Chapter 63: The Witness Who Remained

Six empty chairs.

One occupied.

And sitting in the seventh chair was Pi.

Kael stared at the little creature.

For several seconds, he couldn’t bring himself to move.

The chair was far too large for Pi’s small body. Its dark wooden frame rose above the creature’s head, while intricate silver engravings covered its legs. A faint golden light surrounded the seat, illuminating the black scales along Pi’s back.

The other six chairs were different.

Some were cracked.

Others appeared to have been burned.

One had chains wrapped around its legs, while another seemed to be made of a material that continuously shifted between stone and glass.

But Pi’s chair was untouched.

It looked as though someone had prepared it specifically for the creature.

Kael took a step forward.

"Pi?"

The creature didn’t respond.

"Pi, come here."

Its golden eye moved toward him.

Then it looked down at the seat beneath its body.

"Stayed."

Kael stopped.

He remembered the black field.

The seven bells.

The voice that had announced the original decision was made by the one who remained.

And now Pi was sitting in the seventh chair.

He slowly approached.

"Is this where you stayed?"

Pi nodded.

"Everyone left."

Kael looked at the six empty chairs.

"Who?"

Pi lowered its head.

"Don’t know."

Kael sighed.

He had been hoping for something more useful.

Then again, expecting a small creature with sealed memories to provide a comprehensive historical account was probably unreasonable

He crouched in front of the chair.

"Can you come down?"

Pi hesitated.

"Can’t."

Kael frowned.

"What do you mean you can’t?"

The creature looked at the silver engravings.

"Seat."

The moment Pi spoke, the engravings brightened.

A low vibration passed through the room.

Mira immediately raised her hand.

"Kael, don’t touch the chair."

He looked over his shoulder.

"Why?"

"There’s an enormous amount of energy concentrated beneath it. But it’s not mana."

Elena approached cautiously.

"It’s similar to the force we encountered beneath the academy. The one that maintained the chains."

Leon examined the other chairs.

"Then this is connected to that place?"

"Possibly," Mira replied. "Or that place was connected to this one."

Kael looked at the seventh chair again.

"Either way, Pi is stuck."

The stranger stood near the entrance.

He hadn’t moved since they arrived.

His eyes were fixed on Pi.

"You shouldn’t have brought it here."

Kael slowly turned.

"I didn’t bring Pi anywhere. We arrived together."

"You don’t understand."

"Then explain."

The stranger shook his head.

"The seventh chair wasn’t meant to be occupied again."

Kael glanced at the chair.

"Then why is Pi sitting in it?"

"Because the original decision has been recognized."

"And?"

The stranger looked at Pi.

"The one who remained has returned to the place where it remained."

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"That’s a very complicated way of saying absolutely nothing."

The stranger’s expression darkened.

"Kael, the chair isn’t holding Pi."

He paused.

"It’s remembering Pi."

A faint sound came from beneath the floor.

A ticking clock.

Kael turned toward the center of the room.

The black desk from Room Seven had appeared between the chairs.

On it rested the silver quill, the broken chain, the black book, the golden bell, and the empty glass bottle.

But something new had appeared.

A small wooden box.

Its lid was decorated with the same symbol as Kael’s silver mark: a quill crossed by a broken chain, surrounded by an unfinished circle.

Kael approached the desk.

"Was this here before?"

The stranger shook his head.

"No."

Kael opened the box.

Inside lay a single sheet of paper.

The handwriting was familiar.

It looked like his.

He unfolded it.

IF THE SEVENTH WITNESS RETURNS TO THE CHAIR, DO NOT ASK IT TO REMEMBER.

Kael read the sentence twice.

Beneath it was another line.

THE CHAIR DOES NOT CONTAIN THE MEMORY. IT CONTAINS THE REASON THE MEMORY WAS LEFT BEHIND.

His expression tightened.

He turned toward Pi.

The creature was still sitting motionlessly.

"Pi, can you hear me?"

"Pi."

"I’m going to ask you something. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to."

The creature raised its head.

"Do you remember why you stayed?"

Its golden eye trembled.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the seventh chair emitted a soft golden glow.

A voice emerged from beneath it.

"THE WITNESS REMAINED BECAUSE SOMEONE HAD TO REMEMBER."

Kael looked down.

"Remember what?"

"THE DECISION."

"Whose decision?"

Silence.

The stranger stepped forward.

"Don’t ask again."

Kael ignored him.

"Who made the first decision?

The golden light intensified.

Pi’s body stiffened.

Then the voice answered.

"THE WITNESS REMEMBERED WHAT THE OTHERS AGREED TO FORGET."

Kael’s expression changed.

That was different.

It didn’t say Pi made the first decision.

It said Pi remembered it.

He looked toward the stranger.

"You told me the original decision was made by the one who remained."

The stranger said nothing.

