Chapter 73: The Road of Memories
The chamber stood silent.
The ancient knight remained motionless.
Its massive stone sword was embedded deep within the floor.
Blue lights drifted around its armor like stars caught in orbit.
Once more...
Its voice echoed.
"State... your purpose."
Eric shifted uneasily.
"...Can I answer?"
Noah shook his head.
"No."
He took another step forward.
For several seconds...
He simply looked at the knight.
Then he spoke.
"We came to uncover the truth behind the disappearances."
The knight remained silent.
Its helmet tilted slightly.
"Incomplete."
The chamber rumbled.
A faint crack spread across the floor.
Luna frowned.
"...Wrong answer?"
Damien folded his arms.
"No."
"Only..."
"...an incomplete one."
Noah thought carefully.
The Keeper’s words resurfaced in his mind.
Strength must also exist for yourself.
Professor Ingrid’s voice followed.
A leader’s first duty... is to return.
Then Father Benedict.
Some truths are dangerous before their proper time.
The knight asked again.
"State... your purpose."
Noah inhaled slowly.
"We’re here..."
"...to bring those we can home."
The knight remained still.
Then...
It spoke.
"Incomplete."
The blue lights dimmed.
Sophia quietly whispered,
"It’s not asking why we’re here..."
"It’s asking..."
"...who we’re here for."
Noah’s eyes widened slightly.
She was right.
He stepped closer until he stood only a few meters from the ancient guardian.
He placed one hand over the rusted key beneath his uniform.
Then answered.
"We seek the truth..."
"...not for power."
"...Not for glory."
"...Not for treasure."
"We seek it..."
"...so no one else disappears."
"If there are people still waiting..."
"...then we’ll find them."
"And if we cannot..."
"...we’ll make certain no one else shares their fate."
Silence.
The knight stared at Noah.
Several long moments passed.
Then...
The blue lights around its armor brightened.
The guardian slowly pulled its enormous sword from the ground.
Instead of raising it...
It rested the blade across both palms.
A gesture of respect.
"Purpose... acknowledged."
The chamber trembled.
Not violently.
Almost...
Contentedly.
Eric let out the breath he’d been holding.
"...That was a lot better than fighting."
Luna smirked.
"I prefer talking to twelve-foot statues."
For the first time...
The knight moved aside.
Revealing another passage behind it.
As Squad Seven prepared to continue...
The guardian spoke once more.
"One warning..."
Everyone stopped.
"Beyond this hall..."
"...memory becomes a road."
Damien frowned.
"What does that mean?"
The knight remained silent.
It had already said everything it intended to.
The wooden sparrow chirped happily.
It flew through the newly opened passage.
Noah bowed respectfully toward the guardian.
"...Thank you."
To everyone’s surprise...
The knight gave the slightest nod.
As Squad Seven entered the next corridor...
The walls gradually changed.
Stone gave way to polished white marble.
Ancient murals lined both sides.
Unlike the previous carvings...
These were untouched by time.
The first mural showed children laughing beneath towering pine trees.
The second...
Merchants celebrating a festival.
The third...
A village much larger than modern Eldermere.
Filled with hundreds of people.
Sophia slowed to a stop.
"This..."
"...can’t be Eldermere."
Chief Elias had described a small village.
This mural showed something closer to a bustling town.
Then Noah noticed the final mural.
It hadn’t been damaged.
It had been deliberately erased.
Someone had scraped away every face.
Every building.
Every detail.
Leaving only one thing untouched.
A single little girl...
Holding the hand of an older boy.
Beneath the mural...
Ancient letters glowed softly.
This time...
Only Noah could read them.
"To remember is a blessing."
A second line slowly appeared beneath the first.
"To remember everything... is a curse."
The rusted key pulsed once.
Then fell silent.
Far beyond the hall...
Hidden in the deepest chamber of the shrine...
Something opened its eyes.
Not with anger.
Not with hatred.
With curiosity.
A quiet voice echoed through the darkness.
"...Another one has answered correctly."
The corridor stretched endlessly before them.
White marble reflected the soft blue lights drifting overhead.
Every footstep echoed.
Yet...
The echoes didn’t always match.
Sometimes...
There seemed to be one extra pair of footsteps.
Eric stopped.
"...Did anyone else hear that?"
Luna listened.
Silence.
Then...
Another step.
Behind them.
She turned.
No one.
