The air inside the Forge of Roantra was heavy, thick with a kind of presence that made it hard to think clearly, as though each breath they took was coated in fragments of history and memory. The walls around them shimmered, their crystalline facets layered with symbols and patterns that morphed in and out of focus, like ghosts flickering in the dark.
Yuzen took a measured step forward, her hand resting lightly on her sidearm. They had no idea what awaited them in this maze of crystalline light, and she wasn't about to be caught off guard. Rysara walked just behind her, her eyes scanning the shifting shapes around them, alert for any sign of danger.
The Luminarchs, those ghostly figures shrouded in robes of stardust, stood like statues around them, silent and watchful. Occasionally, one would raise a hand or murmur something indecipherable, as though offering quiet counsel to themselves. Their words were unintelligible, but the tone was unmistakable: they were warning them.
Orion-9's voice crackled softly over Yuzen's earpiece. "Captain, my scans are struggling to get clear readings. This place is…shielded by a resonance I cannot decipher. It's as if the walls themselves are resonant, vibrating with some underlying frequency. I recommend caution."
"We're well past caution," Yuzen murmured back, her eyes never leaving the path ahead. "Anything about the energy sources?"
"Complex. Each crystalline node appears to hold an individual memory signature. I believe we're inside some kind of data matrix, if you will—except these memories aren't digital. They're…alive."
She mulled this over. Memories alive within the walls of the Forge, caught in crystal like flies in amber. It was as though the Forge had taken the minds of those who had entered before them, encasing their thoughts, experiences, and souls.
"Captain," Rysara's voice was tense, and Yuzen could tell by her tone that she had found something. "Look."
Yuzen turned her head, and there, illuminated in the blue light of the walls, was an image suspended in crystal—a man's face, with eyes open and alert, his expression frozen in a look of sharp recognition. But his form was fractured, each piece of his image splitting and reassembling in time with the hum of the walls, as though he were trapped in a repeating memory, looping eternally.
"Who…who is he?" Rysara asked, voice tinged with unease. She reached out, her fingertips brushing the crystalline wall.
In response, the face flickered, and a voice—distant, hollow, layered with a thousand overlapping whispers—sounded from the wall itself.
"Once…we were Seekers, guided by the Path of Radiance…then came the Sundering."
Yuzen felt a chill work its way down her spine. The Sundering—the ancient catastrophe that had shattered civilizations and rewritten the laws of physics. The epoch that had supposedly brought the Seven Suns to an end.
"Why are you here?" she asked the crystalline figure, her voice low and cautious.
The figure's eyes shifted, meeting hers directly, and for a brief moment, the fractured expression softened, as if he recognized her. "The Veil's memory is bound by the choice of its Keepers. Those who enter the Forge must bring forth relics of memory. Only then will the way be clear."
"Relics of memory?" Rysara repeated, puzzled.
Before Yuzen could respond, the figure faded, dissolving back into the wall, leaving the faint impression of his face behind. But even as it disappeared, a soft light glowed ahead, marking a path deeper into the Forge.
Yuzen felt the weight of his words settle over her. "Relics of memory…something personal, something we bring with us." She turned to Rysara, brows furrowed in thought. "Did you bring anything significant? Something that's yours alone?"
Rysara's hand went instinctively to the pendant at her neck, a small, iridescent stone encased in a silver frame. It was a relic of her own—a keepsake from her mother, a memory she carried.
"This," Rysara said, holding up the pendant. "Do you think…?"
Yuzen nodded, reaching into her own pocket to retrieve a slim, worn notebook. It was filled with sketches and notes from her early days in training, reminders of the ideals she'd set for herself before her path became so tangled in duty. These were the things they'd brought with them—objects infused with memory, with meaning.
Without another word, Yuzen held her notebook out to the glowing path, and Rysara followed suit with her pendant. The objects hovered in the air, then, almost imperceptibly, the light intensified, wrapping around each item until it was drawn into the crystal wall, vanishing into its faceted depths.
