"Not all weapons are meant to kill. Some are meant to remember what the world wants to forget."
Location: Trial Core – Layer Three
Timeflow: Nonlinear
Threat Level: Emotional damage with a side of revelation
Ren didn't fall this time.
He stepped into Trial Three.
And it was quiet.
No flames. No void. No judgment.
Just a simple room.
White floor. White walls. No ceiling.
A small black table in the center.
On it — a sword.
But not Threadbreaker.
Not the twisted, bonded version he now called his own.
This one was older.
It hummed without sound.
Its blade shimmered with nothingness — a curve of reality sliced so fine it didn't cast a shadow.
And when he touched it?
FLASHBACK TRIGGERED – TRUE ORIGIN: THE RIFTBLADE
The room dissolved.
And now he stood in a forge.
Not made of fire.
But memory.
And at the center of it — the Old Man, younger, focused, hammering something impossible into shape.
🧓 OLD MAN (without looking up):
"I always wondered when this memory would find you."
REN (wide-eyed):
"You… forged the Riftblade."
OLD MAN:
"I forged the concept of it. The weapon itself?
It was Kaelreth's idea. But his hands were made for war, not shaping."
The hammer rose. It came down.
And with each strike, Ren felt reality tear slightly — as if this blade was born to unmake cause and effect themselves.
📜 What the Riftblade Is:
A Collapse Engine made physical Not just a sword — a weapon that deletes choices Every strike cuts away a future that might have happened Forged to kill something that shouldn't exist — not a person, but a concept
"Kaelreth called it the Final Mercy," the Old Man said.
"But it was never used. Because he never could bring himself to kill… me."
REN (stepping forward):
"You weren't just Kaelreth's failsafe. You… you were close to him."
OLD MAN (smiling, but with none of the warmth):
"I was more than close. I was the one who stood still when he decided to burn."
REN:
"Meaning…?"
Truth Triggered: The Old Man's Real Identity
His name isn't "Old Man." It never was.
He doesn't belong to a bloodline.
He doesn't belong to a title.
He belongs to a promise.
OLD MAN (calmly):
"My name was Va'theran Aric Vale.
I was Kaelreth's Chosen Witness."
"When the Collapse began, he made a deal — someone had to remain unbroken.
Someone had to remember everything without becoming part of it.
That was me."
"Not Riftborn. Not royal. Not divine."
"Just the man who stayed."
REN (quietly):
"So… you're not his family."
VA'THERAN:
"No. But I'm the reason his legacy didn't drown."
VA'THERAN (smirking):
"Everyone fears gods. No one questions the tired old man in the corner."
"That's why I survived Kaelreth. That's why I know how to help you."
Trial Three Reward: Updated Identity Truth Fragment
The Old Man is not Riftborn He is the last natural-born human to survive the Core's first rupture He volunteered to carry history instead of power He remembers the Riftborn not as myth — but as friends who died too soon
"Kaelreth gave me the truth," Va'theran says.
"Now I give it to you."
"You're not here to finish his fight, Ren.
You're here to make sure it never starts again."