The Sanctum of Shadows
Far from the expedition...
beyond the mountains and hidden beneath ancient stone, the Sanctum of Shadows stood beneath a sky without moonlight.
Its towers were silent.
Its halls were empty.
No army guarded its deepest chamber.
No iron doors protected its prisoner.
There was only the Veil.
At the lowest level of the Sanctum, a vast circular platform extended over an endless abyss.
At its center floated a single Veil Gate.
It was enormous.
A vertical tear in reality, surrounded by slow-moving silver-black energy.
There were no bars.
No chains.
No walls.
Only the Gate.
And beyond it...
something waited.
A figure stood in the darkness.
Nihyros Nullis.
The Veil allowed him to be seen.
And he could see everything beyond it.
The prisoner could see his guardian.
The guardian could see his prisoner.
Like an abyss that stared back.
The Second-Generation Guardian
Vaerion walked across the stone platform.
The incomplete Bronze Plate covered his body.
Its surface carried scars from battles fought long before most of the current expedition had been born.
He stopped several steps from the Veil Gate.
Nihyros looked toward him.
Neither spoke.
The silence lasted long enough for Vaerion to hear the distant movement of the Sanctum's machinery.
Finally, Vaerion said:
"You're awake."
Nihyros's voice came from beyond the Veil.
"I have never slept."
Vaerion looked into the darkness.
"I know."
Nihyros stepped closer to the boundary.
The Veil rippled.
He stopped.
He could not cross.
Vaerion could not enter.
But they could see one another perfectly.
Vaerion rested a hand against his Bronze Plate.
"The Machine Core has awakened."
Nihyros's eyes glowed faintly violet.
"I felt it."
"The Lost Cities are waking."
"Then the old memories will return."
Vaerion looked at him.
"That's what I want to talk about."
Why Remember Pain?
Vaerion sat on the edge of the platform.
Nihyros remained standing inside the Veil.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Vaerion asked:
"Do you remember Nihyra?"
Nihyros answered immediately.
"Every street."
"Every building?"
"Every one."
"The people?"
A pause.
"Yes."
"Then you remember the destruction."
Nihyros's eyes dimmed.
"I remember."
Vaerion looked into the abyss.
"Do you regret remembering?"
Nihyros did not answer.
Vaerion continued.
"You erased the memories of your people because you believed remembering their suffering would destroy them."
"It was destroying them."
"They were grieving."
"They were broken."
"They were afraid."
"They were unable to move forward."
Vaerion nodded.
"You wanted to give them peace."
"Yes."
"But you believed peace required forgetting."
Nihyros looked at him.
"What good is a memory that causes pain?"
Vaerion thought for a moment.
Then answered:
"Sometimes the pain is the part that teaches us."
The Fire
Vaerion picked up a small stone from the platform.
"If a child touches fire..."
He held the stone in his palm.
"...the pain teaches the child that fire can burn."
Nihyros responded:
"The lesson can be taught without the pain."
"Perhaps."
Vaerion nodded.
"But the memory still matters."
He lowered the stone.
"The child remembers."
"Next time, they are more careful."
Nihyros stared at him.
"And if the memory becomes unbearable?"
"Then someone helps them carry it."
"And if nobody is there?"
Vaerion looked toward Nihyros.
"Then they shouldn't be left alone."
What You Took From Them
Nihyros's expression hardened.
"I protected them."
"You did."
The answer surprised him.
Vaerion continued:
"You protected them from the memories that were destroying them."
Nihyros said nothing.
"But you also protected them from the memories that made them who they were."
The violet light around Nihyros flickered.
Vaerion continued.
"You erased their wars."
"You erased their failures."
"You erased their fear."
"But you also erased their victories."
"Their discoveries."
"Their friendships."
"The people they loved."
Nihyros's voice became quieter.
"Their suffering ended but I cant control their hearts and I made a mistake."
"Yes."
Vaerion looked directly at him.
"But so did part of their story."
The Meaning of Remembrance
Vaerion stood.
"Do you know why people tell stories?"
"To preserve information."
"That's one reason."
Vaerion smiled.
"They also tell stories because they don't want someone who is gone to disappear completely."
Nihyros remained silent.
"They tell stories about their parents."
"Their children."
"Their friends."
"Their heroes."
"Their failures."
"Sometimes even their enemies."
Vaerion touched his Bronze Plate.
"Because remembering someone means saying..."
You mattered.
Nihyros slowly lowered his head.
The People of Nihyra
For the first time, Nihyros turned away.
"They were afraid."
Vaerion listened.
"I watched them lose everything."
His voice carried no anger.
Only memory.
"The cities burned."
"The machines turned against them."
"The Technomagik they trusted became the instrument of their destruction."
Vaerion quietly said:
"And you couldn't stop it."
"No."
"You blamed yourself."
Nihyros didn't answer.
Vaerion understood.
"You thought that if they forgot..."
He paused.
"...you could make sure it never happened again."
"Yes."
"You weren't trying to punish them."
"No."
"You were trying to save them."
Nihyros looked back at him.
"Yes."
Vaerion nodded.
"And that's what makes your mistake so tragic."
A Guardian's Mistake
Nihyros stared through the Veil.
"You call it a mistake."
"Yes."
"Millions survived because of what I did."
"I make the machines and citizens forgot everything to stop the chaos."
"I divide the land and isolate them to avoid conflict."
"Perhaps."
"Then why condemn me?"
Vaerion shook his head.