"But the chair says Pi remained to remember what the others forgot."

Still nothing.

Kael’s eyes narrowed.

"Are you deliberately avoiding answering me?"

"Yes."

At least the stranger was honest.

Before Kael could respond, the six empty chairs began moving.

Their legs scraped across the floor.

One after another, they turned toward Pi.

The golden light surrounding the seventh chair faded.

A black inscription appeared across its back.

THE WITNESS MUST TESTIFY.

Pi’s tiny wings lifted.

"NO."

The creature’s voice rang through the chamber.

The inscription cracked.

Kael immediately stepped forward.

"Whatever you’re trying to do, stop!"

The voice beneath the chair answered.

"THE WITNESS MUST REMEMBER."

"No!" Pi repeated.

A golden pulse erupted from the chair

The room disappeared.

Kael found himself standing in a ruined city.

Buildings leaned at impossible angles.

The streets were covered in dust, and the sky above was filled with dark clouds.

He recognized the place.

Not because he had visited it before.

Because he had seen it in the fragments of his memories.

The previous worldline.

The world before the first ending.

Kael looked around.

Leon, Mira, Elena, and the stranger were nowhere to be seen.

Pi stood beside him.

The creature was no longer small.

Its body was surrounded by a faint golden aura, and its scales reflected the ruined city.

Then a bell rang.

A figure appeared at the end of the street.

A young woman with dark hair and tired eyes.

Kael immediately recognized her.

"You."

She stopped.

For a moment, she looked relieved.

Then her gaze shifted toward Pi.

Her expression changed.

"So it finally brought you here."

Kael stepped between them.

"Don’t come any closer."

The woman stopped.

"I wasn’t going to hurt it."

"That’s what everyone says before trying to use it."

She looked at him sadly.

"You still don’t understand."

"Then help me understand."

The woman glanced at the ruined buildings.

"This was where we made the agreement."

"What agreement?"

"The one that allowed the world to continue."

Kael looked around.

The city seemed strangely peaceful despite its destruction.

There were no monsters.

No moving figures.

No signs of battle.

Only the remains of a world that had reached its ending.

"Who was present?" he asked.

"Seven witnesses."

"Pi included?"

"Yes."

Kael looked at the creature.

"And the other six?"

"They left."

"Why?"

The woman hesitated.

"Beceuse they believed the decision had been completed."

Kael frowned.

"And Pi stayed behind."

"Yes."

"Why?"

The woman lowered her gaze.

"Because it refused to let the decision become the only truth that remained."

Kael stared at her.

For a moment, the words seemed to fit together.

The seventh witness wasn’t necessarily the one who made the decision.

It was the one who refused to let everyone forget that another possibility had existed.

Pi had remained behind, preserving the memory of something the others had abandoned.

But what exactly had it preserved?

And why had Kael promised to return?

"Did I ask Pi to stay?" he asked.

The woman didn’t answer immediately.

Then she said something that made his stomach tighten.

"You asked it to wait."

Kael looked at Pi.

The creature lowered its head.

"You promised you would return," the woman continued. "But you didn’t tell it how long it would have to wait."

Kael felt his chest tighten.

"How long?"

The woman looked at the ruined city.

"Long enough for the world to forget that it had ever existed."

A distant rumble interrupted them.

The buildings began to tremble.

Black lines appeared across the sky.

The woman immediately looked upward.

"It’s found the memory."

Kael raised the quill.

"What’s found it?"

Before she could answer, the street split open.

Something emerged from beneath the ruins.

A massive faceless figure.

Its body was covered in chains, and a silver circle burned in the center of its chest.

Kael recognized it.

The entity from beneath Aetheris.

The one the Fifth had warned them about.

The one that had been chained to a possibility reality could no longer accept.

But this version was different.

Its chains were broken.

And its body had begun to resemble a human.

The figure raised its head.

"WITNESS IDENTIFIED."

Pi stepped backward.

The creature’s golden eye narrowed.

"NOT MONSTER."

The entity stopped.

For a moment, the entire ruined city fell silent.

Then the figure spoke.

"YOU REMEMBER."

Pi trembled.

Kael stepped forward.

"Stay away from it."

The entity turned toward him.

"CARRIER."

"I’m getting tired of that title."

"YOU RETURNED."

"Apparently."

"YOU LEFT."

Kael tightened his grip on the quill.

"So I’ve been told."

The entity extended one arm.

The chains around its body moved.

Every broken building in the city began to rise.

Stones and debris gathered around it, forming a massive structure resembling an enormous hand.

The woman retreated.

"Kael, don’t let it touch Pi!"

"I’m aware!"

The stone hand descended.

Kael rolled aside.

The impact shattered the street.

He raised the quill and cut through the black threads connecting the debris to the entity.

Several pieces fell.

But the remaining stones continued moving.

