The first time someone noticed the Name Raen had stolen, it was almost the last time he ever breathed.
It happened three days after the killing.
---
A Visit from the Temple
They came in robes of red, lined with silver dust, smelling of dried roses and burned books.
Two men, one woman.
They arrived during dusk, when the shadows were long and the air sharp with winter's first breath. Their symbols bore the sigil of Yallseth, the All-Scribe, god of knowledge, memory, and silence.
One of them, a tall priest with bone-white eyes, walked past every villager with indifference.
Until he saw Raen.
Then he stopped.
---
"You've Been Marked"
"You," the priest said, with no inflection. Not a voice—more like a statement of fact. "You reek of echo-ash."
Raen blinked, heartbeat tightening. "I don't know what that is."
"No," the priest agreed. "But it clings to your breath. Someone near you devoured a Name."
Raen looked at the mud.
The priest leaned closer, eyes narrowing.
"Or was it you?"
A moment passed.
Something stirred in Raen's chest—Zeveth's echo, dormant until now. The foreign memory flared. A whisper.
> "He serves the Scribe. Do not speak."
Raen's hands clenched.
"I don't know what you mean."
The priest studied him for a long second. Then, finally, he stepped back.
"The gods will find you, boy. All things that eat what they should not are eventually… cataloged."
---
The Marked Ones
That night, Halrik explained.
"You've seen a Seer," he said. "Not the worst of the gods' servants—but among the most patient. They don't kill. They remember."
Raen shivered. "Why did he stare at me like that?"
"Because they keep lists. Names. Souls. They smell ash on people who've touched divine fire and lived."
"Then I'm not safe?"
Halrik turned to the fire, his face unreadable.
"No one who breaks the law of Names ever is."
---
Hidden Echoes: Power System Expansion
Later, alone in his room, Raen accessed the system again. Not by touch. Not by voice.
But by intention.
He focused inward. Felt the pressure behind his thoughts. The system answered.
> ECHO INTERFACE — STAGE 1
— Name Capacity: 1/Unknown
— Soul Integrity: 91%
— Whispers Detected: 2 (Dormant)
— Memory Bleed Risk: Minimal
— Authority Signature: Locked
— Anchor Core: Forming (2.6%)
He frowned.
Authority Signature. Locked.
What did it mean to unlock that?
And what happened when his soul integrity dropped too low?
> "You're walking a line," the whisper of Zeveth came, not audible—but remembered.
"Eat too much, you lose yourself. Eat too little, you die anyway."
---
The Dream of the Throne
That night, Raen dreamed again.
But this time, he wasn't in a forest or a field.
He was standing before the Throne.
It was not gold. It was not steel. It was a sculpture of bone and language—an impossible seat carved from the true Names of all who had ever lived.
And on it sat a god.
Faceless.
Its hands were skeletal. Its voice was made of truths Raen had never learned, but somehow already knew.
> "You are not meant to be."
"You will not last."
"You are the devourer of Names, but you do not yet know your own."
Raen stepped forward.
"I will find it," he said.
The god did not reply.
---
The Whisper That Burned
When he woke, something had changed.
Zeveth's echo wasn't silent anymore.
It was screaming.
Raen clutched his head, breath ragged. His thoughts blurred. The room twisted.
Then a burst of light—black, not white—flared behind his eyes.
> NAME RESONANCE: SURGE DETECTED
— Unlocking Memory Node: Fragmented Cult Site / Ritual of the 11th Glyph
— New Trait Gained: Truthbane Awareness (Passive)
— Effect: You now sense spoken lies within 3 meters. Use sparingly.
Raen gasped.
He could tell when people were lying.
His chest ached. Blood ran from his nose.
The price of truth was pain.
---
The Demon God Watches
And far away—in a realm Raen could not yet touch—the Demon God smiled.
"Good," it muttered, watching the threads of Raen's soul stretch and twist. "You walk the edge well."
"You will break. Or you will ascend."
"But either way—"
"The Throne will fall."
---
The Second Rule of Name Devourers
Raen didn't write it down. He felt it.
> Rule Two: Every Name gives—but also takes.
You must know what you are willing to lose...
...before you choose to gain.
---
End of Chapter 4