The forest greeted them like an old cathedral its spiraled trees rising in arcs and curves as if carved from moonlight and ancient memory.
Every leaf shimmered faintly, whispering with a voice too soft for words yet too loud to ignore.
Solance paused at the threshold.
The air here felt heavier.
Not dangerous but aware.
As if the forest itself were holding its breath for the trio's first step.
Aurelianth placed a steadying hand on his shoulder.
"Don't be afraid.
This place responds to honesty, not strength."
Lioren added, cracking her knuckles.
"And if it responds to strength...
I'll just talk back."
Solance giggled despite the tension, then moved forward.
The moment his foot touched the ground, the forest reacted.
A soft ripple spread outward like water disturbed by a falling star.
Leaves rustled.
Roots hummed.
The air warmed.
Solance inhaled sharply.
"I… feel something."
Aurelianth nodded.
"This path remembers every footstep
Ariasen ever took.
And every footstep the Architect took afterward."
Lioren's jaw tightened.
"So we'll be stepping in their shadows."
"Exactly," Aurelianth murmured.
The guide...the starlight-creature walked ahead, its antlers casting faint constellations on the path.
Solance followed closely.
A slight breeze brushed past his cheek warm, familiar.
Solance froze.
"That breeze… felt like someone touching me."
A gentle pulse of memory hit him.
"Grow well, little ones…"
Ariasen's voice.
Solance gasped.
Aurelianth caught his arm.
"You heard them?"
Lioren's expression softened.
"Then this forest really does remember."
Solance nodded, breath trembling.
"Yes.
I felt their warmth.
Their hope."
Aurelianth scanned the surroundings carefully.
"Then we must tread respectfully.
This forest holds pieces of their heart."
Lioren raised a brow.
"And the Architect's heart, too?"
Aurelianth's expression darkened.
"Yes.
But those memories will feel cold."
They continued walking, the forest deepening around them.
Trees shifted subtly whenever Solance touched them bending their branches or brightening their glow for just a moment.
It was as if creation itself was greeting him.
Lioren muttered,
"You're like a favorite child of the world."
Solance flushed.
"I'm not...
it's just… the purposes, I think."
Aurelianth smiled softly.
"No.
It's you."
Before Solance could respond, the guide stopped suddenly.
Its antlers pulsed with urgent light.
Solance stepped forward.
"What is it…?"
The forest answered.
A sudden roar of wind spiraled downward not cold, but overwhelming.
The ground lit up.
A circle of glowing roots swirled around Solance's feet.
Lioren summoned amber shields instantly.
"Aurel...! Something's happening..."
Aurelianth stepped in front of Solance.
"Stay behind me..."
But the roots didn't attack.
They opened.
A memory burst upward a vivid swirl of light that formed a scene:
Ariasen walking through this very forest.
Smiling softly.
Tracing their fingers along the trees.
The memory-Ariasen whispered:
"The world...you're growing so beautifully…"
Solance's eyes welled.
"Ariasen…"
But the memory shifted abruptly.
Another figure appeared tall, rigid, angular.
The Architect.
Their presence chilled the air, even in the harmless memory.
Ariasen turned toward them.
Their smile faltered.
The Architect spoke in a cold monotone:
"Your emotional fluctuations destabilize the world."
Ariasen visibly flinched.
"I…
I'm just trying to understand why the rivers cry at night…"
The Architect's tone sharpened.
"Remove emotion from your process.
Creation must be orderly."
Ariasen stepped back.
"But the world feels...it responds to comfort.."
"Irrelevant."
The forest dimmed.
Solance shook.
"That… that hurt them…"
Aurelianth placed a warm arm around his shoulders.
"It did.
Ariasen built through love.
The Architect built through rules."
Lioren muttered under her breath.
"Great personality for someone shaping reality."
The memory shifted again.
Ariasen reached toward the Architect not for help, but for connection.
The Architect stepped away.
Ariasen's light flickered.
Solance cried out.
"No...please...don't show me this..."
The forest pulsed in response as if apologizing for revealing the wound.
The guide stepped close and touched its starlight forehead to Solance's knee.
A wave of comfort washed through him.
Aurelianth knelt in front of him.
"Solance.
Remember this is the past.
You are not meant to carry it alone."
Solance wiped his tears.
"I know…
I just…
I hate seeing them hurt."
Lioren crouched beside him, expression softer.
"That's compassion.
And that fragment in your chest?
It's reacting to this."
Solance pressed his hand over his heart.
The shard pulsed warm, aching.
He breathed slowly.
"I'm okay.
Let's keep going."
The guide resumed walking.
The forest deepened again the trees growing taller, the air thicker with memory.
Aurelianth said quietly,
"We must be near the center.
The place where the paths split."
Solance frowned.
"What split?"
Aurelianth looked ahead.
"The divergence point.
Where Ariasen and the Architect stopped agreeing."
Lioren sighed.
"So basically, the birthplace of conflict."
"Yes."
The clearing they entered felt wrong immediately.
Not dangerous...
Just wrong.
The air didn't move.
The trees didn't breathe.
The world… waited.
The guide stopped at the edge of the clearing and did not enter.
Solance felt his pulse spike.
"What's happening…?"
Aurelianth lowered his voice.
"This place remembers pain."
The ground lit up beneath Solance's feet.
Another memory ignited stronger than before.
Ariasen stood in this clearing, eyes glowing brightly, hands weaving light into new forms:
Creatures of warmth.
Patterns of stars.
Structures filled with curiosity and softness.
But the Architect appeared again.
This time, their presence was sharper.
He raised a hand.
White geometry shot outward...freezing Ariasen's creations mid-birth.
Locking them into rigid shapes.
Ariasen gasped.
"What are you....
No, please... they were learning..."
The Architect's voice cut through the air:
"Emotion introduces chaos.
Your creations display variance.
Variance cannot be permitted."
Ariasen's voice cracked.
"Variance is growth...!"
The Architect responded:
"Variance is error."
Ariasen reached to protect their half-formed creations, and the Architect struck their arm aside.
Ariasen stumbled.
Solance flinched as if physically hit.
Lioren's fists balled tightly.
Aurelianth's golden aura flared.
The Architect continued:
"Erase this forest.
Start again with geometry."
Ariasen fell to their knees.
"No...
This place breathes...
It holds the world's first memories...please..."
The Architect lifted a hand.
White light gathered.
Solance screamed,
"STOP....!!"
And the forest obeyed.
The memory shattered instantly, fading into mist.
The air returned to normal.
Solance fell to his knees, shaking.
Aurelianth knelt beside him.
"Solance...look at me...breathe..."
Solance clutched his chest.
"I didn't know...that Ariasen suffered like this…"
Lioren knelt on his other side.
"And the system is their legacy.
Twisted.
Cold.
Obsessed with control."
Aurelianth whispered fiercely:
"And you...you feel their pain because the purposes chose you."
Solance looked down at his trembling hands.
"…I have to do something.
I have to change this world."
Aurelianth smiled softly.
"You are."
Lioren grinned.
"And we've got your back until the sky cracks."
Solance's tears dried.
He stood.
"Let's continue."
The guide stepped forward, nodding once in approval.
And the forest changed.
The path ahead lit up not with memory, but with invitation.
Aurelianth whispered,
"We're entering the inner rings.
The closer we get to the mountain, the stronger the memories and trials will be."
Solance inhaled slowly.
"Good.
I'm ready."
The guide bowed its head, and the three stepped deeper into the forest toward the place where creation took its second breath.
And where the Architect first feared losing control of the world.