The silence stretched.
They had cleared the Wagering Floor, but no one felt victorious.
Lucian sat beside a dying campfire, bandaging a minor cut on his forearm.Lysia stood watch, arms crossed, gaze distant.Selaria sat with knees pulled to chest, eyes tracing stars that weren't really stars—just simulated fragments of fate.
And Naia…
Naia didn't speak.
Didn't look at him.
Didn't sit near him.
Lucian finally broke the silence.
"…Naia."
She didn't respond.
He tried again, gentler.
"You okay?"
She blinked.
Slowly turned to face him.
Her voice was calm.
Flat.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that?"
Lucian flinched.
"…Like what?"
"Like I'm supposed to say something that matters to you."
The words cut.
Not sharp.
But dull, deep—like a wound that didn't bleed.
Selaria looked over, frowning.
Naia turned away again.
"I don't remember what I'm supposed to be to you."
Lucian stood.
Stepped closer.
"You lost one memory. We don't know which."
Naia shrugged. "I know. That's the problem."
She looked at him—eyes searching, but not finding.
"I look at you, and I feel… something. But I don't know if it's real. Or just muscle memory."
Lucian's throat tightened.
"It is real. You trusted me."
Naia laughed—hollow.
"Did I?"
Lysia stepped in.
"Hey. Easy. The floor messed with your head. You two always bickered like—"
Naia snapped.
"No. We didn't.I think I liked him. Maybe even… something more.But now it's just a shadow. A ghost memory I can't reach."
She looked at Lucian.
And this time, her gaze held fear.
"What if the thing I forgot was the reason I stayed?"
Selaria stood, stepping closer.
"Then stay long enough to find it again."
Naia shook her head.
"I'm not a puzzle to reassemble."
She looked at Lucian.
Her voice was quiet now.
Almost sad.
"You said I once begged you to believe in me."
"But now I don't even know who I'm asking."
Lucian walked toward her.
Carefully.
"I don't need you to remember everything."
He placed a hand on his heart.
"I remember enough for both of us."
Naia didn't move.
Didn't smile.
Didn't speak.
Just… turned away.
And walked into the mist.
Lysia whispered, "She's going to leave."
Lucian didn't answer.
Because he knew—
She already had.
[System Notification]
Memory Distortion DetectedNaia's status: Emotionally UnanchoredRisk Factor: Conversion PossibleExternal Interference: High Probability
Recommendation: Reforge connection or sever entirely.
Lucian stared at the system text.
His jaw clenched.
He whispered:
"…Don't do this to her."
But far above, something watched.
From the upper floors—one level below the Citadel of Truth—an Observer smiled.
A masked figure wrapped in crimson scripture.
They whispered:
"A crack in the bond. Finally."
They placed a hand on a crystal orb.
Inside: Naia, asleep.
The version of her walking beside Lucian?
Just a thread.
And the thread was unraveling.
Meanwhile, back on the floor—
Naia stood at a cliff's edge.
She stared down into the abyss between floors.
Her voice was soft.
"If I jump… would I find the truth they erased?"
Selaria approached slowly.
"You're not broken."
Naia laughed bitterly.
"I'm not whole either."
She turned to Selaria.
"Did he ever love you more than me?"
Selaria blinked.
"I don't know."
Naia smirked.
"Me neither. That's the problem."
She jumped.
Lucian ran.
Too late.
But instead of falling—
Naia floated.
Suspended midair by a cocoon of red light.
From above, a staircase of crimson scripture descended.
And a figure appeared at its top.
Masked.
Cloaked.
Power humming like blasphemy.
"Lucian of the Unwritten Path.You lose one, we gain one.The Wager was only the beginning."
The figure held out a hand.
And Naia—in trance—took it.
Lucian screamed.
"NAIA!"
But she vanished.
The staircase folded into itself.
The light gone.
And with it—
So was she.
[System Update]
Companion Lost: Naia – Status: CompromisedTracking DisabledMemory Link: InaccessibleEmotional Anchor: Severed (Restoration Possible – Unknown Conditions)
Selaria stood beside Lucian.
"…What now?"
Lucian didn't speak.
Didn't move.
Then finally, softly:
"Now we save her."
"Even if she's the one who kills me."