Part I: The Door Without a Key
The door of bone stood still.
No handle. No hinge.Just silence—and the phrase carved across its surface:
"When memory is whole, truth is unlocked."
Mujin stepped closer.The seven seals on his wrist glowed in sync.
One by one, his memories surged:
His wife's laughter.His junior's voice.The burning temple.The blade of Juhwa.His mother's anger.The dream of Seoul.The scream of the Skybone Emperor.
He pressed his palm to the door.
The door didn't open.It dissolved.
Into light.
Part II: A Time That Should Not Be
They stepped through.
No tunnel. No stairs. Just… existence folding inward.
Then—land.
A field of stone and sky.Above, a black sun.Below, cities upside-down, floating like dead stars.
Elder Gihyeon gasped."This is… before Baekje. Before the fracture."
"This is the Origin Era."
Mujin could feel it—his chest burned.
The Skycut Fang thrummed with recognition.Not like a weapon sensing battle—
Like a child remembering home.
They walked.
And as they did, time remembered them.
Echoes formed around them:
Kings weeping.Priests burning.Children being marked with seals.
History wasn't recorded here.
It was alive.
Part III: The Emperor Unbound
At the center of the field stood a throne.
No stone.No jade.
Only air.
The throne was shaped from pressure.It bent the light.It bent time.
And upon it sat—
The Skybone Emperor.
Not dead.Not alive.Frozen in a moment too long to understand.
His body flickered—sometimes ancient, sometimes youthful.His voice echoed before his mouth moved.
"So… my shadow returns."
Mujin flinched.
"I'm not your shadow."
"No. You were once my reflection.And now… you are the wound."
The Emperor rose.
Time rippled.The sun bled.
"Show me what you've become."
Part IV: Duel of Inheritance
Skycut Fang screamed as Mujin drew it.
The Emperor raised no weapon.
His hands alone bent the wind.
They clashed.
Not with sound. With memory.
Each strike, a war.
Each parry, a century.
Mujin's strikes summoned the faces of those he loved—and the Emperor countered with the ones he lost.
"I carry their grief!" Mujin roared.
The Emperor's answer:
"I carry the world's."
The throne behind them cracked.
The floating cities shivered.
Then Mujin—desperate—unleashed the technique born from seven seals:
Heaven-Cracked Form.
Seven slashes in one breath.Seven lifetimes in one cut.
The Emperor stopped.
Looked at the blood on his palm.
And smiled.
"Then you are ready… to remember everything."
Epilogue: The Truth Buried in Bone
The field collapsed.
Time reversed.
And Mujin fell—into himself.
He saw:
—A young Emperor, weeping over his brother's grave.—Juhwa, swearing to protect the seal even if it meant betrayal.—A war that shattered heaven.
And in the end—
Mujin.
Not watching.
Being.
He had been Juhwa.
Not reincarnated.
Returned.
He opened his eyes.
Gihyeon was kneeling beside him.
"You were gone for an hour."
"I wasn't gone," Mujin said. "I went home."
Above them, the Gate of Origin vanished.
And far across the land, temples crumbled.
Because truth had woken.
To be continued…