The Gate had begun to change.
Jason, Nyra, Seren, and Elias stood before what was once a crumbling structure nestled beneath the roots of the old world. Now, it had become something else entirely. The ruins had twisted themselves into a living maze of shifting stone and humming energy. Veins of light pulsed across the labyrinth's walls, and the ground beneath their feet seemed to breathe.
"It's no longer just a place," Elias murmured. "It's a being."
Nyra nodded, her eyes narrowed. "It's testing us."
As they stepped inside, the labyrinth closed behind them. No turning back. Each corridor revealed fragments of their pasts—memories projected into reality, designed to haunt, trick, or challenge them. Jason faced illusions of his mother, calling him home. Seren wandered into a room filled with the screams of Watchers lost in time. Nyra saw her fallen twin, whispering, "You are the key."
At the heart of the labyrinth, they met a spectral judge—a construct of the Gate's ancient intelligence. It questioned them not with words, but with choices.
"Will you preserve the old war? Or forge a new wound into the world?"
Jason, after a trial of soul and shadow, answered with silence, placing his blood-marked hand on the final seal.
The Gate shifted again.
---
Chapter 30: The Mirror of Never
Beyond the labyrinth, they entered the Mirror of Never—a suspended hall of mirrored water and stars. Each step rippled reflections of forgotten futures.
Here, they met a version of Jason who had opened the Gate too early. That Jason—a withered being filled with regret—begged them to leave the Gate sealed.
"I brought ruin thinking I was saving the world."
This version had destroyed Myren Hollow, lost Nyra, and awakened the Hollowborn into full godhood.
The team watched an echo of what could have been.
Seren turned away in horror. Elias clenched his fist. Nyra held Jason's hand tightly.
"We can't repeat it," Jason whispered.
To leave the Mirror, they had to choose a memory to sacrifice. Elias gave up the memory of his brother, a fallen Anchor. The Mirror dissolved, and they emerged stronger—but more fractured.
---
Chapter 31: The Ghost-Born Accord
Returning to Myren Hollow, they found the village in chaos.
The Hollowborn had begun their advance. Shadows spilled from cracks in the sky, and villagers reported seeing dead ancestors walk.
Jason summoned the ghost of his father in the Circle of Binding. This time, the ghost spoke clearly.
"You must gather the remaining Anchors. The Gate listens only to unity."
Elias revealed a hidden list of the last known Anchors: Maelis, the boy who could speak to the dead, was nearby in the haunted River Hold.
Jason, Nyra, and Seren journeyed there, battling Hollowborn monstrosities twisted by memory.
They found Maelis under siege, his body half-translucent, flickering between life and death. Once rescued, he agreed to join—but only after Jason showed him a vision of the Gate's possible peace.
---
Chapter 32: The Song of Stillness
The Anchors gathered.
In a ceremony lost to time, they began to hum the Song of Stillness, a ritual that could bind the Gate long enough to rewrite the seals.
Jason led it with Maelis, Nyra, Seren, and Elias beside him. The song pulled memories from the land itself, conjuring visions of the first war, of Vaelra's rise, and the betrayal that split the Anchors.
But the Hollowborn interfered. One Anchor, a forgotten child named Shyre, was possessed during the rite. Jason entered her mind and faced the Whisper Lord—a fragment of the Gate's will, urging him to unlock it fully.
"Let the world burn," it hissed. "And something true will rise."
Jason resisted. He freed Shyre, sealing the corruption with his own blood.
The Song ended, and the Gate went silent—but the ground beneath them began to tremble.
---
Chapter 33: The Broken Sky
Cracks split the heavens.
The Gate was fighting back.
A rift opened above Myren Hollow, revealing glimpses of the Watcher War. Time began to bleed. Jason saw the same moment occur over and over. Seren's eyes glowed gold, reacting to something deeper.
"The sky remembers," Elias said, terrified.
Ghosts of the original Watchers walked the land. Trees wept light. The sea turned black.
Jason realized the Gate was more than a structure—it was a wound in reality, aching to be healed or to consume everything.
He gathered the Anchors at the center of Myren Hollow and made a vow.
"We end this not with power. But with memory, truth, and will."
The Gate began to whisper a new name—Jason's true name, one lost in time.