Location: Aetherys – Day 64 in Atheria
The journey took them beyond any map they knew.
Past forests, rivers, ruins. Beyond cities and kingdoms. Where stars hung low in the sky like lanterns, and the horizon flickered like breath on glass.
"This is it," said Jiwoo, stopping where grass ended and void began.
Aetherys.
A sky without stars.
A land that shimmered like it was not fully real.
The air felt thin but heavy—like walking through someone's forgotten memory. Even the wind didn't blow. It simply existed.
> [System Notice: Eighth Key Detected – Spacetime Sector]
[Vault Location: Skyless Reflection | Coordinates: Nonlinear]
[Guardian Signature: Fractured | Time Distortion Active]
---
Entering Aetherys
Each step in Aetherys echoed strangely.
Sometimes the sound came before the footfall.
Sometimes it never came at all.
Mirae whispered, "I saw us… walk past."
They all turned.
For a moment, thirty feet ahead, their own group shimmered and flickered out—like a skipped frame in a film.
"We're not moving through time," Yoori said slowly. "Time's… moving through us."
Eunsol drew a line in the grass with her finger. It vanished instantly.
No trace.
Baek gulped. "I don't like this place."
Jiwoo pressed on. "Stay focused. The system's leading us."
---
The Mirror Field
Eventually, they reached it.
A lake—not of water—but pure mirror surface. When they looked down, it didn't show their reflections.
It showed versions of them.
Jiwoo stared and saw himself… older, in a black coat, walking alone through galaxies of stars.
Mirae saw herself standing with a child, smiling gently. Jihae saw herself with wings.
Solace saw nothing.
"Am I not real enough?" she muttered.
"No," said Jiwoo, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're already complete."
---
The Guardian of Aetherys
A ripple passed through the mirror.
Then it rose—a humanoid shape, formed from broken starlight and unraveling threads of time.
Its voice echoed in past, present, and future all at once:
> "You who carry seven.
You who seek the eighth.
You who walk in peace but are watched by war.
Will you trade your future… to reach it?"
Jiwoo stepped forward. "I won't trade anyone. I only walk."
The being tilted its head. "Then walk through yourself."
It vanished.
And the lake of mirrors opened beneath them.
---
The Temporal Trial
Jiwoo alone fell.
The others were frozen—like paused scenes.
He landed softly… not in water.
But in a future room.
His floating city was rebuilt. Nine chairs sat around him.
But they were empty.
A single screen glowed in front of him.
> "Would you still walk this path if they all left?"
His heart twisted.
He walked through the empty corridors, echoes of laughter and footsteps behind every wall.
He saw rooms—once warm—now cold.
He entered one with a music box still playing.
He picked it up.
And smiled.
"Yes."
"I'll walk it even if no one sees."
"I walk it because I remember."
---
Time Accepts Him
The air cracked like lightning without sound.
A thread of light descended from nowhere—folded space itself—and coiled around his wrist.
A charm appeared—shaped like a spiral galaxy inside a teardrop of crystal.
> [Eighth System Key Acquired – Spacetime Sector Unlocked]
1 Remaining.
The lake re-formed.
He was back.
His friends stood where he left them—time had passed for them as well.
Mirae rushed forward. "Jiwoo! You vanished—then the lake screamed."
"I passed," he said softly. "But the cost was seeing the road… alone."
Solace studied the charm. "You really would keep walking without us?"
"I'd hope I'd never have to," Jiwoo answered, "but yes."
---
That Night – Under the Dim Sky
The group set camp outside Aetherys, where reality was stable again.
Baek sighed. "One more to go."
"Where is it?" Jihae asked.
Jiwoo looked at the final slot in his bracelet.
> [Final Key: VOID SECTOR]
[Location: NULL | System Data Incomplete]
[Guardian Status: ERROR | Signature Not Found]
"What does that mean?" Sena asked.
"It means," Jiwoo said quietly, "even the system doesn't know where it is."
Yoori stared at the darkened sky above Aetherys.
"What if it's not in this world?"
No one had an answer.
But Jiwoo smiled.
"We'll find it. Together."
---