Light faded.
Seo Joon and Cha Yu-ri stood on a bridge suspended in eternity—no sky, no stars, only endless dark stretching in every direction. Below them: nothing. Above: less than that.
A bitter wind swept past, though there was no source for it. The bridge beneath their feet wasn't made of stone or steel, but something older—woven from ancient runes and bound memories, whispering in a language neither of them spoke.
Yu-ri shivered. "This place… it's like the Tower's heart forgot how to breathe."
Seo Joon took a step forward. The bridge pulsed under his feet, reacting to his presence like a living thing.
Far ahead, a black temple floated at the end of the path—jagged, incomplete, yet somehow eternal. Its spires twisted upward like claws scraping the edge of reality. At its entrance stood a massive obsidian door, engraved with a symbol: a chained eclipse.
Then the voice came.
> "Only those who carry the burden of oath may proceed."
"Reveal your truth. Face your binding."
A pulse of pressure hit them—psychic, invasive, intimate.
Yu-ri gasped and dropped to one knee, clutching her chest. "What is this…?"
Seo Joon stood frozen. He felt it too—not pain, not fear, but recognition. Something deep inside him responded—not to the voice, but to the door itself.
A vision seized him.
—A silver sky, cracked by betrayal.
—A bloodied sigil, once worn with pride.
—A broken oath, still echoing.
—His own voice, whispering a name he no longer remembered.
> You swore to protect the balance. You failed. But the Tower has not forgotten.
The door creaked open with a sound like a dying star.
Yu-ri stood slowly, face pale. "That… vision. I saw someone… not me, but it felt like me. Like an older version watching from far away."
Seo Joon didn't answer. His eyes were locked on the chained eclipse above the doorway.
Without a word, he stepped through.
---
Inside the temple, the walls were made of shadowstuff—half-formed memories clinging to shape. Candles floated midair, their flames black and cold. Symbols flickered on every surface—sigils of long-lost guilds, languages wiped from time.
A pedestal rose in the center. Upon it, a single gauntlet lay—dark silver, etched in lunar runes.
Seo Joon approached.
> [OATHBOUND ARTIFACT DETECTED – "Vowkeeper's Grasp"]
Would you reclaim the memory of your forgotten oath?
His hand hovered over it.
Yu-ri touched his arm. "Joon… this might be a trap."
He looked at her. "Or a key."
He grasped the gauntlet.
Darkness exploded—not outward, but inward—pulling him into himself.
---
Elsewhere, high above, the Watchers stirred again.
"He reached the temple."
"He shouldn't have."
"No," said the oldest voice. "He must."
Its fingers traced the eclipse symbol on an ancient page.
> "The Tower is not testing him. It is warning everything else."
---