Cain gasped as he was hurled into the depths of his own memories.
He expected to hit the ground, for the fire to burn him, for the weight of his past to crush him—but instead, he floated. Suspended between existence and nothingness, between who he was and who he had been.
Golden embers flickered around him, some familiar, some foreign.
These were not just his memories.
They were fragments of something much older.
His body felt distant, as if it didn't fully belong to him anymore. His Titan Core pulsed irregularly, like it was struggling to remember itself, torn between Cain's present self and the version that had been buried.
A voice cut through the burning silence.
"You were always meant to return."
Cain's breath caught.
He turned sharply—and there he was again.
The shadow of himself. The lost piece. The part of him that had been sealed away. But something was different now. The figure no longer stood as an opposing force, no longer a mere whisper in the dark.
Now, it was watching him.
Not as an enemy.
As a judge.
"You sealed yourself away," the figure said. "And now you have come crawling back."
Cain's fists clenched, golden flames flickering at his fingertips. "I never asked for this."
The figure tilted its head slightly.
"And yet, you are here."
Cain's Titan Core flared violently, reacting to the weight of the truth pressing against him. Had he really done this to himself? Had he willingly cast away his own power, his own name?
No. That wasn't possible. He had fought his entire life to survive, to escape the abyss, to become something greater. Why would he have ever chosen to be weak?
The figure stepped forward, the flames bending around its form as if reality itself refused to touch it.
"You still do not understand, do you?"
Cain braced himself, but the figure didn't attack.
Instead, it lifted a hand.
Cain's Titan Core reacted instantly, golden energy bursting outward as if to protect itself. But the moment the figure's fingers brushed against Cain's chest—
Everything stopped.
The fire. The weight. The whispers in the dark.
Cain's mind split open.
And suddenly—he was no longer floating.
He was standing.
A throne loomed before him. Massive, ancient, broken. Its surface was etched with runes that pulsed like dying embers, its arms wrapped in golden chains.
Chains that were still locked.
Cain's chest tightened. He knew this place. He had been here before.
This wasn't just any throne.
This was his.
His voice was hoarse when he spoke. "What is this?"
The figure stood beside him now, golden eyes watching without emotion.
"This is where you fell."
Cain felt the words sink into him.
"This is where you broke yourself."
His heartbeat pounded in his ears. No. No, this was—this wasn't right.
He had never been here before. Had he?
His fingers twitched. His Titan Core pulsed erratically. The throne before him shook, the golden chains rattling as though they recognized his presence.
And then—
A second presence stirred.
Cain's body locked up as a shadow shifted behind the throne, an enormous figure rising from the dark.
Not a memory.
Not an illusion.
Something real.
It wasn't human.
It wasn't a Titan.
It was something in between.
And it had been waiting for him.
"You left me behind."
Cain's breath hitched.
The air around him cracked, golden light splintering under the weight of the being's presence.
His Titan Core howled in recognition.
Because this wasn't just another forgotten piece of history.
This was the thing he had locked away.
The chains around the throne shattered.
And Cain felt himself begin to unravel.