Season 1 – THE CURSED SUMMON
Episode 14: The Price of the Forgotten
Akio didn't wake up.
Not after Ren shook him.
Not after Lyra poured all her remaining mana into a restoration sigil.
His breathing was steady, but shallow.
Like a puppet with cut strings.
His soul was trapped in a place neither Ren nor Lyra could reach.
> [Warning: Neural Pathways Severed Temporally – Status: "Stasis Lock"]
[Restoration not possible through conventional healing]
[Requires: Divine Soul Anchor or Equivalent Catalyst]
Ren stared at the hovering system message and for the first time since arriving in this world…
He felt helpless.
Not outmatched.
Not outnumbered.
But utterly stripped of power.
Akio had fought alongside him in their old life, through broken bones and worse.
Now?
One breath away from gone.
Because of him.
Because of the Echo.
---
The echo of himself.
But stronger. Older. Colder.
The same face—beneath that bone mask.
The same voice, just deadened by time.
The same eyes…
No.
Not the same.
His had guilt.
That one had emptiness.
Lyra pressed her hand to Ren's shoulder. "We need to move him."
He nodded.
They carried Akio through the night—Lyra dragging a sigil-carved sled while Ren kept suppressing the tether pulsing in his chest.
With each heartbeat, the bleeding star grew closer.
As if following him.
As if owned by him.
He didn't sleep.
Didn't eat.
Didn't speak.
He couldn't stop thinking about her.
Sena.
That was her name.
The one he traded.
But no matter how hard he tried…
He couldn't remember her face.
Only the warmth of her fingers, and the way his soul ached every time he forgot again.
---
By dawn, they reached the outskirts of a long-dead settlement: Shardvale.
A place wiped from maps and memory after the first Starfall 80 years ago.
Ren knew this because the statues scattered in the overgrown square still bled from the eyes.
An old curse: bloodstone petrification.
A punishment used only on traitors.
Or gods.
They took shelter in what was once a cathedral, now half-collapsed, ash and moss filling the pews.
Lyra laid Akio in the altar's shadow.
Ren wandered to the edge of the sanctuary, resting his hand on a shattered mural of a wingless angel.
His own face stared back.
Carved in stone.
Eyes gouged out.
Mouth sewn shut.
Above the statue, an inscription:
> "He who traded memory for might shall inherit silence eternal."
His knees buckled.
"I killed her…" he whispered. "I gave her to Eidros…"
Lyra turned. "You don't know that."
"I do. I felt it when the seal broke. I saw her. I made the choice. I just don't remember why."
"Then find out."
He shook his head, bitter. "The fragments—they come at a cost. And I've already lost Akio."
She stepped closer, eyes unreadable.
"You want to stop this world from collapsing. Then own the pain. Use it."
"I don't even know who I am anymore."
She looked away. "None of us do."
---
Hours passed.
Akio didn't stir.
Ren wandered outside, the tether still pulling his chest toward the sky like a leash.
Then he heard it again.
The whisper.
> "Sena…"
He spun around.
No one.
Only a mirror shard lying near a dried-up fountain.
Cracked, warped by old magic.
He stared into it.
And something else stared back.
A version of himself—eyes hollow, bleeding from the mouth, mouthing her name.
> "You said you'd come back."
Ren touched the mirror.
The shard shattered into black mist.
> [Memory Seal 2 Unlocked – Subject: Sena Valemir]
[Fragmented Image Recovered – Accessing Core Regret]
"Do it, Ren. Take me instead of him."
A flash.
Her face—finally.
Dark hair. Gold eyes. Wearing the same school uniform he died in.
Reaching out.
Smiling through tears.
Willingly giving herself to Eidros to save him.
> "I'd rather disappear… than live in a world without you."
The memory ended.
He dropped to his knees, heaving.
He remembered.
All of it.
She chose to become the price.
And he let her.
No.
He begged her.
Because he was weak.
Because he wanted another chance.
---
Lyra approached, wordless.
She'd seen the system flare, knew what it meant.
Ren stood, brushing the blood from his nose.
"I remember her."
Lyra nodded. "Then let that be your anchor."
"I don't deserve one."
"You want to give up?"
He looked up at the sky, at the bleeding star beginning to crackle with lightning.
"No. I want to end it."
"Then start acting like it."
He turned to her, finally steady.
"I need to find Eidros's Gate. The real one."
Her eyes widened. "That's suicide."
"Not if I still have the Fifth Fragment."
She shook her head. "You'll burn out."
"Then I'll burn through it."
He turned to Akio.
"I'm not letting anyone else get sacrificed for my survival."
---
They buried the mirror shard beneath the fountain—Ren carving Sena's name into the stone.
> "I remember now," he whispered. "And I swear… I'll find a way to bring you back."
Then they moved.
North.
Toward the Ashen Spine—where legend said the gods buried their regrets beneath cursed snow and whispers of dead choices.
---
Three days later—
They reached the base.
Ren's health was deteriorating. His body rejected food. His skin was growing pale.
> [Fifth Fragment Instability: 78%]
[Skill Fusion Threshold Approaching – Side Effects Intensifying]
[New Ability Detected: "Soulbind: Tethered Starfall"]
[Status: Incomplete | Risk: High | User Survival Chance: 12%]
The star above no longer moved across the sky.
It hovered directly over him.
Waiting.
---
That night, as they rested in a frozen cave, Lyra finally asked:
"Ren… if you saw him again—the Echo. What would you do?"
He stared at the flames.
"I'd ask how many people I had to kill to become him."
She didn't answer.
Because they both knew the truth.
Too many.
---
The next morning, Ren awoke alone.
Akio was still breathing.
But Lyra was gone.
In her place—a note carved into the frost with her blade:
> "I heard the voice too. I remember someone. I'm going to find them. Don't follow me. Save Akio. Save yourself. – L."
He crumpled the message.
But didn't cry.
Not anymore.
The world didn't let him.
He turned to the mouth of the cave.
Snow falling like ashes from a burning god.
The sky roared.
And the bleeding star began to descend.