The world of Eien had never felt so still.
It was supposed to be a realm of dreams — a world built on light and memory, endless skies stitched with colors that changed with emotion. But now, everything was gray. The wind that once carried laughter and magic was heavy, muffled by fog that tasted like metal and despair. And beneath the flickering skyline, the ground rippled — breathing, like a dying thing trying to remember how to live.
Majiku stood alone in that dying place.
His breath came slow and uneven, eyes scanning the shifting horizon of the corrupted world. The once-vibrant fields of Eien were gone — replaced by the skeletal ruins of what looked like memories trying to rebuild themselves. Fragments floated in the air like broken glass — a kid laughing, a mother humming by a piano, the faint sound of rain against a window. Each one glowed faintly before dissolving into smoke.
He tightened his hand on his sword, the same one that had cut through the shadows so many times before. But this time… the shadows weren't running. They were watching.
"Majiku Tatiru…"The voice was quiet — so quiet that it sounded like it was spoken directly into his mind.
Majiku turned, and from the mist, a figure began to emerge. The fog seemed to part for him, swallowing itself as if afraid to touch him. Glowing eyes burned faintly in the dim light, and for the first time, Majiku felt his heart seize up.
Mizuno breathed softly, stepping forward. "It wasn't the world that was broken. It was us."
Majiku raised his weapon. "You restored the Core. Why? You're feeding on memories. You're letting the shadows take over everything again!"
The silence that followed was almost unbearable. Then Mizuno chuckled — not cruelly, but sadly. "You really don't remember, do you? I mean you were a baby back then anyways. So no pressure"
The ground beneath them trembled. Lightning arced across the shattered sky. As Majiku braced himself, the world itself began to flicker — like a dying video, showing fragments of a story through the static.
The Memory Within the Core
The field dissolved. The battle was about begin, then the fog surrounded them both.
Majiku found himself standing in a dimly lit room — sterile, white, cold. It was an image, a memory. He saw a younger kid sitting on a hospital bed, his arm wrapped in bandages, staring out the window.
The child was Mizuno.
Outside, the sky poured rain — sheets of gray streaking down the glass. Beside him stood a person — Kael. Younger, still an adult, but his eyes sunken but filled with a kind of desperate hope.
Kael placed a hand on Mizuno's shoulder. "You can still play your game, can't you? Even if your arm—"
Mizuno didn't respond. His face turned away. "What's the point? They're all gone. Mom… Rina… everyone."
His voice broke, and Kael's expression faltered. For a long moment, the silence was heavier than grief itself.
Then the image flickered, showing another scene — a small child, Majiku as a baby, laughing as Mizuno gently poked his tiny hand.
"I'll protect him," Mizuno whispered in that memory. "Even if I can't protect anyone else. I couldn't protect my entire family, but maybe this family, that you adopted me into back then"
Majiku's breath hitched as he watched. "That's… me."
The world flickered again — faster now — showing the last day.
Kael stood in a garage beside his friend, a programmer in a lab coat. A strange device sat on the table: a headset unlike any other. Mizuno watched with curiosity.
"It's just a test," Kael's friend had said. "Just once. It'll show you the world I wanted to build. A place where pain doesn't follow you. Let's see if it works on you first, because I wanted the son of my dear friend to try it first. It would an honor."
Mizuno smiled faintly. "A world without pain, huh?"
Kael hesitated, but handed it to him anyway.
As Mizuno put the headset on, the lights flickered. A hum filled the air. Then — screaming. The screen burst white. And his limp body fell to the floor as his soul became apart of the game to start It's first start up.
And everything went dark.
The memory vanished.Majiku fell to his knees, gasping. The battlefield reformed around him — gray skies and flickering code, the mist alive with whispers.
"You were that kid," Majiku whispered.
Mizuno looked down at him — eyes empty, but soft. "I was. Once. I don't why the mist has come to like you, to the point where It's showing you my private memories. But honestly... I don't care anymore. You need to face my reality brother."
Majiku gritted his teeth, tears burning his vision. "Father… he said he didn't remember. He thought you—"
"Died?" Mizuno finished for him. "I did. My body stopped breathing. But my mind… my soul… Eien took it. It needed a soul to live. It needed a heart. And mine was already broken enough to be used."
He lifted his hand, shadows spiraling around his arm. "That's what I am now — Eien's first life. The curse you're trying to fix."
Majiku shook his head violently. "You're wrong! You're not a curse — you're—"
"A mistake!" Mizuno's voice breaking with fury — and pain. "I watched father forget me. I watched mother break. And then I watched him smile again — with you."
