The three fragments hovered before them one trembling like a frightened child, one flickering like a weak flame, and the last pulsing faintly with memories so painful the air trembled with each beat.
Aurelianth held his palms open, allowing all three pieces to drift closer, drawn to one another by instinct deeper than time.
Lioren and Solance stood beside him, lights intertwined with his:
Amber steadiness.
Silver gentleness.
Gold resolve.
Each light touched one fragment and the fragments responded.
The weakest pulsed with surprise as if unfamiliar with being held without fear.
The brightest steadied as if remembering a truth it once lived for.
And the trembling one froze...
Then shook violently like someone startled awake from a nightmare.
Solance knelt immediately, hands open.
"…It's okay…
You're safe…
We're here…"
The fragment flickered in silver reflection.
It recognized his softness, clung to it, and steadied.
Aurelianth exhaled slowly.
"We have to bring them closer.
But gently.
If they collide too quickly..."
"They'll shatter again," Lioren finished softly.
Aurelianth nodded.
"Exactly."
Solance touched the weakest fragment again,
silver glow spreading like a blanket.
"…We'll take it slowly.
I promise."
The fragment pulsed weakly, a soft twitch like a fragile heartbeat.
Aurelianth cupped his hands beneath all three fragments, letting his gold act as the backbone holding them aloft.
Lioren extended her warmth, touching each fragment with deliberate tenderness.
"Let's help them see each other again."
The light around them deepened amber swirling around gold, silver weaving between them like threads of moonlight binding wounds.
The fragments drifted toward one another with trembling caution.
The cavern responded.
The walls brightened.
The air thickened.
The world's ancient heartbeat pounded louder beneath the floor.
Solance clung to Aurelianth with his free hand.
"…Aurelianth...they're scared…"
"I know."
Lioren placed her hands over his.
"But they're also hopeful."
Aurelianth raised his voice softly not loud, but firm enough for memory to hear.
"You don't have to be whole alone.
Let us help you."
The fragments pulsed again one in fear, one in steady recognition, one in deep sorrow.
Solance whispered to them:
"…You've been alone for so long…
But we're here now.
Let us be your light."
At those words, something shifted.
The weakest fragment brightened just a little.
Then the others answered...
One glowing with resolve.
One trembling with yearning.
Aurelianth extended both palms.
"Bring them to me."
The fragments obeyed.
Slowly.
Cautiously.
Drawn by the trio's unity.
Three pieces of a lost heart gathered above Aurelianth's hands.
And for the first time in ages the world dared to hope.
A low hum filled the cavern.
Soft at first.
Then louder a windless resonance rippling through the air.
The cavern walls responded, shimmering with gold-veined memories.
Faint images flickered:
The first caretaker laughing as they shaped a mountain.
The caretaker singing to a newborn river.
The caretaker comforting the frightened sky as it learned what "above" meant.
Lioren pressed a hand to her chest.
"They were… so gentle…"
Aurelianth nodded.
"Yes.
The world learned love from them."
Solance trembled, silver tears falling without sound.
"…And then the Architect erased them…"
A sudden spike of white static erupted from the cavern's edges a last remnant of the Architect's command rebelling against the heart's return.
Aurelianth reacted instantly gold flaring outward in a protective sphere.
Lioren's amber light reinforced it, melting the static like snow under sun.
Solance's glow softened the remaining crackles until they faded in shame.
The heart fragments steadied.
Aurelianth said softly:
"You are not alone anymore."
The fragments pulsed.
Then slowly they leaned toward each other.
A faint click resonated in the chamber...
Not a mechanical sound.
A truth finding its missing piece.
Then another click.
Two fragments merged.
Light burst outward.
Lioren gasped, stumbling back.
"Aurelianth...!"
Aurelianth steadied her.
"It's okay.
This is what must happen."
Solance held onto Aurelianth's sleeve, eyes wide.
The merged heartpiece glowed brighter soft, warm, and unbearably sad.
Only one fragment remained apart...
The smallest.
The most wounded.
The one that carried the memory of death.
