Chapter 72: What the Door Was Hiding

The journey back to the fortress was quiet.

Nobody spoke much.

The forest was already several minutes behind them, slowly disappearing between the trees and the growing darkness, yet Rin could still feel something in his chest.

Not fear. Not pain. More like the feeling that he had just opened a door he couldn’t see.

This time, however, it wasn’t the door in the forest. It was the door to his own past.

The chosen one walked away.

Rin repeated those words silently someone had made a choice someone had walked away and somehow, that choice was connected to him.

But he didn’t know who.

He didn’t know why and he wasn’t going to invent an answer simply because his mind wanted one.

Kaelith walked beside him. After several minutes, Rin felt Kaelith’s fingers brush against his.

Rin looked down. Kaelith didn’t say anything. He simply took Rin’s hand.

Rin smiled.

"You don’t need to do that for the System anymore."

Kaelith looked at him.

"I know."

Rin was slightly surprised.

"Then why?"

Kaelith smiled.

"Because I want to."

Rin didn’t answer immediately. Then he gently squeezed Kaelith’s hand.

"Then that’s fine."

Inside his mind, the System appeared.

[HOST.]

Rin smiled.

"Yes?"

[THE SYSTEM IS PLEASED.]

"Don’t start."

[NO ROMANTIC MISSION.]

Rin blinked.

"Really?"

[YES.]

Rin smiled.

"Thank you."

A pause.

[THE SYSTEM WILL SIMPLY OBSERVE.]

Rin sighed.

"Of course."

When they reached the fortress, Sol and Noctis didn’t go directly to their rooms. Instead, Sol turned toward the laboratory.

"We need to examine the crystals."

Noctis nodded.

"And the readings from the detector."

Rin looked at them.

"What do you think you’ll find?"

Sol shrugged.

"I don’t know."

Noctis smiled.

"But for the first time, we have enough information to search for something specific."

That made Rin stop.

"Specific?"

Sol nodded.

"Yes."

He led them into the laboratory. Several of the crystals used to monitor the barrier were already arranged across the table.

Sol activated one of the devices a glowing line appeared. Rin immediately recognized it.

"That’s the energy from the forest."

"Yes."

Sol changed the recording and a second graph appeared.

"This is the energy surrounding the fortress."

Rin looked between the two.

"They’re similar."

"Exactly."

Noctis stepped closer.

"But they’re not identical."

Rin looked more carefully.

He was right. One wave was unstable. The other was much more regular.

"What does that mean?"

Sol answered:

"We don’t know yet."

Rin sighed.

"Of course."

Noctis smiled.

"But we have a theory."

Sol changed the image again. This time, the black crystal they had found at the gate appeared on the screen.

Rin became serious.

"What did you do?"

"I compared the magical residue from the crystal with the energy surrounding the barrier."

Rin stepped closer.

"And?"

Sol pointed at the two lines.

"They’re connected."

Rin went still.

"Connected how?"

"We don’t know yet."

Noctis continued.

"But they’re not two completely different types of energy."

Rin looked at the crystal.

"The gate."

Sol nodded.

"The barrier."

"Yes."

"The crystal."

"Yes."

Rin slowly looked at the silver key.

"And me?"

Sol looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"All of them reacted when I was there."

Silence. Noctis folded his arms.

"Yes."

Rin felt that strange sensation again. It was becoming increasingly obvious that he was connected to them. The real question was...

why?

While Sol continued his analysis, Rin noticed that Aiden wasn’t in the laboratory.

"Where’s Aiden?"

Ji-ho, who had just entered carrying two glasses of water, shrugged.

"Outside."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

Rin looked at him.

"What is he doing?"

Ji-ho smiled.

"Looking at a clock."

Rin stopped.

"What?"

Ji-ho’s smile widened.

"I’m joking."

Rin stared at him for several seconds.

"Don’t do that."

"Sorry."

Rin left the laboratory. Kaelith followed. They found Aiden in the inner courtyard.

He was standing beside the fountain, looking up at the sky. Rin approached.

"Aiden."

Aiden turned.

"Yes?"

"Are you thinking about what you saw?"

Aiden didn’t deny it.

"Yes."

Rin stopped beside him.

"Do you remember anything?"

Aiden looked at the sky.

"No."

Rin smiled faintly.

"You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready."

Aiden looked at him.

"I’m not hiding anything."

Rin nodded.

"I know."

For several seconds, neither spoke. Then Aiden finally said:

"But I remember the feeling."

"What feeling?"

"The urgency."

Rin frowned.

"Urgency?"

Aiden nodded.

"Like I had to get somewhere before 11:17."

Rin’s attention sharpened.

"Why?"

"I don’t know."

"And did you get there?"

Aiden closed his eyes.

"I don’t remember."

Rin didn’t ask anything else. That was enough.

For now. A voice suddenly came from behind them.

"I found something!"

It was Sol. Everyone turned. Sol was standing at the laboratory entrance with an old parchment in his hands.

Noctis was right behind him. Rin approached.

"What?"

Sol held out the parchment.

"I found an identical symbol."