The shadows surged, swallowing the light around them. The Core throbbed like a living heart. And suddenly, Majiku found himself fighting not just his brother — but Eien itself.
The Battle of Shadows
The air rippled as Mizuno moved — impossibly fast. His sword, dark as obsidian, struck with a sound like thunder. Majiku barely blocked, their blades clashing and screaming against each other. Every hit sent waves through the corrupted world — memories bursting and reforming in their wake. As the other three were forced to be logged out and left him to fight alone with less fighting experience but some he's already learnt at that. Majiku still moved forward with some ease.
Each blow showed another flash — a piece of Mizuno's life.His mother's smile.His violin.His friends' laughter.The crash.The silence.The night he stopped believing in anything.
"Mizuno!" Majiku shouted, parrying, his body trembling from exhaustion and emotion. "You're not the enemy! You're family!"
"Family?" Mizuno spat. "Family forgot me! Family replaced me!"
He slashed again — the strike grazing Majiku's cheek. Digital blood sprayed across the gray ground, flickering like broken pixels. The pain was real — so real it made Majiku stumble.
But even as his body ached, he refused to back down.
"You're wrong," Majiku said, panting. "He didn't replace you. He buried you because he couldn't face what he'd done. I saw it in his eyes — he was broken! He loved you!"
Mizuno froze for half a heartbeat. His expression flickered — like a kid trapped between rage and sorrow. "Then why did he never look for me?"
Majiku's sword fell slightly. "Because he thought you were gone forever. Because he blamed himself."
Something inside Mizuno cracked.
He screamed — not out of anger, but anguish. His voice warped through the digital air, shattering memory fragments like glass. The Core behind him pulsed violently, the tendrils of shadow writhing like veins.
"You don't get to forgive him!" Mizuno howled. "You don't get to understand!"
The shadows erupted, swallowing the world whole.
Inside the Void
Darkness.Silence.Only the sound of breathing — two breaths, ragged and slow.
Majiku opened his eyes. They were floating in the void — nothing but drifting data and faint lights, fragments of memory circling them like dying stars.
In this place, Mizuno looked different — younger, smaller. His clothes torn, his arm bandaged. He looked exactly as he had the day he first put on the headset.
"Do you see it now?" he said quietly. "This is where I've been. Alone. Watching the world move on without me. Even Eien."
Majiku floated closer, shaking his head. "You weren't forgotten. I remember you now. I know your face. Your story. Your pain."
Mizuno smiled weakly. "Then remember it for me. Because I can't hold it anymore."
The Core behind them began to collapse — light bleeding out of its cracks like veins rupturing. The shadows started dissolving — screaming as they faded, pieces of Mizuno's corrupted code breaking apart.
Majiku reached for him. "No—! You can fight it! You're still my brother!"
Mizuno's gaze softened. "No, Majiku. I am the shadows. I am Eien's curse. You can't save both."
The world began to fall apart.
The Choice
Majiku's tears floated upward, glowing faintly in the dark. His sword fell from his hand — dissolving into light as he reached for Mizuno's outstretched fingers.
"You don't have to fade," Majiku whispered. "You can live through me."
Mizuno's expression trembled — his first real emotion since the battle began. "Then promise me…"
Majiku blinked. "Promise what?"
"Promise you won't forget me this time."
Majiku's hand closed around his brother's.
"I promise."
The Core shattered behind them — a final explosion of light consuming everything.
The Aftermath
Majiku gasped awake on the floor of Eien's hub. Everything was quiet — the mist gone, the world calm once more.
The others — Kael, Mira, and Ryn — stood nearby, their faces pale and worried. Kael took a step forward, trembling. "Majiku… what happened? The entire system crashed for hours. We thought—"
Majiku looked up, tears still fresh. He smiled weakly through them. "He's gone."
Kael froze. "Who?"
Majiku looked down, his voice barely audible. "My brother. Mizuno."
Kael's breath hitched. He fell to his knees — eyes wide with disbelief, horror, and heartbreak as the truth began to dawn on him. His hands trembled as he whispered the name he had long buried.
"Mizuno…"
Majiku looked up at his father. "He forgave you."
Kael broke then — silent sobs shaking his shoulders. He covered his face with trembling hands, whispering Mizuno's name over and over.
Majiku stood, staring into the horizon of Eien.The sky was blue again.But in the clouds, just for a moment, he saw a flicker — a teenager smiling, holding out his hand before fading into the light.
Majiku smiled faintly, closing his eyes.
"Goodbye, brother."
[End of Episode 7 — "The Shadow of the Forgotten Son"] The world of Eien breathes again — but within its silence, something still stirs.The Core may be gone, but the code that made it live has not yet vanished…