The arena was silent.
Too silent.
Sora held the Mask in both hands.
The first memory-thread pulsed steadily, coiled like a rope around her forearm.
But the second—the fractured hourglass—remained cold. Dead. Resistant.
Until the system flinched.
[Override Access: SORA]
Temporary privilege detected. Select next game parameters.
The words appeared midair, waiting.
But as Sora reached forward to write the rules…
[ERROR – LOCKED MEMORY INTERFERENCE]
Secondary Guardian Manifestation Required
The ground cracked.
And from the rupture crawled something neither of them could speak through—
A tall, hunched figure, cloaked in folded parchment etched in recursion code. Its mask was shaped like a grieving face, one eye shut, the other wide open. It didn't walk. It flowed, like pain incarnate.
Matthew backed up. "That thing isn't like the first. It's not from your memory, is it?"
Sora stood still. "No. I think… it's from all of ours."
Mask Guardian II – The Gate Who Grieves
"For the memory you lost to stay sane."
The chamber melted into a river of sliding doors, each door holding pieces of games past—people they'd let go, failed, or forgotten.
And then the guardian spoke—not in words, but in regret:
"To unlock the next thread, offer up a moment you swore never to revisit."
Sora's hand shook.
"…I know what it's asking."
Rin whispered, "Don't. It could rewrite you permanently."
But Sora stepped forward and removed the Mask.
And then she whispered a name.
"Luca."
Suddenly the doors all slammed shut.
And the world snapped into fire.
Luca's face—grinning, confident, loyal—flickered everywhere at once. His memory, rewritten. Deleted. Fragmented.
Except… one shard remained untouched.
A voice echoed.
Soft. Gentle. Real.
"You didn't forget me. You buried me to survive."
Sora turned.
And Luca stepped from behind the grieving guardian.
Real. Whole. Breathing.
Rin gasped. "How?!"
Luca didn't look at her. His eyes stayed on Sora.
"When I got erased, I didn't fall into deletion. I fell between. I've been watching ever since."
He looked up at the grief-mask. "And I've been waiting for this moment."
Sora held out the Mask of the Forgotten.
"Help me unlock the last key."