CRACK.
The white light shattered.
Royoshi stumbled forward.
The moment his vision cleared—
Cold air hit his face.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Water echoed through a massive underground corridor.
Royoshi froze. Stone walls. Ancient pillars. Broken torches.
Darkness stretching endlessly ahead.
"A dungeon…?"
His voice echoed throughout the tunnels.
The Citadel was gone. The training grounds were gone.
Everything had changed.
The dungeon felt abandoned.
Empty.
Wrong.
Royoshi slowly walked forward.
The deeper he went, the colder it became.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Only the sound of water accompanied him.
Then—
He heard footsteps.
Royoshi immediately turned.
Someone was running.
A familiar figure.
"Maris?"
Several years had passed since the previous memory.
She looked older now.
Around Royoshi's age.
Her breathing was uneven as she sprinted through the corridor.
"Where are you guys?!"
Panic filled her voice.
She turned a corner. Nothing. Another corridor. Nothing.
"Answer me!" Silence.
Royoshi followed closely behind.
The dungeon felt strange. Almost too quiet. As if something was hiding.
Watching. Waiting.
Maris stopped.
Her breathing grew heavier.
"This isn't funny anymore…"
No answer came.
Royoshi looked around. The corridor was empty.
Then—
A shadow moved.
Royoshi's eyes widened.
Behind her.
"Maris!"
She couldn't hear him. This was still a memory.
The shadow stepped from the darkness.
A man.
Dark eyes. Purple irises. The same purple-eyed man from the training grounds.
Maris immediately turned. Relief appeared on her face.
"There you are!"
But something felt wrong. Very wrong.
The man's expression was empty.
Cold.
Nothing like before.
Royoshi felt a chill run through his body.
Even Maris noticed it.
"…What's wrong?"
The purple-eyed man didn't answer.
He simply stared at her. Then slowly smiled.
A smile that made Royoshi's stomach twist.
Maris took a small step backward.
"W-What's going on?"
The man finally spoke. His voice was calm. Too calm.
"You trust them a lot, don't you?"
Maris frowned.
"What?"
"The Citadel."
Silence.
The dungeon suddenly felt colder.
"What are you talking about?"
The purple-eyed man lowered his gaze.
Then he laughed. A quiet laugh.
One that held no warmth.
"No…"
He looked back at her.
"You deserve to know the truth."
Maris froze.
"The truth…?"
The man's smile widened. And the entire memory fractured.
CRACK.
Royoshi's eyes widened.
Not again.
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRACK.
The dungeon shattered into countless fragments of light.
As everything collapsed around him, Royoshi heard one final sentence echo through the darkness.
"The people you trusted are the reason your parents never came home."
BOOOOOOOOM—!!
The world exploded into white.
And another memory began.
Royoshi shut his eyes.
For a moment—
There was nothing. No sound. No light. No ground.
Then—
THUD.
Royoshi landed on cold stone.
He immediately stood up.
"…"
His surroundings had changed again.
A larger chamber stretched before him.
Stone walls. Iron chains. Ancient pillars.
A single chair sat in the center of the room.
And someone was sitting in it.
Maris.
Her hands were bound. Her expression was exhausted.
The confident smile she once wore was gone.
The purple-eyed man stood nearby.
Watching. Waiting.
Royoshi immediately moved forward.
"This is it…"
The final memory.
Maris slowly lifted her head.
"W-Why am I here…?"
The purple-eyed man smiled.
"Because there are things you deserve to know."
Maris glared at him.
"I don't want to hear anything from you."
The man laughed quietly.
"That's unfortunate."
He raised a hand.
A screen of light appeared before them.
Royoshi froze. Another memory.
Within the memory—Maris's parents appeared.
The same day they left the village. The same day they never returned.
Maris immediately stood up.
"Mama…?"
The image continued.
Her parents stood inside a large chamber.
Several Citadel officials surrounded them. Arguments echoed throughout the room.
The memory was distorted. Incomplete.
Royoshi couldn't hear everything.
Only fragments.
"…too dangerous…"
"…cannot allow…"
"…containment…"
"…orders…"
Maris stared silently.
The purple-eyed man stepped closer.
"The Citadel knew."
Maris froze.
"What…?"
"They knew your parents would never come back."
Silence.
"No."
The purple-eyed man continued.
"They sent them anyway."
"No."
"They were expendable."
"NO!"
The memory shifted. The chamber vanished. A battlefield appeared.
Explosions. Monsters. Chaos.
Then—Maris's parents disappeared beneath the destruction.
The memory ended.
Maris stood frozen. Her entire body trembled.
"No…"
The purple-eyed man lowered his head.
"They abandoned them."
"No…"
"They lied to you."
"Stop…"
"They took your parents away."
"STOP!"
BOOOOOOOOM—!!!
Power erupted from Maris.
The entire chamber shook violently.
Royoshi clenched his fists.
Something felt wrong. The memory wasn't complete. Pieces were missing. Important pieces.
The purple-eyed man was only showing her what he wanted her to see. But Maris couldn't tell. She was too hurt.
Too broken. Too desperate.
Tears streamed down her face.
"They promised…"
Her voice shook.
"They promised they would come back…"
The purple-eyed man slowly approached.
"And they would have."
He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"If the Citadel hadn't sacrificed them."
Silence.
Maris lowered her head. Her hands trembled. Her breathing became uneven.
Royoshi watched helplessly.
"Maris…"
But she couldn't hear him. No matter how many times he called her name.
She couldn't hear him.
The purple-eyed man smiled.
A small smile. A victorious smile.
Then he spoke the words that changed everything.
"If you had the power…"
His voice echoed throughout the chamber.
"…wouldn't you make them pay?"
Then—
Maris slowly raised her head. Her eyes were filled with tears.
Pain. Anger. Hatred.
"I…"
Royoshi's heart sank.
"Maris…"
The purple-eyed man's smile widened.
"…"
Maris clenched her fists.
The room trembled.
Power exploded from her body.
"I WANT ANSWERS!"
BOOOOOOM—!!
The chamber shook violently!
The purple-eyed man remained completely calm. Then he extended his hand.
"Then come with me."
Silence.
Maris stared at it for a long time.
Then, slowly—
She reached forward.
The moment their hands touched—
CRACK.
The memory shattered.
Royoshi's eyes widened.
The chamber broke apart. The walls collapsed into light. The floor beneath him vanished. Everything dissolved.
And as the world vanished—
He heard one final thing.
Maris's voice. Small. Broken. Almost impossible to hear.
"…I just wanted my family back."
Crack.
The final memory ended.
Silence.
The endless white void returned.
Royoshi stood alone. His fists trembled.
Everything he had seen replayed inside his mind.
The village. The fire. The faceless man. The Citadel. The blonde-haired woman. The purple-eyed man. And Maris.
None of it matched the monster he thought he knew.
She wasn't born hateful. She wasn't born cruel. She was broken. Manipulated. Twisted by grief.
Royoshi slowly lowered his head.
"Maris…"
The white world began fading.
His vision blurred. His body suddenly felt heavy. Very heavy. As if something was pulling him away. Far away.
The last thing Royoshi saw before darkness swallowed him was the image of a small girl standing alone in the white void.
Waiting for her parents who would never return.
Then—
Everything went black.
Royoshi passed out once again.