Chapter 102: The Memory

The voice disappeared. For several seconds, nobody moved. Rin stared at the empty space where it had come from.

Then he looked at Kaelith.

"Rin erased your memories?"

Kaelith didn’t answer. His expression was unreadable.

Sol was the first to speak.

"That doesn’t make sense."

Kaan looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because Rin doesn’t remember his past lives."

Sol’s voice became serious.

"He couldn’t have done something he doesn’t remember doing."

Lucien slowly nodded.

"Unless..."

Everyone looked at him.

"Unless the Rin from that timeline did."

Silence. Rin’s stomach twisted.

"That wasn’t me."

Nobody answered immediately. Rin looked at Kaelith.

"I mean... I know I don’t remember it. But that doesn’t mean I did it."

Kaelith finally spoke.

"I know."

Rin blinked.

"You believe me?"

"I don’t need to believe you."

Kaelith stepped closer.

"I know you."

The words were simple. But there was something almost obsessive in the certainty behind them. Rin looked away.

Kaelith’s gaze remained on him. Always. As though even now, after everything that had happened, he was more interested in whether Rin was frightened than in the mystery surrounding his own missing memories.

Sol sighed.

"Can we focus?"

Kaelith glanced at him. Sol continued.

"We have three impossible things."

He raised one invisible hand.

"First, the pale eyes remember a timeline nobody else remembers."

A second finger.

"Second, World erased that timeline."

A third.

"And now someone claims Rin erased Kaelith’s memories."

Kaan frowned.

"Four."

Sol paused.

"What?"

"The castle."

Kaan pointed behind them.

"It disappeared, but we’re still here."

Everyone looked back. The castle was gone. Yet the ground beneath their feet remained. Kaan’s expression darkened.

"World erased the castle."

He looked toward Rin.

"But it didn’t erase us."

Rin swallowed.

"Why?"

Nobody answered. Then Kaelith stepped closer to the place where the black symbol had disappeared. He crouched and touched the ground.

Magic spread from his fingers. Dark energy moved beneath the soil. Kaelith’s eyes narrowed.

"There is something here."

Sol immediately appeared beside him.

"What?"

Kaelith withdrew his hand.

"A memory."

Rin stepped forward.

"What kind?"

"I don’t know."

Kaelith looked at him.

"It isn’t mine."

Rin frowned.

"Then whose?"

Kaelith’s gaze slowly moved toward him.

"Yours."

Rin froze.

The ground suddenly glowed. A faint image appeared in the air. A person.

Rin. But not the Rin standing there now. This version of Rin looked older. His clothes were different.

His expression was exhausted and he was standing in front of Kaelith.

Rin stared at the projection.

"That..."

He couldn’t finish. Kaelith didn’t move. The image-Rin lifted his hand. A strange light gathered around his fingers.

Then the projection spoke.

"I don’t want you to remember."

Kaelith’s eyes widened. The memory continued.

"If you remember, World will find you."

The projection flickered. Kaelith’s voice could be heard.

"What are you talking about?"

The other Rin looked at him.

"I need you to forget."

The projection suddenly broke apart. Rin stared at Kaelith.

Kaelith stared at the empty air.

"I don’t remember this."

His voice was almost inaudible.

The memory returned.

This time, Rin’s voice sounded desperate.

"Please."

Kaelith’s projection reached toward him.

"What are you going to do?"

The other Rin whispered:

"I’m going to save you."

The memory vanished. Kaan looked shaken. Lucien stared at Kaelith. Sol didn’t say anything.

Rin stood completely still.

"I said that?"

Kaelith slowly turned toward him.

"Not you."

Rin looked at him.

"Then who?"

Kaelith hesitated.

"The Rin from that timeline."

Rin’s heart sank.

"So the voice was telling the truth."

"Partially."

Everyone looked at Kaelith.

He continued.

"It said Rin erased my memories."

His eyes remained on Rin.

"But it never said why."

Sol nodded slowly.

"And the memory just showed us the reason."

Rin looked at the empty space.

"You asked me to forget."

Kaelith’s expression changed.

"No."

Rin looked confused.

"You said you would save me."

Kaelith’s voice became quieter.

"You were trying to save me."

Rin’s eyes widened.

The implications were terrifying. The Rin from that timeline hadn’t erased Kaelith’s memories to hurt him. He had done it to protect him. But from what? World? Something worse?

Before anyone could speak, the air changed. A strong gust of wind swept through the area.

Sol suddenly became tense.

"Something’s coming."

Kaelith stood immediately. His magic spread around Rin. Kaan grabbed Lucien.

The former Divine Knights moved closer together. Rin looked toward the horizon.

Nothing. Then a voice echoed across the land.

"You were never supposed to find that memory."

Rin’s heart stopped. World.

Kaelith’s magic exploded outward.

"You won’t touch him."

The voice answered:

"I am not here for him."

Kaelith froze.

"I am here for what he remembers."

Rin looked around.

"What do I remember?"

No answer.

Then—

A pale eye appeared in the sky.

Only one. Watching. The same pale light from beneath the castle.

Rin stared upward. The eye spoke.

"Nothing."

A pause.

"And that is why you are still alive."

Kaelith stepped in front of Rin.

"Explain."

The eye looked at him.

"You still think the memories belong to Rin."

Kaelith’s expression hardened.

"What else could they be?"

The answer came quietly.

"Warnings."

Rin frowned.

"Warnings?"

"Every life, Rin forgets. Every life, World erases what he begins to remember. But the memories are not the danger."

The eye shifted toward Kaelith.

"The danger is what Rin does after remembering."

Kaelith’s magic flickered. Rin felt a strange pressure in his chest.

"What did I do?"

The eye remained silent. Then it whispered:

"You chose to erase the person you loved most."

Rin looked at Kaelith. Kaelith didn’t move. The pale eye continued.

"Not because you hated him. Because you knew what would happen if he remembered you completely."

Rin’s breath caught. Kaelith’s obsession suddenly made sense in one horrifying way. Maybe he wasn’t only afraid of losing Rin.

Maybe somewhere inside him, buried beneath memories World had destroyed, he was afraid of what would happen if Rin remembered everything. The eye began fading.

Rin stepped forward.

"Wait!"

It stopped.

"Tell me the truth!"

The pale eye looked at him one last time.

"You already asked me that once."

Rin froze.

"When?"

The eye answered:

"In the timeline World erased."

Then it disappeared. Silence returned. Rin looked at Kaelith.

"Did I love you?"

Kaelith stared at him.

For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he reached for Rin’s hand.

"Yes."

Rin’s heart tightened.

"How do you know?"

Kaelith’s fingers closed around his.

"Because I remember."

Rin looked down.

"I don’t."

"I know."

"And I might never remember."

Kaelith looked directly into his eyes.

"Then I’ll wait."

Rin blinked.

"How long?"

Kaelith’s expression softened.

"As long as it takes."

Behind them, Sol quietly whispered:

"That’s the problem."

Rin turned.

"What?"

Sol’s voice became almost sorrowful.

"Kaelith would wait forever."

And somewhere far beyond the sky, World was already watching.