The air grew colder as Jin Long and Yue Lan descended the spiraling staircase into the depths of the Library. Each step seemed to draw not just their bodies downward—but their thoughts, their memories, their souls. The silence down here was alive—a pressure that made their hearts pound louder than footsteps.
At last, the spiral ended.
They stood before a gate—not made of metal or stone, but thought. The door shimmered with liquid memory, shifting with images of the past: Jin Long's childhood, Yue Lan's tears, Zhan Wuhen's wrath, and glimpses of futures that had not yet happened.
"Are you ready?" Yue Lan asked, her voice barely audible.
"No," Jin Long replied honestly. "But I'm going anyway."
He reached out.
The moment his fingers touched the surface, a searing pain lanced through his mind—visions bursting into his consciousness: an ancient war between the Primordials and the Void, a silver throne atop a collapsing multiverse, a hand—his own—piercing the heart of something divine.
Then silence.
The gate opened.
Inside, the Forbidden Stacks were unlike the rest of the library. The light here was slow, moving like syrup through the air. Books were chained in place, each one pulsating as if alive. Symbols shifted along the floor—words in a language that rewrote itself the longer they stared.
"This is forbidden knowledge," Yue Lan whispered, gripping Jin Long's sleeve. "We must be careful."
They walked between aisles of ancient power, and soon, the Genesis Core inside Jin Long began to react—glowing softly, pulling him toward a pedestal at the very center of the chamber.
Upon it sat a book bound in scales of light and shadow. It bore no title, only a single sigil—a broken crown split by a sword.
He opened it.
The first page read:
"The Final Architect was a mortal once… and he wore your face."
His blood turned to ice.
More pages flipped themselves—revealing that the Genesis Core was not just a power source or artifact. It was a key—and Jin Long had been its creator in a life long forgotten, across timelines now buried.
He had made the Genesis Core to fight something worse than Zhan Wuhen—something that hadn't yet arrived.
But it was coming.
"What is this…?" Yue Lan asked, scanning the pages with growing dread.
"The Void Sovereigns," Jin Long muttered. "They're just pawns. The true enemy… is called the Eclipse Mind."
At that name, the entire Forbidden Stacks trembled. Books screamed. Chains rattled. Shadows gathered.
Suddenly, a swirling figure emerged from the darkness—a guardian formed from fragmented thoughts and broken realities.
"You have seen too much," it growled. "Now you must pay the price."
Jin Long gritted his teeth. The Core surged within him, reacting to the truth, empowering his limbs.
"No," he said. "We earned this knowledge."
With a roar, the guardian charged.
---
Outside the Library, the stars flickered—one by one.
In the distant Void, Zhan Wuhen smiled.
"He has remembered," he whispered. "The game begins anew."