The morning after the King's Castle exploded was strangely quiet. For the first time since Luna had entered the game, Ironstone did not sound like a battlefield. There were no monster roars coming from the streets, no soldiers shouting orders, and no warning bells ringing from the towers. Smoke still covered the eastern side of the capital, drifting slowly across the pale morning sky. The remains of the King's Castle stood in the distance like a broken skeleton, its towers gone and its walls buried beneath black stone and ash. Luna stood on the steps of Black Phoenix Guild headquarters and watched the people gather in the streets. Thousands had survived the invasion, but the kingdom had paid a terrible price. Some carried flowers. Others carried candles. Many simply stood in silence. A woman held a small child's hand while staring toward the ruins. An old soldier knelt beside the road with his helmet pressed against his chest. Luna looked away. She had seen peopl

The message remained suspended in front of Luna. NEXT TARGET: LUNA ASHWOOD She stared at it until the words blurred. Then the system vanished. The people in the guild hall began moving again. Darius blinked and looked around. "What happened?" No one answered. Luna slowly lowered her hand. The memory attack had stopped, but the pressure inside her head remained. She could still feel the two timelines fighting each other. One told her that she was Aria, a player from another world who had died and awakened inside a game. The other whispered that she had always been Luna Ashwood. Both memories felt real. That frightened her more than any monster. Kael noticed her expression. "Are you all right?" Luna looked at him. "I don't know anymore." He stepped closer. "You know who you are." "Do I?" "Yes." "How?" Kael held her gaze. "Because I remember you." Luna swallowed. "What if your memories are changing too?" "Then I'll keep remembering."

The streets of Ironstone had changed overnight. Luna stood in the middle of the ruined avenue, staring at the empty spaces where people had once stood. The kingdom was still trying to understand what had happened. Thousands had disappeared, yet the strangest part was that most survivors no longer remembered them. Only a handful of people still carried those memories. Luna. Kael. Ryan. Elena. Ethan. Seraphine. And a few others. The system had called them survivors. Luna wasn't sure whether that made them lucky or marked. She looked at the list again. SURVIVORS SELECTED: 12 The name that disturbed her most remained at the bottom. ARIA Her old name. Her real name. The name she had carried before dying. Someone else had it. Or perhaps someone else was carrying her identity. Kael stepped beside her. "You've been staring at that message for five minutes." Luna closed the interface. "I know." "Who is Aria?" Luna looked at him. "I don't

The staircase beneath Ironstone seemed to have no end. Luna stood at the entrance with Kael beside her, staring into the darkness below. Black stone covered the walls, but thin silver lines ran through them like veins. Every few seconds, the lines pulsed, and the faint sound of something breathing came from deep underground. The system remained visible above the staircase. DUNGEON: HEART OF THE EDITOR REQUIRED PLAYERS: LUNA ASHWOOD AND KAEL RAVENCREST ENTRY CONDITION: BONDED PAIR WARNING: MEMORY LOSS POSSIBLE Luna read the final line twice. "Memory loss." Kael looked at her. "We've faced worse." "Have we?" He paused. "No." Luna almost smiled. At least he was honest. Behind them, the resistance members gathered in the ruined guild hall. Victor had his arms crossed, clearly unhappy about being left behind. Selene leaned against a broken pillar while watching the staircase. Ryan held several system screens in front of him, trying to understand what was h

The sky above Ironstone had become a broken mirror. Hundreds of fractures stretched across the clouds, each one showing a different version of the kingdom. In one, Ironstone was burning. In another, it was peaceful. In another, a black palace stood where the royal castle had once been. Luna could even see versions of herself moving through some of the fractures, each one following a different path. She stood beside Kael with her Eclipse Blade raised. The system continued flashing warnings. TIMELINE STABILITY: 16% INTERNAL FRACTURE: ACTIVE THIRD IDENTITY: AWAKENING Luna's breathing became unsteady. "I don't like this." Kael looked at her. "Neither do I." "You don't understand." "I don't need to." She turned toward him. "There's another version of me inside these fractures." "I know." "She was holding my weapon." "I saw." "She said I should never have survived." Kael stepped closer. "Then she is wrong." Luna looked at him. "You sound very su