translucence.
Not clear.
Not whole.
A being kneeling beside the world when it was still nothing but swirling potential.
A voice hummed softly, shaping the world's breath with tenderness.
Lioren gasped.
"That's the caretaker…"
Aurelianth nodded slowly.
"This cavern is the caretaker's memory.
Before the erasure."
Solance's eyes filled with tears.
"…They were so gentle…"
Then the golden silhouette flickered violently.
The image warped.
The hum turned into a cry.
A jagged blade of white light appeared behind the figure cold, sharp and became the last thing the caretaker saw.
Solance flinched as the memory shattered.
"…No…"
Lioren reached for him.
"Solance..."
He shook his head, tears falling.
"…Why would the Architect do that…?"
Aurelianth placed a hand on his cheek.
"Because pure creation doesn't obey rules.
The first caretaker shaped the world with love.
Not commands.
Not systems.
Not laws."
Lioren frowned deeply.
"And the Architect wanted control."
Aurelianth nodded.
"That control began with erasing the one who represented freedom."
Solance trembled, leaning into Aurelianth's touch.
"…Then let's bring them back."
His voice was soft, but full of fire.
Aurelianth smiled gently.
"We will."
The cavern walls rippled as if gathering courage from Solance's determination.
They walked deeper, following the trembling path into a narrowing corridor of gold-veined stone.
The air thickened with memory.
Lioren touched the wall again.
This time, the memory that surfaced was quieter:
A soft smile.
A hand reaching toward the newborn sky.
A moment of peace before the storm.
Solance whispered:
"…They were happy…"
Aurelianth nodded slowly.
"Yes. For a time."
The wall trembled suddenly...
The smile vanished.
White static cut through the memory.
The image twisted, contorted, dissolved.
Lioren cried out softly.
"It hurts the world to remember the attack."
Aurelianth touched the wall.
"I know."
But the world kept showing them, despite the pain because it trusted them to witness what it feared to face alone.
Solance leaned close to the stone.
"…We're here.
We remember with you."
The wall pulsed gently relieved.
At the end of the corridor, a vast door appeared.
No hinges.
No handle.
Just a towering slab of translucent gold with cracks glowing faintly across its surface.
Aurelianth frowned.
"This door wasn't made by the world."
Lioren stepped beside him.
"Then who...?"
Aurelianth ran a palm over the cracks.
The golden surface shivered, pulling away from his touch, as though rejecting something.
Solance inhaled sharply.
"…It's reacting to the heart fragments…"
Aurelianth looked down.
Both fragments in his hands pulsed rapidly like panicked birds fluttering in a cage.
"The last fragment is behind this door," he whispered.
"And these pieces...are afraid of what happened there."
Lioren touched the door carefully.
"Is the last piece...the one that holds the memory of how they died?"
Aurelianth gave a slow, heavy nod.
"Yes.
This door hides the moment the world was changed forever."
Solance's silver glow dimmed.
"…And the Architect erased it completely…"
"Not completely," Aurelianth murmured.
"Otherwise the heart fragments wouldn't exist."
The door pulsed once, weakly.
A sound slipped through the cracks.
Not a voice.
A whimper.
Solance stepped forward, eyes wide with soft horror.
"…They're crying…"
Lioren pressed a hand to her chest.
"The last fragment is alive?"
Aurelianth nodded.
"Yes.
Barely."
He stepped up to the door again.
The golden surface trembled violently, as though begging them not to open it because remembering the pain might kill the heart fragment inside.
Solance touched the door gently.
"…It's okay."
The trembling softened.
He pressed both palms to it.
"…We'll open it together.
And we'll hold you while you remember."
The cracks glowed brighter almost blinding.
Aurelianth stepped behind him, placing his hands atop Solance's.
Lioren did the same.
Three lights merged:
Gold.
Silver.
Amber.
The door could no longer resist.
With a soft cry, it opened.
The chamber inside was silent.
Not the silence of peace.
The silence after devastation.
The floor was cracked.
The walls were warped.
White static clung to the shadows like mold.
Aurelianth stepped in slowly.
Solance clung to him.
Lioren stayed on his other side.
At the chamber's center hovered a small, trembling orb of light.
The last heart fragment.
Barely glowing.
Barely whole.
Barely alive.
Solance gasped in horror.
"…They're fading...!"
Aurelianth ran forward stopping only when the air between him and the fragment shuddered violently.
White static erupted like lightning, striking at the heart fragment as if trying to consume it completely.
Lioren screamed:
"NO!"
Aurelianth threw out his hand gold light flaring.
The static recoiled.
Solance stepped forward, silver glow blazing.
"…STOP!
Leave them alone!"
The static shivered, shrinking from the purity of his light.
Lioren added her warmth.
Amber waves swept outward, stabilizing the fractured chamber.
The last fragment pulsed weakly.
Aurelianth approached it slowly.
"It's okay," he whispered.
"We're here now."
The orb trembled violently, as though terrified of being touched.
Solance whispered, voice breaking:
"…Do you know us…?"
The orb flickered.
A weak whisper hissed from it:
…alone...so long…
Lioren covered her mouth in sorrow.
Aurelianth cupped the space around the orb without touching it.
"You're not alone anymore."
The orb flickered faster.
…hurt...so much…
Solance cried.
"…We'll take the pain away."
Aurelianth touched the orb gently and the world convulsed.
Images burst through the chamber :
The caretaker shielding the newborn world.
The Architect striking from behind.
A blade of white light piercing the caretaker's heart.
The world screaming as its first love vanished.
The heart shattering into three pieces.
Two hidden by the world.
One buried in its deepest scar.
Solance fell to his knees.
"…They died alone…"
Lioren sobbed.
"Aurelianth...their heart broke because they didn't understand why they were being attacked…"
Aurelianth held both of them tightly.
"They understand now."
The orb pulsed tentative, fragile, reaching.
…together...?
Solance wiped his tears.
"…Yes...We're together."
Lioren smiled through her tears.
"And we'll put you back together too."
Aurelianth brought all three fragments together.
They pulsed one weakly, one trembling, one faint but hopeful.
Aurelianth whispered:
"Let us mend you."
The world held its breath.
Lights merged.
Fragments glowed.
And the caretaker's heart began to become whole.