"Peace is just a tricky thing. It's even more so when it's built on memories."
—Leonhart
The Worldseed had blossomed, and with it, the Mirror Realm was back in existence. Yet, some echoes from the past refused to stay buried.
I believed I had transformed the system into a safe haven. But every code has its quirks—ghost lines that can suddenly shift direction without any warning.
And over in the west… those ghostly lines had started to seep through.
The Raven Message
A raven brought the news—its feathers dark as night, its eyes sharp and cold.
Lucien read from the scroll, his face looking really serious:
From King Solomon Greywoods of the Western Kingdom.
A dark force spreads through the Soulforge Veins beneath our land.
The code is flashing red.
The world you tried to remake… is coming apart at the seams.
Aris frowned, looking puzzled. "Soulforge Veins? That's some ancient system stuff. Way before the Architect's time."
Just then, Kai, who now roamed the fringes of the world like a watchful protector, stepped into view.
"That place is off-limits," he warned. "Even the Architect didn't mess with the Soulforge. It's the birthplace of the first simulations."
And now, those veins were turning dark.
The Journey West
We set off for the Western Kingdom as the sun began to rise.
The mountains loomed above us, resembling jagged pieces of broken data. The wind howled like it was trying to tell us something.
Here, the skies were darker, not just from the weather, but also from the past. It felt like the very air held onto its pain.
That's when I laid eyes on her for the first time.
The Princess of Thorns
She stood on a silver balcony made of obsidian stone.
Princess Mio Greywoods.
Her gown, crafted from raven-silk and threads that sparkled like stars, shimmered like a deep ocean at night. Her violet eyes met mine, and in that moment, something shifted inside me.
Not magic. Not some grand destiny.
Just a sense of familiarity.
As if we had shared a history long before this world came to be.
She walked down the stairs with a graceful confidence, careful but undeniably proud.
"You are Leonhart. The Codeheart. The one who broke the Architect's loop."
"And you," I said, "seem to carry a storm inside you."
She raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk on her lips. "Is that a compliment or a warning?"
"Maybe it's both."
A Royal Secret
Inside the palace, she guided me through corridors filled with fading magic.
Cracks in the walls hummed with bad memories. The Soulforge Veins—strands of ancient light—flowed beneath the stone, pulsing in an erratic rhythm.
"I asked my father to call you," she confessed quietly. "The king thinks you're a miracle worker. But I've gone through the forbidden archives. What you changed may have saved one world…"
She placed her hand against the wall. It bled black code.
"…but it also stirred something much older."
That evening, as we stood together at the top of the obsidian spire, I couldn't help but ask her:
"Why do you trust me?"
Mio didn't respond with words. Instead, she turned towards me—her eyes fierce, her voice low.
"Because you remind me of myself.
Someone who broke free from a cage… only to find the world outside was even more hungry for destruction."
Her hand brushed against mine.
The pulse of the Codeheart surged.
The First Touch
The wind howled fiercely. Shadows danced in the forest below.
But at that moment, everything felt still.
We didn't share a kiss.
We didn't say anything.
We just stood there—two spirits marked by pain, brought together not by fate but by mutual understanding.
As the bells from the Western Tower struck midnight, I noticed something in Mio that I hadn't seen in anyone else—not even in Elira.
A wound that seemed to reflect my own.
To be continued...