Damien quietly spoke.
"The knight warned us."
Memory becomes a road.
"I think..."
"...we’ve already entered it."
The wooden sparrow continued flying ahead.
Unbothered.
As though this path was familiar.
Noah glanced back one last time.
The entrance to the Hall of Echoes...
Had disappeared.
Only a smooth marble wall remained.
There was no going back.
The corridor eventually opened into a long gallery.
Instead of statues...
There were mirrors.
Hundreds of them.
Different shapes.
Different sizes.
Each framed in ancient silver.
Sophia frowned.
"...I don’t like this."
The first mirror reflected exactly what stood before it.
Five students.
A wooden sparrow.
Nothing unusual.
The second mirror...
Did not.
Eric looked into it.
Instead of his academy uniform...
He saw himself wearing the armor of a Royal Knight.
Older.
Stronger.
Decorated with medals.
He blinked.
"...What?"
The image smiled proudly.
Then vanished.
The third mirror caught Luna’s attention.
She hesitated.
Inside...
She wasn’t standing alone.
She was surrounded by people laughing beside a campfire.
Friends.
A family she had never spoken about.
The image faded before anyone else noticed.
Luna quietly looked away.
Damien approached another mirror.
His reflection sat inside an enormous library.
Shelves stretched farther than the eye could see.
Books floated around him.
Knowledge.
Endless knowledge.
He took one slow step back.
"...Interesting."
Sophia stood before another.
She saw herself healing countless wounded people.
Children.
Soldiers.
Villagers.
The reflection smiled gently.
Then dissolved into light.
Eric looked toward Noah.
"...Leader."
"Your turn."
Noah stood before the largest mirror.
For several moments...
Nothing happened.
He only saw himself.
Then...
The reflection changed.
He stood upon a battlefield beneath a crimson sky.
His academy uniform was gone.
In its place...
A long black coat fluttered behind him.
Shadowfang rested at his side.
The rusted key no longer hung around his neck.
It floated behind him.
Surrounded by seven rings of light.
Behind Noah...
Thousands of people knelt.
Not in fear.
In respect.
Across the battlefield...
One lone figure faced him.
Their face couldn’t be seen.
Only glowing golden eyes.
The reflection slowly spoke.
Its lips never moved.
Yet Noah heard the words clearly.
"Will you still choose the same path..."
"...when they ask you to sacrifice the world for one life?"
The mirror cracked.
A single fracture spread across its surface.
Noah stepped back immediately.
The image disappeared.
Eric frowned.
"...What did you see?"
Noah was quiet for a moment.
"...Nothing I understand."
Before anyone could continue...
The wooden sparrow chirped sharply.
Not happily.
Urgently.
All of the mirrors began trembling.
One after another...
They shattered.
CRASH!
Glass exploded across the gallery.
Except...
None of the broken pieces fell.
They floated in midair.
Each fragment reflected a different memory.
Lily laughing.
Owen carving wooden sparrows.
Old Marcus gathering herbs.
The smiling guard.
The abandoned bridge.
Children playing.
Villagers crying.
Hundreds of memories.
None belonged to Squad Seven.
Sophia gasped.
"...These aren’t visions."
Damien nodded.
"They’re..."
"...memories left behind."
The floating shards suddenly drifted together.
Forming a single doorway of shimmering light.
Beyond it...
A small meadow bathed in golden sunlight.
Lily stood there.
Holding Owen’s hand.
For the first time...
Both children smiled.
Not sadly.
Peacefully.
Lily looked directly at Noah.
Then quietly pointed beyond the meadow.
Toward an ancient shrine hidden among flowering trees.
Unlike the ruined shrine they expected...
This one was whole.
Untouched.
Beautiful.
The vision lasted only a heartbeat.
The doorway dissolved.
The glass fragments fell harmlessly to the floor.
Only one mirror remained unbroken.
The smallest one.
No larger than a hand.
Its frame was made of pale white wood.
The wooden sparrow landed beside it.
Then gently tapped the glass.
Once.
The mirror displayed only three words.
The wrong shrine.
The chamber fell silent.
Eric blinked.
"...Wait."
Damien’s eyes widened.
"...We’ve been heading toward the wrong place."
Noah looked at the tiny mirror.
Then at the sparrow.
The disappearances...
The stories...
The ruined shrine...
They had all assumed it was the destination.
But now...
He wasn’t so sure.