Only two cracks remained.
The mirror no longer reflected only Kael.
Behind him stood Aren, his silver shield resting firmly upon his arm.
Beside him stood Lyra, her staff radiating countless runes as the silver butterfly circled quietly above her shoulder.
Neither spoke.
Neither smiled.
They simply stood there.
Not behind him.
Not ahead of him.
Beside him.
The Fourth Lock had acknowledged another answer.
Yet the chamber remained incomplete.
The World Tree's ancient voice echoed softly.
**"Two remain."**
**"The next heart seeks neither strength..."**
A gentle ripple spread across the mirror.
**"...nor recognition."**
The chamber dissolved.
---
Darkness faded.
A familiar classroom appeared.
Imperial Academy.
The first history lecture of the semester.
Professor Aldren stood before a blackboard covered with ancient dates and maps.
"The First Civilization collapsed because of greed."
"The surviving records unanimously support this conclusion."
Most students quietly wrote down the lecture.
Only one student slowly raised her hand.
Selene.
The professor sighed.
"Yes?"
"You said surviving records."
"I did."
"Then..."
Selene calmly closed her notebook.
"...how do you know the records survived because they were accurate?"
The classroom became silent.
The professor frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"History belongs to whoever survives."
Her voice remained calm.
"If ninety-nine books disappear..."
"...and only one remains..."
She looked directly at the professor.
"How can you be certain the remaining book tells the truth?"
No one answered.
Several students whispered among themselves.
The professor finally spoke.
"Then what do you suggest?"
Selene smiled politely.
"We keep searching."
---
The memory changed.
Late at night.
The Academy library.
Rows upon rows of books surrounded her.
Unlike Lyra, who searched desperately for ways to become stronger...
Selene searched for contradictions.
Every ancient map.
Every forgotten journal.
Every royal decree.
She compared them one by one.
Hours became days.
Days became weeks.
The elderly librarian eventually approached.
"You've checked the same shelf six times."
Selene nodded.
"I know."
"Did you find what you wanted?"
"No."
"Then why continue?"
She gently ran her fingers across the dusty books.
"Because..."
"...truth doesn't disappear simply because it becomes difficult to find."
The librarian smiled.
"You remind me of someone."
"Who?"
"The First Archivist."
Selene tilted her head.
"I've never heard of him."
The librarian's smile slowly faded.
"...Exactly."
---
The Fourth Lock quietly observed.
Kael watched in silence.
He had always admired Selene's intelligence.
But he had never realized how lonely her path truly was.
Knowledge rarely brought applause.
It brought doubt.
Questions.
Isolation.
The memory shifted again.
---
Several months after the Kingdom War.
The Academy held a ceremony honoring the fallen.
Students gathered within the central plaza.
Names were engraved upon a marble monument.
Families quietly mourned.
After everyone left...
Only Selene remained.
She stared at the monument for a long time.
Then quietly took out a notebook.
Instead of copying the names...
She wrote something else.
Occupation.
Favorite hobbies.
Family members.
Dreams.
Small details.
An elderly groundskeeper noticed.
"Those aren't written on the monument."
"I know."
"Then how do you know them?"
"I asked."
She continued writing.
"I visited their families."
The old man fell silent.
"Why?"
Selene looked at the engraved names.
"If history only remembers how people died..."
"...then history has failed them."
Kael's breathing slowed.
He remembered the Hall of Forgotten Names.
The Hall remembered ordinary lives.
Selene...
Without realizing it...
Had been trying to do exactly the same thing.
---
The memory shifted once more.
The Grand Library.
Present day.
Books floated around Selene.
Lyra slept with her head resting on an open manuscript after another sleepless night.
Selene quietly stood.
She gently placed a blanket over Lyra's shoulders.
Then returned to the ancient documents.
Her eyes stopped upon a torn page.
Half the text had disappeared.
Most scholars would have thrown it aside.
Selene smiled.
"...Someone erased this."
She turned the page over.
Nothing.
She held it toward the candlelight.
Still nothing.
Finally...
She whispered an ancient mana formula.
Hidden silver ink slowly appeared.
Her eyes widened.
"So..."
"...they wanted this forgotten."
She immediately began copying every word before the hidden ink disappeared again.
No excitement.
No celebration.
Only quiet satisfaction.
Another truth rescued from oblivion.
---
Back inside the Fourth Lock...
The World Tree finally spoke.
**"What is her greatest strength?"**
Kael answered almost immediately.
"Her knowledge."
The mirror remained unchanged.
He frowned.
"...Her intelligence?"
Silence.
The Traveler quietly shook his head.
"No."
Kael looked toward Selene's reflection once more.
He remembered every memory he had just witnessed.
Not once had she searched for knowledge to prove herself superior.
Not once had she sought praise.
She searched...
Because someone had to preserve the truth.
Kael slowly smiled.
"I understand."
The World Tree waited.
"Her greatest strength..."
"...is that she never stops asking."
Another pause.
"And because she keeps asking..."
"...the world never loses the truth."
The chamber trembled.
Brilliant silver light spread across the mirror.
The second-to-last crack disappeared.
Only one remained.
---
Far away...
The Grand Library.
Selene suddenly paused while copying another ancient manuscript.
A gentle breeze turned several pages by itself.
One sentence appeared where only blank parchment had existed moments before.
**Those who seek truth without desire for glory...**
**...shall never walk alone.**
The words disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.
Selene blinked.
"...Interesting."
Instead of celebrating...
She calmly wrote the sentence into her notebook.
Then added another line beneath it.
*"Verify later."*
A faint smile appeared on Lyra's sleeping face.
Even in her dreams...
She wasn't alone.
---
Within the Fourth Lock, Kael looked toward the mirror.
Only a single crack remained.
The largest one.
Running straight through the center.
The Traveler's expression became unusually solemn.
"You've remembered your companions."
"You've remembered your promises."
"You've remembered yourself."
He looked directly into Kael's eyes.
"But the final crack..."
The chamber around them slowly darkened.
"...cannot be healed by remembering the past."
The mirror turned black.
No reflections remained.
Only endless darkness.
Then...
A pair of enormous silver eyes opened within it.
Kael immediately recognized them.
The Watcher.
For the first time...
The final trial was no longer about memory.
It was about the enemy that had taken those memories away.
The Fifth heartbeat of the World Tree echoed across the chamber.
The final crack began to glow.