Kim stepped inside the white staircase.
Each step made no sound.
Left no trace.
As if existence itself refused to record his passage.
Then—
the staircase stopped.
No end.
No door.
No gate.
Only… a deep void breathing slowly.
The name of the place appeared before him, not written… but carved into his sensation:
The Abyss of Eternity.
Not a world.
Not a dimension.
But a cavity in the body of creation.
Here are cast the things that cannot be erased…
and cannot be restored.
Here are preserved the remnants that laws failed to define.
Kim moved forward.
Suddenly—
the ground turned into still black water.
He looked at his reflection.
But the face he saw… was not his current face.
It was not the face of chaos.
It was not the face of the killer.
It was his face…
from the day he smiled without knowing why.
He froze.
The water rippled.
And a voice rose from the depths:
"You did not come here to kill."
A voice without gender.
Without direction.
Without hostile intent.
"You are searching for something you lost…
but the Abyss of Eternity does not return.
It tests."
Kim's veins did not move.
He did not grow angry.
He said with cold calm:
"Where is the trace by which I can restore my friend?"
The water split apart.
A small distant glimmer appeared.
Not a complete soul.
Not a body.
Something like a spark… breathing with difficulty.
The voice returned:
"This is what remains of the one you call friend."
Kim's hand trembled for the first time since his war.
"Why was he not erased completely?"
The voice replied:
"Because someone refused to forget him."
Silence.
Then:
"Continuity could not erase him…
because you broke its concept."
His eyes narrowed.
He said:
"Return him."
The water froze.
The voice grew heavier:
"The price."
Kim did not hesitate.
"What is it?"
The voice said:
"If you want him whole…
you must leave something of yourself here.
Something you will not reclaim."
Kim fell silent.
"What thing?"
The voice drew closer…
"Your eternity."
Absolute stillness.
Even the Breath of Nothingness faded.
"If you restore him…
you will become capable of ending."
"You will bleed."
"You will be killed."
"You will lose the ability to return."
Then it said in a sharp voice:
"And you will suffer here."
A long silence.
Then the voice said with deadly calm, tempting him:
"You will become… human."
In a distant place—
The spark that represented Nir's trace… flickered slowly.
Kim looked at it.
He did not cry.
He did not scream.
He only said:
"If he returns…
I will not be as I was."
The voice replied:
"That is the purpose."
He stepped forward.
"And if I die after that?"
"The end will be real."
He closed his eyes.
And within him—
the old voice… the anger… the chaos…
did not object.
It only whispered:
— If you become human… I will not be able to protect you.
Kim answered internally:
— I am no longer searching for protection.
He opened his eyes.
And said:
"I accept."