Rael didn't remember walking out of Archive Zone 7.
The world around him felt... unreal. Too loud. Too bright. The sirens in the distance wailed like dying animals. Red drones zipped past the broken rooftops, scanning for Echo activity. On the horizon, the golden mist from the new Realm was beginning to pour into the sky. People were screaming.
Soldiers were shouting. And Rael — bloodied, glowing, dazed — walked through it all like a ghost.
His coat was torn. Glyphs still shimmered under his skin, fading in and out. He looked like something that shouldn't exist. And the world noticed.
"—Hey! You there!" A soldier in white-and-grey armor turned sharply, his rifle aimed at Rael's chest. "Hands up! Identify yourself! Are you infected!?"
Rael blinked. The memories were still rattling in his skull. Cities burning. Names screaming. The Godkiller's blade humming in his veins. He didn't speak. Another soldier joined in. "He's not showing Echo rot—but those glyphs... he's carrying a fragment!"
"Lock him down!" Before Rael could move, something slammed into him from behind — hard, electric, blinding. He hit the pavement with a crack, convulsing.
"System Alert: Unauthorized Memory Host Detected."
"Engaging Protocol: Memory Stabilization."
His mind flashed white.
When he woke again, he was strapped to a metallic chair inside a black van. A red light flickered overhead. Across from him sat a woman. Calm. Cold. Her coat bore the sigil of the Central Archivist Division — a golden eye embedded in a broken hourglass.
Her voice was sharp. Measured. "Subject identified: Rael Veyar. Orphan. Cataloguer. No field clearance."
She flipped a tablet. His picture glowed on the screen — younger, cleaner, human. "And yet here you are. Dripping in glyphs. Covered in Echo Residue. Carrying a forbidden fragment."
Rael didn't answer. His lips were dry. The blade's voice was silent now — but he could feel it breathing somewhere deep in his spine. The woman leaned in slightly. "Let me guess. You touched it. It bonded. And now you think you're chosen?" Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "They all think that in the beginning."
She stood. "Let me be very clear, Veyar. What you've done is illegal. That fragment you carry? It's classified Tier-Z Omega — wiped from historical records. Anyone who bonds with it is either terminated... or studied."
A pause. "Sometimes both."
Rael finally spoke. His voice was hoarse. Low. But steady. "I didn't ask for this." The woman's expression changed for just a second.
Then: "No one ever does."
She tapped her earpiece. "Prep him for containment. Notify the Nexus Lab. We may have a rogue Architect." Architect? What does that mean?
Before Rael could ask — the glyphs under his skin flared. The van shuddered. Screams erupted outside. Then — something tore through the metal wall. A shadow. Fast. Silent.
And Rael heard it — the blade whisper again: "They've come to erase me."
The metal wall of the van peeled like paper. Sparks sprayed in every direction as a monstrous hand — long, bony, and covered in twitching glyphs — reached inside, gripping the air like it could squeeze sound itself. The Archivist officer turned, drawing a pulse-blade from her coat. "RAEL, STAY DOWN—!"
But it was already too late. The creature slithered in through the opening, folding its limbs like liquid shadow. Its body looked like a broken statue — pieces of ancient armor fused with flesh, twitching eyes embedded where skin should be. Its face had no mouth.
Just a spinning spiral of teeth — grinding in slow, hungry circles. Rael's eyes widened. His heart… didn't beat.
For a moment, the world seemed to freeze as the monster's eye-lights locked onto him — and him alone. "It's not after your body." "It's after your memory." "It wants… me."
The Godkiller's voice. Rael struggled against his bindings. "What the hell is that thing?!" The officer cursed, activating her glyph-shield. A glowing golden barrier shimmered between her and the beast. "Remnant Eater. Pure Echo-born. It hunts fragments."
She lunged. But the creature moved impossibly fast.
Her blade sliced through its neck — but instead of falling, its body morphed. The head reformed behind her, eyes burning blue with stolen memory.
Then—CRACK.
She was flung across the van like a ragdoll, blood smearing the walls.