"I'm not."
"It only creates more war, because they lost trust."
Nihyros's eyes narrowed.
"I'm trying to understand you."
A long silence followed.
Vaerion continued:
"Being a guardian doesn't mean you're always right."
"It means you have to keep questioning yourself."
Nihyros looked down.
"I stopped questioning myself."
"Yes."
"I believed protection justified everything."
"That's when protection becomes control."
The First Bearer
Nihyros looked toward Vaerion's armor.
"You still wear the incomplete Plate."
Vaerion looked down.
"Yes."
"The one who defeated me wore the complete armor."
Vaerion's expression changed.
"You remember the battle?"
"Every moment."
"Who was the warrior?"
Nihyros became silent.
Vaerion waited.
Finally:
"I do not know."
Vaerion frowned.
"You don't know?"
"I saw the armor."
"I fought the warrior."
"I remember the weapon."
"I remember the shield."
"I remember the final strike."
He paused.
"But I cannot remember the face."
Vaerion stepped closer to the Veil.
"Why?"
Nihyros looked directly at him.
"Someone protected that memory from me."
The Mystery Remains
Vaerion thought about the incomplete Bronze Plate.
"Even Oblivion couldn't take it?"
Nihyros shook his head.
"No."
"Then someone deliberately concealed the identity."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Nihyros looked into the abyss behind himself.
"Because the complete Bronze Plate was never meant to become a symbol of power."
Vaerion said nothing.
"Its bearer was hidden."
"Even from you."
"Especially from me."
Memory and Oblivion
Vaerion's expression became serious.
"You still draw power from Oblivion."
The violet energy around Nihyros moved beneath his armor.
"Yes."
"Does it speak to you?"
A long pause.
"Sometimes."
"What does it say?"
Nihyros looked toward Vaerion.
"Forget."
Vaerion's hand moved toward his sword.
Nihyros continued:
"Forget the pain."
"Forget the war."
"Forget the people who died."
"Forget the mistakes."
Vaerion looked into the darkness.
"And what do you say?"
Nihyros's eyes slowly brightened.
"I remember."
For a moment...
the entire Veil Gate became silent.
The Awakening Signal
Suddenly—
BOOOOM.
The Sanctum shook.
The Veil rippled violently.
Vaerion turned toward the ancient walls.
Another pulse traveled through the fortress.
BOOOOM.
The incomplete Bronze Plate responded with a faint golden glow.
Nihyros looked upward.
"The Machine Core."
"The expedition?"
"Not only them."
Vaerion turned back.
"What do you mean?"
Nihyros looked toward the darkness beyond the Veil.
"The cities are remembering."
The Pain of Returning
Vaerion watched him carefully.
Nihyros continued:
"When a civilization remembers its past..."
The violet energy surrounding him intensified.
"...it remembers what it lost."
The Sanctum trembled again.
"It remembers its victories."
Another pulse.
"Its failures."
Another.
"Its dead."
The final pulse was stronger than the others.
"And its mistakes."
Vaerion looked toward the distant corridors.
The Sanctum's ancient systems were awakening.
"Then perhaps that's what the expedition needs."
Nihyros looked at him.
"Memory?"
Vaerion nodded.
"All of it."
"The good."
"The bad."
"The pain."
"The love."
"The people."
"The truth."
The Abyss Stares Back
Nihyros approached the Veil boundary.
His face became clearer.
Vaerion could see him as though they stood only a few steps apart.
Nihyros looked at the incomplete Bronze Plate.
"You believe memory will save them."
Vaerion answered:
"No."
Nihyros waited.
Vaerion looked directly into his eyes.
"People save one another."
He placed his hand over the Bronze Plate.
"Memory simply helps them remember why."
For the first time...
Nihyros smiled.
It wasn't a cruel smile.
It wasn't a corrupted one.
It was almost the expression of the guardian he had once been.
"Perhaps."
Vaerion turned to leave.
Then Nihyros spoke again.
"Vaerion."
The guardian stopped.
"Yes?"
"If they discover the truth about the First Bearer..."
Vaerion waited.
Nihyros looked through the Veil.
"...they will also discover why the complete Bronze Plate disappeared."
Vaerion's expression hardened.
"Do you know why?"
Nihyros slowly shook his head.
"I remember the battle."
"I remember the defeat."
"I remember the prison."
His eyes glowed violet.
"But that memory..."
He placed his hand against the other side of the Veil.
"...was hidden even from me."
Vaerion looked at the abyss.
Then he walked away.
Behind him...
Nihyros remained alone.
Still visible.
Still watching.
Still imprisoned.
and sometimes corruption consume him.
And the Veil continued to shimmer between them.
Like a mirror separating two guardians who had chosen very different ways to protect the world.
Ending
Far away, beyond the mountains...
Sorion's expedition continued along the forgotten roads.
They did not know that the Sanctum had awakened.
They did not know that Vaerion and Nihyros had spoken.
And they did not yet know that their journey through the Lost Cities was slowly uncovering a history that even Nihyros Nullis could not completely remember.
Above the Sanctum...
a single ancient star-like signal appeared.
Then another.
Then twelve.
Across the world...
the Lost Cities were beginning to remember.
And somewhere within the darkness beyond the Veil...
The machine core awakened good memory and bad ones too.
Oblivion whispered:
"Forget."
Nihyros closed his eyes.
For the first time in centuries...
he answered:
"No. I'm living on corruption long enough!"
End of Episode 61