Chapter 2575: Story 2576: The Realm of Living Memory

The seven black stars began falling.

They descended toward Asterion like enormous pieces of a dying universe, trailing rivers of darkness behind them.

Citizens looked upward.

The ancient guardians raised their weapons.

Victoria Kane stood beside Lyra at the edge of the golden gateway.

"Are you certain?"

Lyra nodded.

"If the Void wants me, then it must enter the Heart to reach me."

Dr. Evelyn Brooks stared at the gateway.

"But what’s inside?"

Lyra looked into the golden light.

"Everything Asterion remembers."

Victoria stepped beside her.

"Then we’re going together."

Aurelius immediately shook his head.

"Victoria, if something happens to her—"

"I won’t let it."

Lyra smiled at her father.

"Neither will I."

Together, Victoria and Lyra entered the gateway.

The world beyond the Heart of Harmony was unlike anything Victoria had seen.

There were no streets.

No sky.

No ground.

Instead, countless memories floated through an endless golden space.

A child’s first laugh.

A soldier returning home.

Two friends meeting after centuries.

A mother holding her newborn.

Every memory appeared as a glowing sphere.

Lyra walked among them peacefully.

"This is where Asterion keeps everything it refuses to forget."

Victoria looked around.

"Then the Void can’t erase anything here."

Lyra shook her head.

"Not yet."

A deep tremor passed through the realm.

One of the golden memories suddenly turned black.

Then another.

Victoria drew the Dawnblade.

"The Void found us."

From the distance, enormous shadows emerged.

They had no faces.

No bodies.

Only hands.

Thousands of them reached toward the memories.

Lyra raised her arms.

"No!"

Golden waves erupted from her body.

The shadows recoiled.

But more appeared.

Victoria charged forward.

The Dawnblade cut through the darkness, releasing forgotten voices into the realm.

The shadows screamed.

Then a colossal crimson eye appeared above them.

"Guardian of Silence."

Lyra looked upward.

"You cannot have Asterion."

"You misunderstand."

The eye widened.

"We do not want Asterion."

The darkness pointed toward Lyra.

"We want what sleeps inside you."

Victoria’s expression hardened.

"What sleeps inside her?"

Lyra suddenly froze.

A golden symbol appeared across her chest.

Aurelius’s voice echoed faintly from beyond the gateway.

"Lyra!"

She fell to her knees.

Victoria caught her.

"What is happening?"

Lyra whispered,

"I remember now."

A brilliant light erupted around her.

"I wasn’t created to protect the Heart."

Victoria stared at her.

"Then why?"

Lyra looked toward the darkness.

"I was created to be its key."

The crimson eye laughed.

"At last."

The golden realm began collapsing.

Across Asterion, the Heart of Harmony shook violently.

Aurelius watched in horror as cracks spread across the crystal.

Nox’Rath looked toward the sky.

"The Void is using Lyra to unlock something."

Evelyn opened Elias Crow’s journal.

New words appeared.

Lyra is not the Guardian of Silence.

She is the First Key.

Beyond the Heart lies the Gate of Origin.

Aurelius whispered,

"No..."

Cassian looked at him.

"What is the Gate of Origin?"

Aurelius stared at the Heart.

"The doorway through which Asterion was created."

Above them, the seven black stars merged into one enormous sphere.

The ancient guardians raised their weapons.

Victoria’s voice echoed from within the Heart.

"Everyone hold the line!"

The guardians charged.

Golden and black energy collided across the city.

Inside the memory realm, Lyra slowly stood.

Her silver eyes had become brilliant gold.

"The Void wants the Gate of Origin."

Victoria tightened her grip on the Dawnblade.

"Then we make sure it never opens."

Lyra looked toward her.

"No."

She extended her hand.

"We open it first."

Victoria stared at her.

"Why?"

Lyra smiled sadly.

"Because the only thing capable of defeating the Void..."

"...is whatever lies beyond the beginning."

The golden realm suddenly split apart.

A colossal ancient door appeared.

Seven symbols burned across its surface.

The Gate of Origin had awakened.

And behind it...

Something was knocking.