Far away from the Archive, in the ruins of the Phantom Bazaar—
Arin opened his eyes.
He stood on a rooftop overlooking the ghost city.
Below him, the remains of the market were scattered across the streets. The Watchers had vanished, and the surviving ghosts had retreated into hiding.
Arin barely noticed.
He was staring at his hand.
A thin silver line had appeared across his palm.
It pulsed once.
Then twice.
Arin smiled.
"So that's what you've become, Rive."
A shadow moved behind him.
Arin didn't turn.
"I know you're there."
The darkness stretched across the rooftop.
A voice emerged from it.
"You felt the awakening."
"I felt everything."
Arin closed his fingers.
The silver line disappeared beneath his skin.
For a moment, his expression changed.
Confusion.
Then anger.
Then something colder.
"Why can I hear him?"
The shadow said nothing.
Arin looked toward the distant horizon.
"I can hear his thoughts."
He paused.
"No. Not his thoughts."
His smile faded.
"I can hear what he's forgetting."
The shadow moved closer.
"That is the price of his power."
Arin's eyes widened slightly.
"So every time he uses it…"
"He loses something that belongs to him."
Arin looked down at his palm.
Then he laughed.
It was a quiet, joyless sound.
"Interesting."
The shadow's voice became sharper.
"Do not mistake this for an opportunity. The Tri-Vessel is awakening faster than expected."
Arin turned.
"Then I should get stronger faster."
"You cannot consume him yet."
Arin's smile vanished.
"Yet?"
The shadow leaned toward him.
"When the third layer fully opens, the boundary between you will weaken."
Arin stared at the distant city.
For a moment, something resembling his old self appeared in his eyes.
A memory.
Two boys.
A school gate.
An argument that neither had known how to end.
Then the darkness swallowed it.
Arin looked back at the shadow.
"Tell me what I need to do."
The shadow extended one long finger.
A small black symbol appeared on Arin's palm.
"Find the memory he just lost."
Arin frowned.
"Why?"
"Because the moment he forgot is the moment that can lead you to him."
Arin closed his hand around the symbol.
"And when I find him?"
The shadow's answer came softly.
"Make him forget you ever mattered."
For several seconds, Arin remained still.
Then he smiled again.
"Now that…"
He looked toward the place where Rive had disappeared.
"…is going to be difficult."