The Pathway of Dawn burst through the last layer of cloud and flung the trio into a place unlike anything they had seen before.
The Ridge of Lost Beginnings stretched ahead a vast, jagged expanse suspended between sky and abyss.
Light and darkness wove through the air like frayed threads, intertwining, twisting, colliding with sparks of raw creation bursting out uncontrollably.
Mountains grew in slow-motion only to crumble into dust before reaching full form.
Rivers flowed upward into the sky, fracturing into shards of liquid glass.
Stars flickered in and out, appearing as bright children and dying like sighs.
Solance grasped Aurelianth's arm quickly.
"…This place feels… wrong…
Like the world is trying to breathe but choking…"
Aurelianth nodded.
"That's exactly what it is.
Ariasen's first wound."
Lioren swept her amber gaze across the unstable horizon.
"So this was creation's first collapse."
Ariasen's faint voice echoed:
"…Yes.
Before i understood balance…
Before the world learned to hold itself…
Here is where i broke…
And the Architect found their opening."
Solance clutched the shard of remembrance against his chest.
"…Ariasen…"
The shard pulsed warmly, as if Ariasen were placing a reassuring hand over Solance's heart.
Aurelianth stepped forward, studying the ridge carefully.
"Stay close.
This place reacts to emotion.
If you panic, it might tear open under your feet."
Solance nodded quickly, silver glow trembling.
Lioren put an arm around him.
"I've got you."
They began to walk.
The ground beneath them shifted constantly sometimes stone, sometimes liquid light, sometimes soft shimmering sand that hummed with memory.
Solance stepped carefully onto a glowing patch of ground.
It rippled beneath him like stepping onto the surface of a dream.
"…This place was never finished…"
Aurelianth nodded.
"It couldn't finish.
Ariasen broke here.
And the Architect sabotaged what remained."
Lioren frowned.
"What exactly happened here?"
Aurelianth exhaled.
"Creation is… intense.
It requires emotional harmony.
Love.
Hope.
Trust.
All radiating from the one who shapes the world."
The ridge shuddered under their feet as though remembering Ariasen's trembling heart.
Aurelianth continued:
"Ariasen poured so much of their love into the world that they forgot to keep a piece for themselves.
They became too thin.
Too stretched.
Too tired."
Solance looked at the unstable sky.
"…And they broke."
Aurelianth nodded gently.
"Yes."
Lioren added softly:
"And the Architect saw it as evidence that creation based on emotion was unstable."
Solance's silver glow tightened.
"…But that isn't true…"
Aurelianth placed a warm hand on his shoulder.
"That's why we're here.
To prove it wrong."
A crack of white light ripped across the distant sky, echoing like a scream.
Solance stiffened.
"…The system still follows us…"
Lioren growled.
"They're not giving up."
Ariasen's voice whispered faintly:
"…find my third purpose before the system consumes the ridge…"
Aurelianth nodded.
"Let's move quickly."
They approached a massive fissure in the ground, glowing with swirling colors dawn-gold, dusk-violet, midnight-blue, storm-silver.
Solance stared into it, wide-eyed.
"…It looks like the world's heart broke open."
Aurelianth agreed.
"That's because it did."
Lioren pointed to the swirling mist rising from the fissure.
"What is that?"
Aurelianth peered closer.
"Raw creation energy.
It's unstable.
Don't touch it."
Solance nodded nervously.
"…Then where's the purpose?"
The shard pulsed.
The fissure responded glowing brighter, pulsing in sync with Solance's chest.
Solance gasped.
"…It's inside."
Aurelianth tensed.
"I was afraid of that."
Lioren frowned deeply.
"So we have to go in."
A deep rumble shook the ridge.
Then...
A shape rose from the fissure.
A swirling figure made of incomplete form, like a creature sketched but never finished:
Limbs half-formed.
Eyes without pupils.
A voice that glitched between whispers and roars.
A miscreation.
Solance stumbled back.
"…W-What is that…?"
Aurelianth stepped in front of him, shielding him.
"It's what happens when creation energy collapses.
A being formed from a broken intention."
Lioren conjured amber light in her palms.
"It feels wrong…"
Aurelianth nodded.
"It isn't evil.
Just incomplete."
