Chapter 36: The Coordinator

The chamber was silent.

No wind passed through the enormous room. No water dripped from the ceiling. No insects crawled across the ancient stone floor.

Nothing moved.

At the center of the chamber stood a man.

White gloves covered his hands.

A set of white armored clothing covered his body beneath a long robe of the same color. A sheathed blade rested against his side, untouched.

His face was hidden behind a strange white mask.

There were only two small openings where his eyes should have been.

The shape of those openings curved upward slightly.

Almost like the mask was smiling.

Even though it had no mouth.

Long black hair fell down his back, streaked with pale blonde strands that caught the faint light in the chamber.

He didn’t move.

He simply stared.

In front of him was a massive crystal.

Green.

Translucent.

And dozens of meters large.

It rose several meters from the floor, its surface covered in faint veins of light.

Something was suspended inside.

A person.

The figure appeared almost divine.

White hair.

Pale skin.

A beautiful, almost unnatural face.

And above their head floated a halo.

A white halo.

The exact same halo Eden had seen before.

The same halo Mendax had worn.

The masked man remained motionless.

For several seconds.

Then his head tilted slightly.

---

A few hours later, Eden found himself standing in front of another door.

Another Empty Gate.

Another impossible structure.

He stared at the enormous double doors.

Same shape.

Same ancient material.

Same dark runes.

He had been staring at those runes for several minutes now.

Lucy eventually noticed.

"You’ve been doing that for a while."

Eden didn’t look away.

"Have I?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

"I don’t know."

Lucy folded her arms.

"Long enough that I started wondering if you’re going to blink."

Eden finally glanced at her.

"I blink."

"Occasionally."

Sera chuckled.

"You really are strange."

Eden ignored that.

His eyes returned to the runes.

Something about them bothered him.

Sera stood several meters away, studying the enormous door herself.

After a moment, she spoke.

"There’s something else I wanted to tell you two."

Lucy looked over.

"About the doors?"

"Not exactly."

Sera turned toward them.

"About the System."

Eden’s expression changed slightly.

That got his attention.

"The System?"

Sera nodded.

"Think about it."

Sera raised a finger.

"Every Awakened sees it."

Another finger.

"Every Awakened receives skills through it."

Another.

"It tracks levels, attributes, ranks, abilities..."

She lowered her hand.

"And yet nobody knows what it actually is."

Lucy shrugged.

"I always figured it was just some kind of phenomenon."

"That’s what most people think."

Sera looked toward the doors.

"But I don’t."

Eden remained silent.

Sera continued.

"I think the System is alive."

Lucy blinked.

"...Alive?"

"Sentient."

Eden’s eyes narrowed.

Sera smiled faintly.

"I call it the Coordinator."

The name hung in the air.

"The Coordinator?"

"Because if you think about it, that’s what it does."

She gestured toward Eden.

"It gives people skills."

Toward Lucy.

"It determines their levels."

Then toward the doors.

"It interacts with the Gates."

Her eyes returned to Eden.

"It gives us information. It determines what we can and can’t do."

Lucy frowned.

"But why would something like that exist?"

"I don’t know."

"Then why call it sentient?"

"Because it makes decisions."

Eden listened carefully.

This wasn’t entirely different from thoughts he’d had himself.

The System had always seemed strange.

But he’d never considered it a living entity.

Or at least, he had never allowed himself to.

Sera continued.

"And if the Coordinator exists..."

She paused.

"Then somebody created it."

Lucy slowly lowered her arms.

"You’re saying there’s something behind the System?"

"I’m saying we don’t know."

Sera smiled.

"That’s the point of investigating."

Eden finally spoke.

"How do you know the System isn’t just a mechanism?"

"I don’t."

Sera shrugged.

"That’s why it’s a theory."

"Then why call it the Coordinator?"

"Because ’the weird invisible thing controlling everyone’s progression’ isn’t very catchy."

Lucy snorted.

Eden’s mouth twitched.

"Fair enough."

Sera smiled.

"But there is one thing I’m certain about."

She pointed toward the doors.

"Whatever these are connected to, the System is involved somehow."

Eden’s expression hardened.

"Why?"

"The Essence threads."

Sera activated Sage’s Eye.

The invisible strands appeared again.

"They all lead somewhere."

Eden watched the threads disappear into the ancient stone.

"And you think they connect the Gates."

"I know they do."

"Where do they lead?"

Sera shook her head.

"I haven’t been able to follow them far enough."

"Then we’re back where we started."

"Not exactly."

She smiled.

"Now we know there is a connection."

Eden looked at the doors.

His thoughts drifted.

Then something inside him clicked.

His breathing stopped.

The memory came rushing back.

A Gate in his first life.

His dead teammates.

An overwhelming presence.

A world that had suddenly stopped moving.

Dust suspended in the air.

Blood hanging motionless.

Time itself frozen.

Mendax.

His voice.

"I will bestow upon you my authority."

Eden’s eyes widened.

’The runes...’

’I’ve seen them.’

He remembered the feeling.

Before Mendax granted Eden bis Authority, he stopped Time. And when he did, strange dark runes appeared in the air.

’Time.’

’Maybe...’

’The doors aren’t locked.’

’They aren’t sealed by some physical mechanism.’

’They are frozen.’

’Frozen in the same way everything around me had been frozen when Mendax stopped time.’

’And if that’s true...’

There was only one question.

’Could Devour consume it?’

Eden stared at his own hand.

Devour had been granted by Mendax.

The same man who had stopped time.

The same authority that had caused Eden’s regression.

’Maybe it isn’t simply a skill.’

’Maybe it’s something more?’

’Something capable of consuming the remnants of that authority.’

Eden took a breath.

Lucy noticed.

"What are you doing?"

"Testing something."

Sera’s eyes narrowed.

"Be careful."

Eden raised his hand.

Red Essence gathered around his palm.

It twisted.

The pressure coming from it made Lucy instinctively take a step back.

Sera’s expression changed.

’...!’

"That skill..."

Eden didn’t respond.

He pushed his hand against the door.

Devour erupted.

The enormous red energy spread across the ancient structure.

For one terrifying moment, the hundred-meter doors seemed to disappear beneath a living ocean of crimson Essence.

Eventually, the crimson skill disappeared, taking the dark runes along with it.

Silence returned.

Lucy stared.

Sera stared.

Eden stared.

Then came a sound.

Click.

The doors slowly moved.

Ancient stone groaned against ancient stone.

A gap appeared between them.

Cold air flowed through.

Lucy stared at Eden.

"...You opened it."

Eden looked at his hand.

"I did."

Sera walked toward him.

"How?"

Eden glanced at her.

’Uhm...’

"I had a hunch."

"A hunch?"

"Yeah."

Eden shrugged.

Lucy looked between them.

"Honestly, that’s a pretty convincing argument."

Sera sighed.

Eden stepped through the opening.

"Are we going?"

Lucy immediately followed.

Sera remained behind for one second.

Her eyes moved from Eden to the door.

Then to the faint Essence threads.

Her expression became thoughtful.

"...Interesting."