Rael screamed, twisting in his restraints. "NO!" "You need me."
"Let me take over."
Rael hesitated. The Godkiller fragment pulsed inside him. Its power was still locked — sealed beneath fear.
"You'll lose part of yourself."
"But you'll live." The Remnant Eater inched closer, slithering past the unconscious Archivist. Its hand hovered over Rael's chest — reaching not for his heart, but his mind.
"CHOOSE."
Rael clenched his jaw. Sweat dripped from his temple. And then— "DO IT!"
The glyphs exploded under his skin. FLASH! The van ignited in violet light. Rael's restraints shattered. His eyes turned pure silver, and in his hand — without touching anything — a blade formed out of memory. Long, jagged, glowing with cursed symbols.
The Godkiller had awakened. The creature shrieked. Not in pain — but recognition. Rael stepped forward, blade humming. "You want memory?"
"Take this one."
He swung. The edge of the sword didn't just cut flesh — it erased it. The Remnant Eater howled as half its body vanished into violet dust. It tried to retreat — but Rael was faster now.
His second swing cleaved straight through its core. A final scream.
A ripple in the air. And then — silence.
The Remnant Eater collapsed into particles of dead time, vanishing into the air like a breath forgotten. Rael dropped the sword. His hands trembled. His eyes bled silver tears.
"You gave in too easily." the Godkiller's voice murmured. "But you survived."
Behind him, the Archivist officer groaned, barely conscious. Her eyes fluttered open — and what she saw wasn't a librarian anymore. She saw a threat.
The van doors burst open as they arrived at Central Archive Nexus — the heart of all memory research on Earth.
Surrounded by obsidian towers and glowing monoliths inscribed with glyphs, the building felt less like a government facility and more like a temple built by time itself. Drones buzzed overhead. Stormlights flickered. And beneath it all, deep underground, the real secrets lived.
Rael was dragged in with glowing cuffs on his wrists — cuffs that didn't bind muscle, but neural waves. His powers had gone quiet again. For now.
The wounded Archivist officer limped beside him, flanked by guards. She hadn't spoken a word since the Remnant Eater incident. But her eyes never left Rael's back. Not out of gratitude. Out of fear.
They brought him to a circular chamber — massive, sterile white, with memory-fragments sealed in floating crystal domes. The air buzzed with psychic tension. At the center sat five figures.
The Inner Archivist Council. They all wore robes of black and gold, faces partially hidden behind semi-transparent glyph veils. None looked older than thirty — and none of them were smiling.
"Subject 313. Real name: Rael Veyar," one of them said. "Suspected host of Forbidden Fragment: Omega-Class — 'The Last Godkiller.'"
Another leaned forward. "How did a junior cataloguer gain access to a sealed Echo Vault?"
Rael said nothing. The third councilor raised two fingers. A flash of pain struck Rael's temple — a forced memory scan.
FLASH!
Rael screaming.
The blade forming.
The Eater dying.
The voice inside him laughing.
The council all tensed. The room dimmed. "It's real," the woman said coldly. "The Godkiller... has returned."
A moment of silence.
Then:"Mark him."
"He is no longer Rael Veyar."
"He is Subject 313."
System Notification
🧠 [Memory Hunter System: INITIATED]
Host: Subject 313
Class: Forbidden Fragment Host
Status: Danger Level SSS
Memory Capacity: [UNSTABLE]
Mental Integrity: [FRACTURED]
Recommendation: Erase or Contain Immediately
Rael blinked. The glowing screen was only visible to him. And at the bottom… a final, flickering message: "I can help you escape."
"But you'll owe me… everything."
— [Fragment: The Last Godkiller]
Rael clenched his fists. The cuffs vibrated — as if responding to his will. He looked up at the council. And for the first time… he smiled. Somewhere far below the Nexus, in a sealed chamber, a monitor blinked online. A man in a broken white mask watched the footage of Rael's trial. He touched the screen — where Rael stood still, silent.
"So it begins," he whispered.
"My past… has finally arrived."
[End of Chapter 2]