Rin looked down. It was the same shape. The same incomplete spiral. The same strange line.

"Where?"

Sol answered:

"In an old archive beneath the fortress."

Rin looked at him.

"How old?"

"There is no exact date."

Noctis added:

"But the parchment was kept in a section dedicated to phenomena that existed before the founding of the kingdom."

Rin became serious.

"So it’s ancient."

"Very."

"And what does it say?"

Sol turned the parchment around. At the bottom was a single sentence.

"When the gate opens for the one who has forgotten, the key will demand the choice."

Rin didn’t move. Kaelith stepped closer.

"The one who has forgotten..."

Rin whispered:

"Me."

Noctis looked at him.

"Probably."

Rin stared at the sentence.

"But what choice?"

Sol shook his head.

"It doesn’t say."

"Of course."

Ji-ho leaned over Sol’s shoulder.

"Maybe the choice is simple."

Rin looked at him.

"What?"

Ji-ho shrugged.

"Whether to open the gate or not."

Rin thought about it.

"No."

Ji-ho blinked.

"No?"

"The gate said the choice remains."

Rin pointed toward the parchment.

"And it says the key will demand the choice."

He looked at Kaelith.

"So I don’t think it’s simply about opening the gate."

Kaelith nodded.

"I agree."

Rin looked at the parchment again.

"Then I need to find out what choice existed before."

Ji-ho stayed behind for a moment.

A small blue System window appeared before him.

[NEW INFORMATION ANALYZED.]

Ji-ho stared.

"What?"

[THE GATE IS CONNECTED TO A PREVIOUS CHOICE.]

Ji-ho sighed.

"I know."

[SYSTEM RECOMMENDS NOT INVESTIGATING FURTHER.]

Ji-ho frowned.

"Why?"

[BECAUSE THIS IS NOT YOUR STORY.]

Ji-ho put his hands on his hips.

"You keep saying that."

Aiden, passing nearby, heard him.

"Are you talking to your System?"

Ji-ho immediately closed the window.

"No."

Aiden looked at him.

"Sure."

"Yes."

Aiden continued walking.

Ji-ho muttered:

"Traitor."

Aiden turned his head.

"I heard that."

"I know."

Later that evening, everyone gathered in the main hall. Sol placed all the information they had collected on the table.

They no longer had only a mysterious gate. Now they had connections.

The gate. The key. The crystal. The barrier. The clock. The choice.

Rin looked at all of them.

"I don’t think we should open the gate again."

Noctis looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because it already gave us a direction."

Sol nodded.

"We need to investigate the choice from the past."

Noctis added:

"And find out what happened at 11:17."

Rin looked at Aiden.

"And the memory shouldn’t be forced."

Aiden nodded.

"Agreed."

Rin leaned back.

"Then we have two leads."

Sol raised two fingers.

"First: find the origin of the symbol."

Noctis added:

"Second: find out what happened at 11:17."

Rin smiled.

"Finally."

Kaelith looked at him.

"What?"

"We have something we can actually investigate."

Kaelith smiled.

"Yes."

Rin looked around the room.

"And we don’t need to solve everything tonight."

Sol nodded.

"Exactly."

For once, nobody rushed. Nobody tried to force an answer. The mystery could be unraveled slowly.

One piece. Then another. Until eventually, the entire picture appeared.

Later that night, Rin stood on the balcony. Kaelith joined him.

Rin leaned against the railing.

"I think for the first time..."

"Hm?"

"...I’m starting to understand how to search."

Kaelith smiled.

"Without chasing the first answer you find."

"Exactly."

Rin looked toward the forest.

"The gate didn’t give me an answer."

"No."

"It gave me a question."

Kaelith took his hand.

"And?"

Rin smiled.

"I think I like it better this way."

"Why?"

"Because now I can find the answer myself."

Kaelith looked at him.

"And if the answer hurts?"

Rin became quiet. Then he looked at him.

"Then I’ll deal with it when I get there."

Kaelith squeezed his hand.

"You won’t have to do it alone."

Rin smiled.

"I know."

For a moment, they simply stood there.

No mystery. No ancient voice. No impossible memory. Just the two of them. Then the System appeared.

[HOST.]

Rin sighed.

"Yes?"

[ROMANTIC DEVELOPMENT: 17.5%.]

Rin laughed.

"Seriously?"

[YES.]

Kaelith smiled.

"What did it say?"

"That we’re making progress."

Kaelith raised an eyebrow.

"Are we?"

Rin looked at him.

"Apparently."

[SYSTEM AGREES.]

Rin shook his head.

"You really need to learn privacy."

[SYSTEM REFUSES.]

Rin laughed and somewhere far beyond the fortress, hidden deep within the forest, the ancient gate remained silent but now Rin knew something.

It hadn’t been waiting for him to open it it had been waiting for him to remember and somewhere in that forgotten past was a choice.

A choice someone had made, a choice someone had walked away from, a choice that had changed Rin’s entire existence.

He didn’t know who had been involved, he didn’t know why the memory had been taken from him, and he certainly wasn’t ready to guess. But now he had the first real piece.

The choice.

And for now... that was enough.