Season 1 – THE CURSED SUMMON
Episode 12: The Fifth Gate Opens
Three days passed.
But Ren didn't sleep.
Couldn't.
Because every time he closed his eyes… she was there.
That girl—no, that thing—from the last era. The one Valcis had shown him. The one he'd supposedly stopped before.
The first Summoned.
A shadow with a grin carved from regret.
And she had spoken his name.
Even now, her voice echoed in his skull.
> "I remember what you did to me."
But he didn't.
He didn't remember her face.
Or her screams.
Or her blood on his hands.
Only that the fifth fragment pulsed louder now. It was close.
And whatever lay beyond it… would force him to remember.
---
They camped in the ruined grove of El'Mahri. Once, it had been sacred ground. Now only ash and frost remained.
Ren sat by the dying embers, the others asleep behind him.
He thought of fleeing.
Just running.
He wondered if he still had that in him.
He didn't.
> [System Notification]
[Proximity to Fifth Fragment: 0.8 miles]
[Warning: This path is irreversible.]
The voices stirred in his skull again.
One sounded like him. Older. Colder.
> "Kill her first. You always hesitate. That's what gets them killed."
Another—quieter, more broken:
"Don't look into her eyes. That's where she hides the pain. That's where she infects you."
And one voice… that didn't sound like him at all:
"You're not Ren. Not anymore. You're just a vessel. An echo wearing flesh."
Ren shuddered.
And he stood.
---
He left the camp before dawn.
But Lyra was waiting.
She stepped out from behind a charred trunk, sword sheathed, arms folded.
"You're going to the gate, aren't you?"
"I have to."
"You know what happens if you open it."
"I know."
Her voice lowered. "You haven't told Akio."
"I will. After."
Lyra studied him, her expression unreadable. Then, with a soft sigh, she turned and walked beside him.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"Then you'll have to kill me to stop me."
He didn't argue.
He didn't have the strength to.
---
The entrance to the Fifth Fragment was carved into the mountainside.
A door made of obsidian teeth and burning script.
It hummed.
Like something behind it was awake.
Waiting.
Ren stepped forward. The seal reacted to his presence.
The glyphs flared red. A circular pattern formed beneath his feet.
Then—
> [System Command Accepted – Fifth Fragment Gate Initiated]
[WARNING: All previous progress will be locked]
[Confirmation Required – Proceed?]
Ren looked at Lyra.
She nodded once.
He said nothing.
And stepped through.
---
He expected fire.
Expected another twisted world of memories and hallucinations.
But instead… he was standing on a battlefield.
Still. Frozen. Like time had paused mid-slaughter.
Thousands of soldiers. Stone-faced. Staring at one another.
A world painted in black and grey.
Only one thing moved.
A girl.
Standing in the center.
Her hair long, soaked in blood. Her arms outstretched. A halo of red light pulsed above her.
She turned—
And smiled at him.
> "You came."
Ren felt his throat close.
Her eyes were like mirrors. Reflecting every version of him that had ever failed.
"Who are you?" he managed.
"You already know."
And she stepped forward, barefoot over ash.
"I'm the you that gave in."
---
"I'm not like you," Ren whispered.
She laughed.
"You think pain makes you strong? It doesn't. It twists you."
"I remember everything you've forgotten. The people you let die. The lies you told. The deal you made with Eidros."
His eyes widened.
"What deal?"
She smiled wider.
"Oh… you don't remember yet."
She stepped closer.
"But you will. After you kill me."
> [Fifth Fragment: Trial Activated]
[Eliminate the Echo to proceed]
[Reward: Permanent Skill Unlock – "Soul Sever"]
[Warning: Action is irreversible]
---
Ren drew his blade.
She didn't flinch.
She just stood there. Calm. Unarmed.
"I'm not fighting you," he said.
"You are," she replied, stepping forward. "You just don't realize it yet."
And then—
With a scream like broken glass, the sky tore open.
Flames rained down. The ground exploded.
And the girl became something else.
Her arms split into wings. Her skin shimmered with arcane runes. Chains coiled from her spine like tendrils of a dying god.
Ren didn't hesitate.
He leapt.
Steel clashed with divine bone. The impact threw him backward.
She followed—faster than light. Her fingers curled into a spear of memory itself, jabbing straight for his chest.
Ren twisted. Just in time.
But her voice pierced him deeper than her attacks.
> "You were the one who asked for this world to be reset."
"You begged Eidros to give you power. And this is the cost."
---
He struck her hard.
Blade biting through shoulder.
She screamed—but not in pain.
In laughter.
Blood sprayed, and her body dissolved into shadow.
But then—
Ren's own body convulsed.
> [Warning: Memory Overlap Detected]
[Cognitive Collapse Imminent]
[Do you wish to remember what you gave up?]
[YES] – [NO]
Ren chose YES.
---
The truth hit like lightning through bone.
He remembered a throne of chains.
Eidros standing above him. Offering a single choice:
> "You can die as yourself…"
"Or live again as what I need you to be."
And Ren—bleeding, broken, desperate—had accepted.
He'd sacrificed his own memories.
He had chosen to forget the girl he killed.
The first Summoned.
The one now trying to warn him.
---
Ren dropped to his knees.
And the world cracked.
The girl—the Echo—stood before him again.
But now she was small. Frail.
A child.
Crying.
"You chose this, Ren. You made me into this. I only burned the world because you told me to."
He looked up.
"Then let me fix it."
He stood.
And this time—
He sheathed his blade.
---
The system paused.
> [Fragment Trial: Forfeited]
[Kill Not Executed]
[New Condition Met – Path of Remorse]
[Skill Unlocked: "Soul Sever – Dormant"]
[Unlocked Perk: Memory Sympathy – You now retain emotional residues of the slain]
[Fifth Fragment Complete]
[Warning: You are now being Watched]
---
Ren gasped as he awoke outside the gate.
Lyra caught him as he collapsed, eyes wild, blood dripping from his nose and ears.
Akio was there too, confused and terrified.
"Ren! What happened?"
Ren looked up, voice barely audible.
"I remembered… the deal."
Akio knelt. "What deal?!"
Ren didn't answer.
He looked at the stars.
One of them—the black one—had begun to move.
Falling toward them.
And far across the mountains, in a tower no mortal could see, Eidros whispered…
> "Five down. Four to go."
"Now, let's see if your soul survives the next one…"