Light swallowed me, but it was nothing like before.
It felt thick, stretching each moment as if time itself had been bent, making every heartbeat thud heavily in my chest.
I turned back. Gió was still there, one hand pressed against the door, her hair whipped about by the swirling wind from the fracture in memory. Behind her, faint shapes crept out from the shadows—beings without clear form, as if woven from shards of broken memories. They drew closer, yet never touched her, only circled as silent sentinels.
Her gaze stayed fixed on me—bright, sharp, piercing through the distance.
“When this gate closes, every memory link between us will fade. But if you hold on… I will find you.”
Her voice rang out, mingling with the roar of the wind, but I caught every word.
I wanted to say something, to promise more than a single vow. But my throat tightened, choking the words before they could form. My lips only mouthed:
I promise.
The door shut completely.
I fell into a colorless, shapeless void, where only my heartbeat remained, along with the fading image of Gió—like invisible hands were pulling each thread of memory out of my mind.
But the fragment she had given me—a small object in my pocket—still pulsed. Each beat flashed faint light into the darkness, keeping me from being swept away entirely.
Then, suddenly, my feet hit solid ground.
No more wind. No more deep, rumbling hum.
Before me stretched a strange city: towers rising high, flooded with artificial light. The sky was not a real sky, but a vast dome of glowing blue, crisscrossed by lines like an immense electric circuit.
I stood there for a long moment, letting memories of Gió seep into this new world, clinging to every detail of her face before it could fade.
The fragment in my pocket trembled softly, its rhythm syncing with the beat of my blood.
And I knew—my journey to find Long… and to find Gió… was far from over.
