Chapter 15 — Gate of Forgotten Dreams
The rain ended as suddenly as it had begun.
A hush spread through Azure City, so complete that even the hum of neon vanished. The air itself seemed to lean in, listening.
Gu Tian stood in the plaza facing Li Shen, every instinct warning him that this reunion was impossible.
Her smile was faint, steady. "You still don't trust what you see."
"You died," he said. "In a world that shouldn't touch this one."
"Then maybe you brought me here." She stepped closer, umbrella dissolving into ash. "You never let go."
The Netherworld System offered no data. Only static.
> [Unknown Entity: Identity Overlap 97 % (Subject Li Shen)]
[Classification: Undefined—Beyond Heaven / Abyss / Mortal]
Gu Tian lowered his guard slightly. "If you're real, you can guide me to the Gate."
Li Shen nodded. "It's calling both of us."
---
They walked through streets frozen mid-motion—buses suspended in air, pigeons motionless between wingbeats. When they reached the old cathedral at the city's heart, the doors were already open. Inside, candlelight flickered though none were lit.
The floor mosaics depicted scenes of birth, war, and endless night. In the center, a spiral of glass descended like a well. The heartbeat echoed louder from below.
Gu Tian touched the rim. "So the Gate hides beneath faith."
Li Shen's expression darkened. "Faith is only another kind of dream."
They stepped down. Each level took them further from the illusion of the city; walls turned from marble to bone, torches burned with silver flame. Whispering faces formed in the light, murmuring words that half-matched Gu Tian's memories.
> [Depth Marker — Sub-Layer 0 → –12 → –99]
[Spatial Coordinates Unstable]
At the final step, the tunnel opened into an enormous cavern.
Before them towered a gate of obsidian veined with crimson light, its surface pulsing like a living organ. Symbols older than creation circled its frame, each one shifting between alphabets.
Gu Tian's presence stirred the chamber; the veins brightened.
"The heart of Azure City," he said quietly.
Li Shen reached out, fingertips grazing the surface. "No. The heart of you."
The moment she touched it, the cavern trembled. Images flooded Gu Tian's mind—his human life, his death, the instant of transmigration. He saw Li Shen reaching for him through collapsing reality; he had pulled her memory across dimensions without knowing. The Gate was the scar left by that act.
> [System Correlation Found]
Origin of Abyssal Pulse = Temporal Residual from User Gu Tian's Transmigration Event]
He staggered. "The Abyss didn't invade first… I did."
The Gate cracked open a fraction. From within spilled a wind of whispers, each voice another possibility of his life—every choice he hadn't made, every path he'd denied. They circled him like moths made of light and ash.
Li Shen's voice cut through them. "Then finish what you began. Close the wound."
Gu Tian placed his palm against the Gate. The Netherworld System merged fully with his essence, threads of silver weaving into the crimson.
He declared, "By my law, balance returns."
The Gate screamed—not of pain, but of release. The heartbeat slowed, the abyssal pressure eased. For a moment, Azure City brightened; the false dawn gained warmth.
Then the calm fractured. A deeper rhythm thundered, one that shook the bones of the world. The crack widened again from within.
> [Critical Alert — True Abyssal Core Responding]
[Unknown Signal: Mimicking System Signature]
Li Shen's eyes turned void-black. "It's awake."
Gu Tian realized too late that the Gate had learned his resonance; it had become him. The Netherworld itself shuddered in sympathy.
He clenched his fist. "Then I'll rewrite the Abyss itself."
Silver and crimson collided, painting the cavern in light beyond color.
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