[Second Realm – The Veil of Memories]
As the five stepped through the burning gates of the Trial Realm, the fires faded.
Suddenly, silence.
No wind. No sky. Just a vast, silver ocean beneath their feet, stretching endlessly in all directions, reflecting their faces like a still mirror.
And in the center of it—a massive, cracked monolith hovered in the air, pulsing with threads of golden light.
Monish blinked. "Is this... time?"
"No," whispered Anuj. "It's memory."
From the monolith, thousands of memory-strands flowed outward, whispering voices echoing softly—laughter, war cries, lullabies, prayers.
They were inside the Soul Sea of a Supreme Being.
Ash's true memories.
Suddenly, the light flared—and each friend was pulled into their own stream of memories.
---
[Akarshan's Vision]
He stood atop a battlefield—not of men, but gods.
The sky was ripped open.
Seven massive figures—the original Supreme Beings—clashed with unimaginable power.
In the center stood Asuryan, the Ash he never knew. His eyes glowed like twin stars.
He wasn't a destroyer.
He was the one trying to stop the others.
Each of them had fallen into madness—one wanted to restart time, another to erase death, another to create infinite suffering for amusement.
Ash—Asuryan—was the youngest, the last created. And the only one who still remembered what kindness was.
He sealed them all.
One by one.
And when he finally stood alone, broken and bleeding cosmic light, he whispered:
"To protect them… I must forget who I am."
Akarshan gasped and fell to his knees, tears falling freely.
---
[Shivam's Vision]
He saw Ash, in a faraway land, gently healing a dying mortal child.
He gave her warmth.
He sang her to sleep.
And when she passed away, he buried her himself.
An immortal burying a mortal.
But more than that… crying like a man.
---
[All Five Return]
They reawakened, gasping.
The silver sea calmed.
Above them, the cracked monolith began to glow with color.
And a figure appeared.
A fragment of Ash himself—not the god, not the judge, but the Ash they once knew.
He smiled softly, confused.
"Why do I… know you?"
Akarshan stepped forward, hand trembling.
"Because we're your friends."
The figure closed his eyes.
And for a moment—
The smile became real.
He reached out to touch Akarshan's hand—
But suddenly the sky above them shattered, and a scream echoed across the sea.
Dark chains wrapped around the Ash-fragment.
And a booming voice filled the realm:
"No more delay. The second seal is broken."
And in the sky of the mortal world…
The Moon turned to blood.
---
[Ash – Throne of Silence]
His hand tightened around the second glyph, now blazing red.
"They are getting close."
His voice shook.
"Too close."
---