It trembled, flickered, dimmed.
It refused to come closer.
Aurelianth understood.
"It's afraid."
Lioren knelt in front of it.
"Of us?"
"No," Aurelianth said softly.
"Of being whole."
His voice lowered.
"Because being whole means remembering everything."
Solance's heart broke open inside him.
He crawled toward the trembling fragment with no fear in his steps.
Aurelianth reached out as if to stop him but Solance shook his head.
"I won't lose them again."
His voice didn't tremble.
It shone.
He cupped the trembling fragment in both hands his silver glow gentle like soft water refusing to harm even the tiniest leaf.
"Hey," Solance whispered, voice breaking.
"You're allowed to be scared."
The fragment flickered violently.
White static sparked from its surface.
Solance didn't pull away.
"You were hurt," he said softly.
"You were betrayed.
You were erased.
And worst of all...you were alone."
The fragment dimmed further.
Solance leaned his forehead against it.
"But you're not alone now.
We're here.
And we won't let anything hurt you again."
The fragment pulsed weakly.
Aurelianth stepped closer, voice steady and warm.
"You don't have to remember alone."
Lioren knelt beside them.
"And you don't have to carry the pain alone either."
The fragment flickered a tiny spark of longing surfacing through fear.
Aurelianth held out his hand.
"Let us hold you."
The fragment hesitated.
Then, trembling, weeping light, it drifted toward Aurelianth's palm.
The moment Aurelianth closed his fingers around it the cavern exploded with light.
Golden radiance flooded the space, dancing across the walls like living fire.
Images cascaded through the cavern memories pouring out in a torrent:
The caretaker shaping mountains.
The caretaker soothing the sky.
The caretaker laughing with newborn forests.
The caretaker standing between the world and a white, cold force.
The Architect striking from behind.
The caretaker collapsing.
The world screaming.
Solance cried out in pain.
Lioren clutched her chest.
Aurelianth gritted his teeth.
But the heart fragments, held now in his hands, began to recognize one another.
A faint hum vibrated in the air the first melody the world ever learned.
The three fragments drifted together.
Slow.
Uneven.
Terrified.
Aurelianth's voice shook but remained resolute.
"You can do it."
Lioren added gently:
"We're here."
Solance whispered:
"Together."
The fragments pulsed...flickered...glowed and merged.
The golden light burst out like a sun being born.
A single, unified heart floated before them glowing with ancient warmth and unimaginable sorrow.
The cavern trembled.
The world's heartbeat thundered beneath the ground.
The heart pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
And then a whisper filled the air.
Not fragmented.
Not broken.
Whole.
…you came… for me…
Solance sobbed, collapsed to his knees.
Lioren covered her mouth, tears falling.
Aurelianth bowed his head, eyes burning.
"We never left you," he whispered.
The heart pulsed again soft, emotional, overwhelmed.
…I remember…
I remember you… all of you…
Aurelianth stepped closer.
"We're here to bring you back."
The heart trembled with a feeling the world had been deprived of for too long...Hope.
But...
Before it could respond again, the cavern shook violently.
Cracks split across the walls.
Static surged from every direction.
The Architect had sensed the heart's awakening.
Solance cried out:
"…They're coming!"
Aurelianth grabbed the heart, lifting it against his chest.
Lioren's amber glow flared.
Solance clung to them both.
White light tore through the cavern not in beams, but in jagged, spiked wounds.
The world screamed.
Aurelianth held the heart tightly.
"You're safe," he whispered to it.
"We will protect you now."
The heart pulsed in his grasp...
Stronger.
And a single, powerful whisper filled the cavern:
…take me to the sky…
Aurelianth's breath caught.
Lioren looked up in shock.
Solance trembled.
"…They want to ascend?"
"No," Aurelianth whispered.
"They want us to take them to the first place they ever loved."
The sky.
The place where creation began.
And the place where the caretaker died.
The final memory awaited them above.
Aurelianth tightened his hold on the heart.
"Then we go."
White static shrieked.
The cavern shook.
The world cried.
But the trio rose.
And the world followed.