The golden path ended beneath the enormous tree.
Its branches stretched farther than the eye could see.
Every leaf carried a different memory.
A first meeting.
A goodbye.
A victory.
A mistake.
A life that had never happened.
Aria slowly looked upward.
"How can one tree hold so many memories?"
The Keeper answered quietly.
"Because this isn't an ordinary tree."
He looked at the ancient trunk.
"It's older than the Layers."
Caelum stepped closer.
"I remember this place."
Everyone turned toward him.
"You've been here?"
"Once."
His expression darkened.
"Long before I became the Null King."
---
A voice came from beneath the branches.
"You were younger then."
An elderly woman stepped into view.
She wore a long silver cloak decorated with tiny golden leaves.
Her hair was completely white.
Her eyes, however, were bright and youthful.
Caelum froze.
"...Selene."
The woman smiled.
"You remember."
The Keeper stared at her.
"Who is she?"
Caelum answered quietly.
"The Gardener."
Selene laughed.
"That title makes me sound far more important than I am."
She looked toward Zayden.
"You're late."
Zayden blinked.
"We didn't know we were expected."
"You were."
Selene walked toward him.
"For a very long time."
---
She reached out and touched the First Seed hidden beneath his coat.
The crystal immediately responded.
Golden light spread across the tree.
Every leaf began glowing.
Then the memories inside them started moving.
Zayden saw himself as a child.
Then older.
Then standing beside Aria.
Then another version of himself he had never seen.
A version wearing a dark crown.
Aria appeared beside him.
"Zayden..."
He looked away from the vision.
"I don't want to see that."
Selene nodded.
"Good."
"What?"
"The future you saw isn't yours."
She touched another leaf.
The vision vanished.
"These are possibilities."
"Not promises."
---
Caelum looked at Selene.
"Why bring us here?"
She smiled.
"Because the Lost Horizon is dying."
Everyone fell silent.
Elias frowned.
"Dying?"
Selene nodded.
"Every abandoned possibility eventually fades."
"And something has begun consuming them."
Zayden immediately thought of the Chronophage.
"The Devourer?"
"No."
Selene's expression became serious.
"The Chronophage consumes time."
"This thing consumes choices."
Aria felt a chill.
"What happens when choices disappear?"
Selene looked toward the endless branches.
"People begin repeating the same lives."
"Same mistakes."
"Same wars."
"Same endings."
The Keeper's face hardened.
"Another cycle."
Selene nodded.
"Exactly."
---
She walked to the center of the tree.
There, embedded within the trunk, was a circular doorway.
Its surface was completely black.
No handle.
No lock.
Only a single inscription:
THE CHOICE YOU REFUSE BECOMES THE CHOICE THAT HAUNTS YOU.
Selene turned toward Zayden.
"This door can only be opened by someone who has already refused absolute power."
Zayden looked at the door.
"So..."
"It's waiting for me."
Selene smiled.
"For all of you."
She stepped aside.
"Beyond this door is the heart of the Lost Horizon."
"And somewhere inside..."
She looked directly at Aria.
"...is the answer to the question you haven't asked yet."
Aria's expression changed.
"What question?"
Selene only smiled.
"You'll know when you see it."
Zayden reached toward the black doorway.
Before his fingers touched it...
The First Seed suddenly pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then a voice echoed from behind the tree.
A familiar voice.
> "Don't open it."
Everyone turned.
Elias had gone pale.
At the edge of the golden path stood another figure.
A man wearing a black cloak.
His face was hidden.
But Elias recognized him immediately.
"No..."
The stranger slowly removed his hood.
Elias whispered:
"That's me."
The man smiled.
But he was older.
Much older.
And his eyes were completely black.
---