The Null-Zone's battlefield—once chaotic with combat—was now eerily silent.
Above them floated two glowing paths like celestial veins:
One pulsed with crystalline snapshots of memories.
The other shone with the jagged, ever-shifting energy of unstable reality.
Alicia hovered between them, golden light radiating from her body, the staff in her hand anchoring her to both.
"We can't take both," she said, quiet but firm.
Jay was the first to break the silence.
He wiped blood from his lip, squinting at the paths.
"What does that mean exactly?"
Alicia didn't flinch.
"If we keep reality, we go forward. You'll wake up. Rei might vanish. All the broken pieces will be swept under the rug like they never happened."
Jay's jaw tightened.
"And the other?"
"We keep memory," she said, glancing toward Rei. "Every bond, every reset, every scar—even the ones the System tried to erase. But… the world outside might fracture. You might stay trapped in the dream realm forever."
