The Glass Citadel was half-swallowed by vines and crystal shards. Every surface shimmered with trapped time.
Sara pushed open its cracked gates, and there he was — the stranger, kneeling before a glowing seal that pinned his shadow to the floor.
"I knew you'd come," he said softly.
The system shrieked again.
"Danger! High-level entity: designation RIVEN. Clearance: forbidden."
"Riven…" Sara whispered. The name slipped out as if her soul remembered it.
He looked up, and the world shifted. His eyes were galaxies — endless, fractured, and filled with something ancient.
"You shouldn't be here," she said.
He smiled sadly. "And yet, every time, you find me."
The seal around him pulsed. She reached out — and the system went silent. For the first time since her arrival, there was only her heartbeat and his voice.
"Sara," he murmured, "they made you forget." hehe