"Some paths are made for travelers. Others are made to be forgotten."
The storm had passed, leaving the earth drenched and heavy, the scent of rain and mud clinging to the air.
Rei and Ren walked in silence.
Not because there was nothing to say—but because there was too much.
The creature from the river had vanished like a shadow at dawn, its words still clinging to Rei's skin.
"You shouldn't be here."
"You carry it."
Ren had asked what it meant.
Rei hadn't answered.
Because he didn't know.
Or maybe, deep down, he did.
And he wasn't ready to face it yet.
It was three days before they saw it.
The road had changed subtly—shifting from the familiar cracked stone paths of the old kingdoms to something else.
Something older.
Something untouched.
The trees here were different—taller, their bark blackened like they had been burned, yet their leaves remained full and thick.
The air was still.
Too still.
No birds. No wind.
Just the faint, almost unnoticeable hum of something beneath their feet.
The land here was not dead.
But it was not alive, either.
Ren slowed her steps, her amber eyes flicking across the landscape.
"You feel that?" she murmured.
Rei nodded.
It wasn't just silence.
It was something else.
A weight in the air. A presence that could not be seen.
Like stepping into a place that did not belong in this world.
Muramasa pulsed faintly at his side.
A whisper in the back of his mind.
"We are close."
By the time they reached the outskirts of the Vale, the road had disappeared entirely.
No tracks. No signs of passage.
As if no one had ever come this way before.
But that was impossible.
This place had been known.
Spoken of in whispers.
Feared.
So why did it feel like they were the first ones to ever set foot here?
Ren crouched near the base of a crumbling stone marker—half-buried in the earth, covered in moss and decay.
She brushed her fingers over the faded carvings.
"...I don't recognize this writing."
Rei stepped closer.
Neither did he.
It wasn't the Divine script of the Holy Dominion.
It wasn't the Abyssal markings of the Sinners.
It was something else.
Something older.
His fingers traced the edges of the carved symbols, his mind searching for recognition.
And then—
A pulse.
Not from the ground. Not from the air.
From Muramasa.
A deep, slow, steady heartbeat.
Rei inhaled sharply.
The sword recognized this place.
Which meant—
It had been here before.
The deeper they moved into the Vale, the more unnatural the ruins became.
Buildings that should have collapsed stood half-formed, their stone foundations untouched by time.
The air shimmered faintly, like heat rising from stone, even though the temperature remained cold.
Ren muttered under her breath. "This place is wrong."
She wasn't wrong.
It wasn't just that the ruins had survived.
It was that they hadn't aged.
Like time had forgotten them.
Like they had been removed from history—but never destroyed.
Rei exhaled, his grip tightening around the hilt of Muramasa.
Something was waiting here.
Something that had never stopped waiting.
And the deeper they walked, the more he could feel it.
A presence.
Not hostile.
Not welcoming.
Just watching.
They reached the center of the ruins just before dusk.
A massive, broken shrine stood before them—half-consumed by the roots of ancient trees, yet somehow untouched by decay.
The doors, despite their age, remained closed.
Sealed.
Waiting.
Ren let out a low breath.
"Well," she muttered, "we made it. Now what?"
Rei didn't answer.
Because he wasn't looking at the shrine.
He was looking at the figure standing before it.
A person.
Cloaked in dark robes, their back turned to him.
Motionless.
Unmoving.
But as soon as Rei stepped forward—
The figure moved.
A slow, deliberate turn.
And when their face came into view—
Rei stopped breathing.
Because he had seen that face before.
Not in this life.
Not in this era.
But in his dreams.
In his memories.
In the visions that had haunted him since the day he picked up Muramasa.
The stranger tilted their head.
Their voice was calm.
Steady.
Like they had been expecting him all along.
"Welcome back, Rei Aozora."
The world shattered.