The entity was no longer relying on a single connection.

It was using the entire memory as its body.

Kael backed away.

"That’s inconvenient."

The woman raised both hands.

Pale light spread across the street, forming a barrier between the entity and Pi.

"Get it away from the chair!"

Kael glanced at her.

"What chair?"

She pointed toward the ruins.

Behind the entity stood a familiar wooden chair.

The seventh chair.

It had followed them into the memory.

Pi stared at it.

The entity raised its arm.

"RETURN THE WITNESS."

Kael moved.

He didn’t charge directly at the creature.

Instead, he rushed toward the nearest building and climbed its broken wall.

The entity followed him.

Its massive stone hand swept across the street.

Kael jumped.

The hand passed beneath him.

He landed on the creature’s arm and drove the quill into one of the black chains.

Silver light spread.

The chain snapped.

The entity staggered.

The woman immediately redirected her barrier, forcing the remaining debris away from Pi.

"Now!" she shouted.

Kael severed another chain.

Then another.

But the entity reacted.

A black blade emerged from its chest and struck Kael across the platform of debris.

He flew backward.

His shoulder struck a ruined wall.

Pain spread through his body.

The silver lines beneath his collar glowed.

He tried to stand.

His legs trembled.

The entity approached.

"THE FIRST DECISION MUST BE RESTORED."

Kael spat dust from his mouth.

"Why?"

The figure stopped.

"THE WORLD CANNOT CONTINUE WITHOUT IT."

"That’s funny."

Kael forced himself upright.

"Because everyone I’ve met who claims to know how this world works seems to have a different explanation."

He raised the quill.

"And none of you have managed to explain why I should trust you."

The entity extended its hand.

The black chains around its body surged forward.

Kael prepared to dodge.

But before they reached him, a golden sound rang across the city.

Pi had moved.

The creature stood before the seventh chair.

Its wings were spread.

Its golden eye shone brightly.

"Remember."

Kael turned.

Pi looked toward the entity.

Then toward the woman.

Finally, it looked at Kael.

"Not alone."

The golden light expanded.

For a moment, the ruined city changed.

The buildings became whole.

The sky turned blue.

And seven figures appeared around the chair.

Six stood together.

The seventh remained apart.

Kael couldn’t see their faces.

But he recognized one of them.

The young man with the broken chain.

The stranger who looked like him.

He stood beside the seventh chair, holding a silver quill.

Then another figure stepped forward.

A woman.

Dark-haired.

Tired-eyed.

The same woman who stood beside Kael now.

She placed a hand on the chair.

And someone spoke.

"If the world must end, then let it end. But let the next beginning belong to those who remain."

The vision shattered.

The entity recoiled.

Its chest symbol cracked.

The chains around its body began to retreat.

Kael stared at Pi.

"What did you just show us?"

Pi lowered its wings.

"Promise."

The woman looked at Kael.

Her expression had become unreadable.

"That was the agreement."

Kael turned toward her.

"What agreement?"

She looked at the seventh chair.

"The six witnesses agreed to accept the ending."

"And Pi refused?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

The woman looked directly into his eyes.

"Because someone told it that the ending wasn’t the end."

Kael’s fingers tightened around the quill.

"Who?"

The woman didn’t answer.

Instead, she looked toward the stranger, who had appeared at the far end of the street.

He was standing beside the seventh chair.

His expression was filled with something Kael couldn’t identify.

Regret.

Fear.

Perhaps both.

The stranger slowly raised his hand.

And Kael noticed something.

The silver mark on his wrist was no longer dark.

It was glowing.

Exactly like the mark on Kael’s palm.

The stranger looked at Pi.

Then he spoke.

"I was the one who asked you to wait."

Pi’s golden eye widened.

Kael turned sharply.

"You?"

The stranger nodded.

"I asked it to remain after the others left."

"Why?"

The stranger looked toward the ruined city.

"Because I knew someone would eventually come back."

Kael stared at him.

"Who?"

The stranger’s gaze moved toward Kael.

"You."

Before Kael could respond, the seventh chair cracked.

A black page appeared above it.

Words formed across its surface.

THE WITNESS HAS REMEMBERED.

THE PROMISE HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED.

Then a final sentence appeared.

THE ONE WHO ASKED THE WITNESS TO WAIT HAS BEEN FOUND.

The stranger closed his eyes.

The woman whispered something under her breath.

And the entity beneath the chains began to laugh.

Not loudly.

Not cruelly.

It was a quiet, almost human sound.

"NOW," it said, "WE CAN BEGIN."

The ground split open.

The ruined city collapsed.

Kael reached for Pi as the darkness swallowed them.

But just before everything vanished, he heard the stranger’s final words.

"Kael, I wasn’t the one who made the first decision."

A pause.

"I was the one who made sure you could carry it out."