The passage ahead pulsed with new energy, the hum growing louder and deeper.
"Looks like we're invited in," Yuzen murmured, stepping forward with cautious resolve.
They walked onward, deeper into the maze, each step filling the air with new whispers and flickers of light. The crystalline walls began to shift and widen, revealing vast chambers filled with phantoms and ancient memories, images of past seekers frozen in suspended animation. Some were barely recognizable—faces twisted with fear, hands clawing against invisible restraints. Others seemed peaceful, as if resigned to their fate.
Suddenly, the floor beneath them trembled, and Yuzen stopped in her tracks. Ahead, a colossal door made of glimmering crystal rose, marked by a glyph that spiraled and shifted with a liquid, almost organic movement. It was unlike anything they had seen in the Forge so far, radiating a palpable energy that thrummed against her skin.
Orion-9's voice was tight with urgency. "Captain, I am detecting an immense source of power beyond that door. Whatever lies behind it is beyond our comprehension."
Yuzen's hand moved to her sidearm instinctively, though she knew it would likely be useless here. "We've come too far to turn back," she said quietly. "Let's see what the Forge guards so closely."
As she stepped forward, the door began to split down the center, revealing a chamber bathed in a deep violet light. At the heart of the room, floating in a field of luminous energy, was a vast, crystalline core—the Heart of the Forge, an entity that seemed to pulse with the collective memories of eons.
And standing before it was a figure—a woman, her face half-hidden by a veil of iridescent silver, her robes cascading down like liquid starlight. Her eyes met Yuzen's, ancient and knowing, as though she had been waiting for this moment.
"Captain Yuzen Raiel," she spoke, her voice like the murmur of a distant storm. "You have come seeking what you cannot claim."
Yuzen held her ground, her gaze steely. "I've come seeking the truth. You guard a relic of the past, something that could change everything we know. If you're here to protect it, I'm here to learn from it."
The veiled woman tilted her head, a glint of amusement in her expression. "Many have sought the Forge, but few understand its purpose. The truth is not a prize, Captain. It is a burden."
"What is the Forge?" Yuzen asked, her voice steady but insistent. "What is its purpose?"
The woman raised a hand, her fingers curling as she beckoned them closer. "The Forge is the cradle of memory, the womb of stars. It is here that the gods once bound their wills, shaping the fates of entire worlds. But the Forge does not create—it reflects. It is a mirror, a keeper of all that is forgotten."
Rysara took a step forward, her voice trembling with awe. "You're…a Keeper?"
The woman's gaze turned to her, unreadable. "Once, yes. Now, I am merely a Watcher, bound to the Heart of the Forge. It was my duty to preserve what should be forgotten, to guard what should not be disturbed."
Yuzen's mind raced, piecing together the fragments. The Keeper wasn't a guardian of secrets; she was a protector of memory itself, a conduit through which the past persisted.
"And if we ask to enter?" Yuzen pressed. "If we accept the burden?"
The Keeper's eyes glinted with something like sorrow. "Then you must be prepared to sacrifice your memories to the Forge. Knowledge demands a price, Captain. To gain, you must give."
There was a long, weighty silence as the words settled over them.
"Then take it," Yuzen said, her voice barely a whisper. "Take my memories, my past. If that's what it takes to enter."
The Keeper regarded her for a long moment, her expression softening. "Very well, Captain. Step forward, and let the Forge know you."
Yuzen took a breath, stepping into the violet light, feeling the energy of the Heart surround her. Memories began to slip away—her first voyage, her friends and family, the dreams she had once cherished. Each memory was pulled from her, drawn into the Heart, leaving her with an emptiness she had never known.
But even as her memories faded, the light within the Forge grew stronger, blazing with the weight of all she had sacrificed.
And then, a voice echoed through her mind, a whisper from the Heart itself.
"Welcome to the Veil of Eternity."