The miscreation roared a mournful, distorted cry that shook the ridge.
Solance covered his ears.
"It hurts…
It sounds like it's in pain…"
Aurelianth frowned.
"It is.
It lacks clarity.
Purpose.
Direction."
Lioren narrowed her eyes.
"Then how do we deal with it?"
Aurelianth answered somberly:
"We give it what Ariasen could not then.
Balance."
Solance's breath caught.
"…The second purpose…?"
Aurelianth nodded.
"Yes.
Solance, you have to use it."
Solance's eyes widened in panic.
"M-Me?!
But I don't know how..."
Aurelianth took both of Solance's hands, pressing the dusk-and-dawn orb between them.
"Yes, you do.
You embraced your shadow without destroying yourself.
That means you already understand balance."
Lioren nodded firmly.
"And you care more deeply than anyone I've ever met.
That's why Ariasen trusted you."
Solance trembled.
"…What if I do it wrong…?"
Aurelianth kissed his forehead gently.
"You won't."
The miscreation roared again, stumbling forward, its form stretching and collapsing at once.
Solance stepped toward it legs shaking, breathing shaky, but eyes glowing with fragile determination.
He held the orb close to his chest.
The twilight light pulsed around him, matching the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Solance whispered:
"…You're hurting.
I can hear it in your voice."
The miscreation shuddered parts of its form stabilizing briefly as it sensed Solance's intention.
Lioren watched with cautious awe.
"It's reacting to him…"
Solance took another step.
"…You're not a mistake.
You're not broken.
You're just unfinished."
The creature lowered its head as though listening.
Aurelianth's golden aura stabilized the ground.
Solance closed his eyes, holding the orb out in front of him.
"…Ariasen didn't want you erased.
They wanted you understood."
The orb glowed brighter casting soft twilight in every direction.
The miscreation's form rippled its jagged edges softening, its erratic limbs stabilizing.
Solance whispered:
"…Let me help you find your center…"
The orb shattered into light not breaking, but unfolding into a flood of dusk-colored energy that wrapped around both Solance and the miscreation.
The world held its breath.
The miscreation screamed but the scream softened into a sob.
It lowered its head to Solance's hands.
Solance cried softly as he touched its trembling form.
"…It's okay…
You're allowed to be whole…"
The twilight light sank into the creature, filling its unfinished body.
Bit by bit its form stabilized:
Limbs smoothing.
Shape strengthening.
Voice clarifying.
The creature opened its new eyes gentle, dark, and full of gratitude.
It bowed deeply to Solance.
Aurelianth exhaled shakily.
"You healed a piece of creation."
Lioren wiped her eyes.
"That was… beautiful."
Solance turned, exhausted but smiling weakly.
"…I just wanted it to stop hurting…"
The creature stepped aside, revealing a hidden chamber deep within the fissure.
The shard in Solance's chest pulsed violently.
Ariasen whispered:
"…You found my place of failure… and now my purpose can rise again…"
A crystal floated upward from the fissure:
Glowing gold at the core, surrounded by shattering fragments of broken creation that slowly mended themselves as they rose.
Solance held out both hands.
The crystal settled into his palms.
A new purpose-phrase etched itself across the air:
"Healing is the courage to touch what was broken and choose to make it whole."
Lioren whispered:
"That's… the Purpose of Healing."
Aurelianth nodded.
"The third purpose."
Solance held all three fragments close, heart trembling with their power.
But the moment the crystal merged with the shard...
The entire ridge convulsed.
White light tore across the sky.
The system shrieked:
"MULTIPLE PURPOSES DETECTED.
INTERVENTION REQUIRED."
Aurelianth yelled:
"They've found us!"
The fissure exploded outward.
The Pathway of Dawn shattered.
Solance screamed as Aurelianth grabbed him.
Lioren formed an amber shield around them.
A massive geometric rift opened in the sky.
The Architect's voice descended:
"YOU CANNOT RESTORE WHAT WAS ERASED."
Ariasen's voice cried out:
"…RUN...the system is too close...!"
The ridge cracked beneath their feet.
The world collapsed upward and downward at once.
Aurelianth lifted Solance into his arms.
"Hold on tight!"
Lioren grabbed them both.
The ridge broke.
And all three of them fell into the collapsing world of creation.