Chapter 177: A Closure Of Truth

The doorway in the black tree remained open.

Noah stared at it.

His name was carved across the wooden surface.

NOAH BLACKWOOD

The letters were old.

Far older than they should have been.

Eric stepped closer.

"That wasn’t there a second ago."

"I know."

Damien looked around the forest.

"Maybe we should leave before another giant eye appears."

Sophia nodded.

"For once, I agree."

Luna kept her weapon raised.

"Something tells me the door is the reason we haven’t been allowed to leave."

Roana said nothing.

She was staring at the inscription.

Her face had gone pale.

Noah noticed.

"You’ve seen it before."

Roana slowly shook her head.

"Not that exact door."

"But?"

"I’ve seen the name."

Noah’s eyes narrowed.

"Where?"

"In the white room."

The others went quiet.

Roana stepped toward the tree.

"The first time I saw that room, there was a door."

She touched the bark.

"There was no name on it."

"What was behind it?"

Roana withdrew her hand.

"I never opened it."

Dead Zone spoke inside Noah’s mind.

She’s lying.

Noah glanced at Roana.

About what?

She didn’t open it.

A pause.

But she was inside.

Noah’s expression changed.

Roana noticed.

"You heard him."

Noah didn’t answer.

She sighed.

"I knew this conversation would eventually happen."

The tree creaked.

The doorway widened.

Golden light spilled across the ground.

A voice emerged from inside.

Not the White-Eyed Figure.

Not the Black-Eyed Figure.

Not the Ancient One.

Noah’s own voice.

"Come inside."

Laura immediately grabbed Noah’s arm.

"No."

Noah looked at her.

"I wasn’t going to."

The voice spoke again.

"Come inside, Noah."

The golden light intensified.

Noah felt the seal in his chest respond.

Dead Zone became tense.

Don’t go.

Noah frowned.

Why?

Because I can feel something waiting.

The Keeper suddenly approached.

Its enormous body stopped several meters from the tree.

"I would not enter."

Noah looked up at it.

"You’re afraid of the door?"

The Keeper’s crimson eye remained fixed on the entrance.

"I fear what is beyond it."

The Ancient One spoke from beneath the earth.

"The door does not lead somewhere."

Everyone turned toward it.

"It leads backward."

Noah’s blood ran cold.

"Backward?"

The Ancient One’s golden eye closed.

"To the moment the inheritance began."

The tree shuddered.

The carved letters across the door began changing.

NOAH BLACKWOOD

The name faded.

New symbols appeared beneath it.

Three symbols.

One crimson.

One golden.

One black.

Noah felt Dead Zone recoil inside his mind.

No.

"What?"

I’ve seen those symbols.

Noah stared at them.

Where?

Dead Zone remained silent.

Then, quietly:

Before I became Dead Zone.

Noah’s eyes widened.

The doorway suddenly pulled open.

A blast of golden wind swept across Hrafnviðr.

The group shielded their faces.

When the wind stopped, someone was standing inside the doorway.

A younger Noah.

No wounds.

No Shadowfang.

No golden seal.

Just a frightened boy staring out from the darkness.

He looked directly at Noah.

And whispered:

"Please don’t let them make me forget again."

Nobody moved.

The younger Noah stood inside the doorway.

He looked no older than eight or nine.

His clothes were simple. His knees were scratched. His dark hair was messy, and his eyes carried a fear that the present Noah recognized immediately.

It was the same fear.

The kind that came from knowing something was wrong without understanding what.

Laura whispered, "Noah..."

"I know."

The younger boy stared directly at him.

"Please."

Noah stepped forward.

Dead Zone’s voice immediately echoed inside his mind.

Don’t.

Noah stopped.

That’s not a memory.

"What?"

It’s reacting to you.

The boy’s expression changed.

For the smallest fraction of a second, his frightened face became completely blank.

Then the fear returned.

Noah noticed.

"You’re not me."

The boy lowered his head.

"I am."

"No."

Noah’s golden eye narrowed.

"If you were me, you’d know what I know."

The boy slowly looked up.

"What do you know?"

Noah didn’t answer.

The boy smiled.

It was wrong.

Too calm.

Too deliberate.

The White-Eyed Figure’s voice suddenly echoed from somewhere beyond the doorway.

"Good."

Everyone turned.

The figure stood between the trees.

Its white eyes were fixed on the younger Noah.

"You finally learned not to trust your own memories."

Noah’s expression hardened.

"You made this?"

"No."

The White-Eyed Figure shook its head.

"The door did."

The Keeper stepped forward.

"Then destroy it."

The White-Eyed Figure looked at the Keeper.

"You cannot."

"Why?"

"Because it isn’t a door anymore."

The black tree groaned.

Its roots began spreading across the forest floor.

They passed beneath the group, weaving through the soil like enormous veins.

The younger Noah stepped backward.

"I don’t want to go back."

Noah stared at him.

"Back where?"

The boy looked behind himself.

His expression became terrified again.

"To the room."

Noah felt something tighten inside his chest.

"What room?"

The boy’s lips trembled.

"The one where they took everything."

Dead Zone became silent.

Noah noticed.

You know something.

No answer.

Dead Zone.

Still nothing.

Noah stepped closer to the doorway.

The younger boy reached toward him.

"They said you would come."

"Who?"

The boy looked over his shoulder.

"They’re waiting."

A shadow moved behind him.

Noah’s body tensed.

Two black eyes appeared in the darkness.

The Black-Eyed Figure.

It didn’t step forward.

It simply watched.

The White-Eyed Figure’s expression hardened.

"You shouldn’t be here."

The Black-Eyed Figure remained silent.

The younger Noah suddenly screamed.

The doorway violently shook.

Golden chains erupted from the darkness and wrapped around the boy’s arms.

He struggled.

"No!"

Noah rushed forward.

Laura shouted his name.

The Keeper raised its weapon.

The White-Eyed Figure moved.

But Noah was faster.

He reached through the doorway and grabbed the boy’s wrist.

The instant they touched, Noah’s consciousness was flooded with memories.

A white chamber.

Three figures.

A black sword.

Golden chains.

A crimson eye.

A golden seal.

And two silhouettes standing on opposite sides of a frightened child.

One with white eyes.

One with black eyes.

A voice spoke from above them.

"The experiment begins."

Noah’s eyes widened.

The memory shattered.

He was thrown backward into Hrafnviðr.

The doorway slammed shut.

The black tree stopped moving.

Silence returned.

Noah stared at his trembling hand.

Something remained on his palm.

A tiny golden mark.

The younger boy’s voice whispered inside his mind.

You promised.

Noah slowly closed his fingers.

"I don’t remember making a promise."

Dead Zone finally answered.

Neither do I.

Noah looked toward the sealed doorway.

For the first time, Dead Zone’s voice carried something Noah had rarely heard from him.

Fear.

But I think we did.