The mountains around Citadel Zareth looked as if they'd been carved by giants and then forgotten by time.
But Kade remembered.
Not just the shape of the cliffs or the direction of the wind, but what had once stood there—before the Reset turned it into a graveyard. He stood at the edge of a ravine, staring down at the citadel nestled like a parasite in the valley's gut. Sleek black walls. No gates. No lights.
And yet, it pulsed.
Alive.
"Marei," he said, his voice low. "Scan it again."
She was already doing it. The Catalyst tether around her wrist flickered in bursts of data, then steadied.
"No broadcasts. No defense grid. But there's power running through every channel. Deep core—ancient tech. Older than the Reset."
"That shouldn't be possible."
"I know," she said. "But it is. The system isn't just dormant in there… it's waiting."
Kade adjusted the frequency modulator on his gauntlet. He could feel it too—a pressure behind his eyes, like something was watching, not with cameras, but with memory.
[System Notice: Core Node – Zareth Citadel Identified]
[Status: Locked – Royal Clearance Required]
[User Designation: Potential Heir – Access Pending]
"Royal clearance?" Kade echoed.
"You're not just the Forgotten King in title," Marei said. "They want you to sit the throne again."
He looked down at the valley, jaw set. "Or die trying."
The descent into the Citadel felt like entering a memory that didn't belong to him—yet knew his footsteps.
They reached a large platform suspended over a yawning black drop. The moment Kade stepped onto it, the platform lit up and began to descend without a sound.
Walls shifted around them—images flickering across polished obsidian. Old wars. Forgotten cities. A child in a war-torn street, wearing Kade's face.
He turned away.
"You're remembering," Marei said softly.
"I don't know if I want to."
The platform stopped. Before them: a vast white corridor, clean, clinical—and dead silent.
At the far end was a throne.
Not ornate. Not gold. Just cold, forged from shattered data cores and alloyed bone. And on it sat a man.
Not asleep.
Not bound.
Waiting.
He was tall, regal in posture, and wore robes laced with burnt circuitry. His eyes were hidden beneath a band of flickering code—constantly rewriting itself like a firewall against the past.
"Aelric," Kade said.
The man smiled. "You remember."
Kade stepped forward, ignoring the sharp ache blooming in his skull.
"You died in the last week of Earth."
"No," Aelric said calmly. "You died, Kade. The system only saved your body. I stayed behind… in the throne."
Marei stepped closer, tension radiating from her.
"Aelric Vos," she said aloud. "Exiled warlord. Founder of the Catalyst. Commander of the Betrayer Legion."
"You make it sound so theatrical," Aelric replied.
"You rewrote the end," Kade said. "You triggered the Reset."
"I made the hard choice," Aelric snapped. "We couldn't survive the world we'd built, Kade. You were too noble to burn it. So I did."
Kade's fist clenched. "You didn't burn it. You programmed its collapse. You killed billions and called it mercy."
[System Interference Detected – Shard Authority Conflict: Kade vs. Aelric]
[Initiating Memory Lock Duel Protocol – Command Throne Zareth]
The room dimmed. Light bent around them. Reality slowed.
A duel—not of blades. Of memories.
Of truth.
Aelric stood. "This Citadel recognizes only one king."
Kade's eyes burned with fire and betrayal. "Then it's time it remembered who built the throne."