The gate closed behind them with a whisper like falling ash.
Liri stood motionless at the threshold of the chamber, her hand trembling faintly in Yuuji's.
She didn't pull away.
Not yet.
But Yuuji could feel it—the beginning of unraveling.
The room was circular, silver walls bending like waves, and in the center, that empty throne pulsing with old, sealed memories.
Above it hung a suspended prism of cracked light, its glow flickering between warmth and cold.
[ Emotion Lock Detected: "Attachment: Elion" ][ Origin: Soulbinder Sequence Alpha – Suppressed by System Directive #231 ][ Override Available – Risk: Emotional Trauma (Severe) ]
Yuuji inhaled.
He looked to Liri.
"I can stop this," he said softly. "If it's too much. I can—"
But she shook her head.
Tears already welled in her eyes, even before the truth returned.
"I need to know," she said. "Even if it breaks me."
She stepped forward.
The room reacted.
Memories—raw, incomplete—spilled across the walls.
A younger Liri. Laughing.
Sitting at a starlit balcony, wrapped in a blanket, her head resting on the shoulder of a man whose face flickered like a corrupted file.
She was real.
He wasn't.
Another memory.
The same man, now pacing, agitated.
"I can't stay. They'll shut the whole project down if they find out I left the Dreamwalker code unshackled."
"You promised," Liri said, her voice breaking.
"I tried, Liri. But they're not listening. I can't fight the system and keep you safe. This place... it's unraveling."
He stepped back.
She reached forward.
He didn't take her hand.
A third memory.
The lab collapsing.
Technicians shouting.
And Liri, screaming, as the containment field locked her inside the Oneiric Cradle.
Her last words before sleep claimed her:
"Don't leave me."
And Elion…
Turned away.
The throne room dimmed.
Liri crumpled to her knees.
Not crying.
Not breaking.
Just silent.
Like someone whose heartbeat had slowed until it forgot how to echo.
Yuuji didn't rush to her.
Didn't offer words too soon.
Instead, he sat beside her.
Let her grief unfold without interruption.
After what felt like hours, she spoke.
Not to him.
But to the air, the past, the weight.
"He wasn't cruel," she whispered. "He was afraid."
Yuuji nodded.
"Sometimes fear can wear a gentle face."
She turned to him slowly, searching his eyes.
"I wanted to hate him."
"And now?"
Her voice cracked.
"I don't know what I feel. And I'm afraid that if I forgive him... I'll forget why it hurt."
[ Emotional Fragment Stabilized: Acceptance (2/5) ][ Companion Bond Deepened – Soul Resonance: 77% ][ New Trait Gained: Dreamwound Clarity – Emotional memories restore faster near Liri. ]
They rose together.
The throne did not remain empty.
As Liri touched its armrest, the broken prism above it descended, merging with her chest in a bloom of gentle light.
[ Memory Anchor Restored: Liri's Past ][ Ability Gained: Echo Dive – Enter emotional memories to guide others out of trauma. ]
She smiled faintly—eyes tired but steady.
"I think I remember who I was before the system tried to define me."
Yuuji stepped closer.
"Who were you?"
Her fingers curled gently in his sleeve.
"I was a girl who wanted to walk through dreams. Not because she was told to—but because she believed even pain could be shared… and healed."
And then:
"Will you walk with me, Yuuji?"
He didn't hesitate.
"I already am."
As they exited the throne chamber, the system responded not with reward—but with warning.
[ System Override Breach Detected. Emotional autonomy progressing beyond bounds. ][ Initiating Remote Lock on Companion: Dreamwalker (Status: Defective) ][ Deploying Interference Unit: "Resonant Reclaimer Alpha" ]
And far away, in the fractured skies above Aetherveil—
—something awoke.
A construct without emotion.
Built not to understand.
Only to reclaim what never should have been free.