The doorway stood before Kael and Eryx.
Neither brother moved.
Beyond it was the red sky from their memories.
A dying star hung above a strange world.
Kael felt something deep inside his chest pull toward it.
"I know that place."
Eryx nodded.
"So do I."
Aetherion's voice echoed through Kael's mind.
"Then you should be careful."
Kael glanced back.
"Why?"
"Because memories can lie."
Kael frowned.
Before he could ask what that meant, the silver-eyed woman stepped toward them.
"You have reached the Final Boundary."
Kael looked at the doorway.
"What is beyond it?"
"Your first home."
Eryx narrowed his eyes.
"And what's waiting there?"
The woman didn't answer immediately.
"Everything you left behind."
Kael exchanged a glance with Eryx.
Then they stepped through.
The moment Kael crossed the boundary, the universe disappeared.
There were no stars.
No galaxies.
No endless darkness.
Only silence.
Then—
Boom.
A heartbeat.
Kael opened his eyes.
He was standing on a vast plain beneath a crimson sky.
The dying star above him looked exactly like the one from his memories.
Eryx appeared beside him.
"We're home."
Kael looked around.
But something was wrong.
There were no cities.
No civilizations.
No signs of life.
Only ruins stretching across the horizon.
Kael slowly walked forward.
"This place was destroyed."
Eryx knelt beside a broken structure.
"Not destroyed."
He touched the ground.
"Abandoned."
Kael stared at him.
"How can you tell?"
Eryx looked toward the sky.
"The energy is still here."
A faint silver glow surrounded his hand.
"This world wasn't killed."
"It was emptied."
Suddenly—
A voice echoed from the ruins.
"You took your time."
Kael immediately turned.
A figure stepped out from the shadows.
Kael froze.
It was another version of himself.
Not the older Star Eater.
Not the mysterious figure from beyond the Door.
This Kael looked seventeen.
Exactly as Kael had looked when his journey began.
Eryx raised his weapon.
"Who are you?"
The younger Kael smiled.
"I could ask you the same thing."
Kael stepped forward.
"You're me."
The younger version nodded.
"Part of you."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"Another fragment?"
"No."
The younger Kael pointed toward the dying star.
"I'm the Kael who stayed behind."
Silence.
Eryx looked confused.
"You stayed behind?"
"Someone had to."
Kael felt a strange pressure in his chest.
"What happened here?"
The younger Kael's smile disappeared.
"We lost."
"Who?"
He looked toward the sky.
"The first enemy."
Kael's heart sank.
"Eclipse?"
"No."
The younger Kael shook his head.
"Eclipse was only the beginning."
The dying star suddenly flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then it went completely dark.
The younger Kael looked at them.
"He's awake."
Kael felt the new Core inside him react.
"Who?"
The younger Kael answered with a whisper.
"The First Hunger."
The ground began shaking.
Across the horizon, enormous cracks opened in reality.
Something moved beneath the world.
Eryx stepped closer to Kael.
"Whatever that is..."
Kael nodded.
"We face it together."
The younger Kael looked at them sadly.
"You still don't understand."
"What?"
"You didn't come here to fight him."
Kael frowned.
"Then why did we come?"
The younger Kael pointed toward the ruins.
"To finish what you started."
Kael looked down.
A massive symbol had appeared beneath his feet.
The same symbol from the Last Core.
It began glowing.
Then every ruin across the planet activated.
Thousands of ancient structures rose from the ground.
A vast network spread across the entire world.
The planet wasn't abandoned.
It was waiting.
And somewhere beneath the surface...
Something began to awaken.
The younger Kael whispered—
"Welcome back."
"Now remember what happened the first time you died."