Chapter 2137: The Tether of Echoes
The Throne retreated—not in defeat, but in calculation.
Its form dissolved into silence.
And in its place… questions lingered.
Yun Che dropped beside the girl, cradling her gently. She was breathing—but faint. Like something had scraped across her soul.
Caizhi reached out and held the girl's hand.
> "Why her?" she whispered. "Why did she remember me when no one else could?"
Jasmine appeared a moment later, eyes narrowed. "Because she isn't just a child."
Yun Che looked up. "What are you saying?"
> "She's a Tether."
Caizhi blinked.
> "That's… myth."
> "No longer. Tethers are rare souls—beings that echo the divine without being divine. Their memories don't follow the laws of the world. When the Throne erased you, it rewrote everything… but it can't touch what exists outside linear fate."
She paused.
> "And she… remembered your sadness. That was enough to hold your name."
Caizhi looked down at the child.
Tears welled in her eyes.
> "She saved me."
---
Elsewhere: A Chamber of Shadows
A figure knelt before the Throne—not made of flesh, but shadow-bound essence.
> "You retreated," it hissed.
The Throne did not answer at first.
Then came the voice—impossibly cold.
> "The boy is more than he was."
> "He carries the memory of something we once feared."
> "Should I erase him?"
> "No."
> "We must learn… what he remembers."
And in the distance, across the realms, cracks began to form—places where memory had been forcibly rewritten were now resisting.
---
Back in the Mortal Realm
The girl—whose name was still unknown—woke with a smile.
> "You're safe," she said to Caizhi. "I held on."
Caizhi held her close.
Jasmine knelt down.
> "She can't stay here."
> "Why not?" Caizhi asked.
> "Because the Throne will come again. Stronger. If she's your anchor… then she'll be the target."
Caizhi nodded slowly.
> "Then I'll protect her."
> "No," Yun Che said, stepping forward. "We will."
---
Final Scene: The Lost Temple of the Forgotten Sky
In a place erased from maps, a door long sealed creaked open.
Inside—murals, broken statues, and names carved into pillars.
Names no one remembered.
Except one.
> Caizhi.
Carved in starlight.
And below it—another.
> Yun Che.
Flickering into existence.