The wind in the Wailing Wastes was not made of air.
It howled with forgotten names, etched across the dunes like scars—whispers of mages devoured by their own ambition. Otoku trudged through it, his cloak in tatters, Gravy's weak breath rattling against his ribs. Every step drained the color from the world.
They had escaped Veilthorn.
But not the eyes.
"You're unraveling again," Gravy murmured, voice brittle as glass. The pup's shadow-form flickered with every heartbeat, tendrils twitching like antennae. His golden eye had dimmed to a coal, pulsing only when Otoku's resolve spiked.
"I'm fine." Otoku lied.
He wasn't.
The Rebirth Loop had taken its toll—each cycle of death and return carving away at his memories. Sometimes he awoke unable to recall Veyra's face. Sometimes he forgot what stars were.
But not her.
Not Elara.
---
Scene 2: The Bonecaller's Caravan
Smoke rose on the horizon. Otoku crouched low, watching as a bone-caravan trudged across the sands—great skeletal beasts dragging an arcane fortress behind them. Atop its skull-shaped helm flew the banner of Kareth-Syn, one of the Free Necro-Kingdoms.
Gravy sniffed the air. "Rot and blood. They're summoners."
"Then we hide."
"Or we join."
Otoku glanced down. "Why?"
Gravy's golden eye flared faintly. "Because if you don't learn their death-magic before the next loop, you'll never survive the Ashveil Academy Trials."
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Scene 3: The Bonecaller's Daughter
They didn't expect a boy with cracked skin and godslayer eyes to walk into their camp.
The guards laughed—until their blades shattered against his void aura.
Then came Yrena, the Bonecaller's daughter. Skin like polished obsidian. A voice tuned to funeral bells. Her death-spirit curled around her like a serpent made of bone dust.
"You smell of graves." she said.
Otoku met her eyes. "I need a teacher."
She smiled. "And I need a weapon."
They shook hands. The pact was struck.
---
Scene 4: Lessons in Undeath
For three weeks, Otoku learned to raise the echoes of dead memories. He reanimated forgotten gods of ants. He pulled secrets from the skulls of traitors. He heard the First Necromancer weep in his dreams.
He also watched Gravy rot.
The corruption spread from the pup's eye to his jaw. His shadow-form grew unstable. Some nights, he blinked and looked...older.
"It's the Codex," Yrena warned. "You're feeding your soul to it."
"Then I'll burn my soul to light his way," Otoku growled.
She said nothing more.
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Chapter End: The Return of the Crown
One night, as the caravan passed beneath a dead moon, the stars rippled.
A beam of starlight struck the dunes.
There, half-buried in ash, lay the Crown of Ash, reformed.
Otoku touched it—and the Codex screamed. Not in pain. In recognition.
A voice echoed in his bones: "Welcome back, Heir of Dust."
Gravy whimpered. Yrena stepped back, hand on her blade.
Otoku only smiled, the crown bleeding smoke in his palm.
"This time," he whispered, "we finish it before it begins."
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Next Chapter Preview: "Ashveil Academy: Year Zero"
Otoku enters the legendary magical academy under a false identity. There, he must hide his past, master a new magic, and confront reincarnated enemies who remember more than he does.