Chapter 22
The fire-map still hovered in the sky, lines of crimson energy pulsing like veins in a heart long forgotten.
Nezutsu stared up, breathless.
Each line shifted, rearranged, then stopped — forming a new constellation, shaped like an open hand gripping a key.
Velgrim's eyes narrowed.
"That's the Sigil of the Eleventh Seal."
"What's that?" Nezutsu asked.
"A lock… made by gods to bury a name that could unmake them."
"And now it's calling me?"
Velgrim didn't answer. He only looked at Kaelith.
And for the first time, Kaelith looked afraid.
"He needs to know," she whispered.
Kaelith's Past: The Sigil and the Silence
They sat around the dim fire inside a moss-covered cavern. Outside, the winds of the Null Border howled — an edge of the world no longer part of any kingdom.
Kaelith broke the silence.
"I wasn't born in the eastern provinces," she said. "I lied."
"Then where?" Nezutsu asked.
"The Hollow Sky. The same place the Obsidian Circle uses to erase names. I wasn't a prisoner. I was a… scribe."
"You worked for them?"
"I was raised by them. Taught to read Celestial Thread, the language used to seal god-names. My job was to write names out of existence."
"And mine?"
She looked down.
"Your name was one of the Seven Forbidden, Nezutsu. I never read it. But I remember… it burned through the page. The scroll caught fire before my eyes."
"So you left?"
"No… I stole a piece of the name. It's hidden inside me."
Nezutsu stood, stunned.
"What do you mean, inside you?"
Kaelith lifted her sleeve.
Her veins glowed faintly blue.
"It's not mana. It's memory. Sealed as bloodcode. I hoped you'd never need it."
Velgrim stepped back.
"If that name awakens… it could collapse time itself."
The Descent into the Eleventh Seal
Following the flame-map, they journeyed past the Null Border and into a sunless gorge known only as Clefthollow.
Here, stars bled upward instead of falling. The wind whispered backward.
The Eleventh Seal was not a door — it was a void carved into a mountainside, guarded by twelve Blind Sentinels made of time-frozen ash.
They didn't attack. They only turned their heads in unison as Nezutsu approached.
"Why aren't they stopping us?" Kaelith asked.
"Because he's already part of what's buried here," Velgrim said grimly.
Inside, the void opened into a temple — upside-down, floating in nothingness, each stone inscribed with one repeating phrase:
HE WHO BURNS WITHOUT BREATH SHALL NAME THE SKY ANEW.
HE WHO BURNS WITHOUT BREATH...
Over and over.
At the center stood a cracked hourglass, the sand within glowing violet — the same as Nezutsu's flame.
He stepped forward, and the hourglass shattered.
Revelation: The Star-Name
A spectral figure rose from the sand — a woman cloaked in stardust, blindfolded, her hands dripping with lightblood.
"The one who bore the Third Flame…" she whispered. "You are late."
"Who are you?" Nezutsu asked.
"I am what remains of your name. I was once your shadow."
"Then tell me. What am I?"
The woman looked up. Her blindfold unraveled. Her eyes were filled with constellations.
"You are S'varan-Keir — the Unnamed Will."
Nezutsu staggered.
He saw — for a brief second — entire realms burning, gods kneeling, and his own past self standing atop a throne made of stars.
"You were the last god born from refusal. The one who screamed when the heavens silenced all. You made a fire not from elements… but from will defying fate."
"Then why was my name erased?"
"Because the gods feared what your name could do. It wasn't just power. It was a key. A name that could undo other names."
The Subplot Twist: The Hidden Betrayal
Suddenly, Kaelith gasped — blood trickling from her eyes.
"The seal—it's reacting—Nezutsu—something's breaking—inside me—"
Before anyone could react, Kaelith dropped to the ground.
From her shadow… something rose.
A second voice. A copy of her shape. Her exact twin, but with burning violet eyes.
"Thank you for unlocking the Eleventh," the twin said, smiling wickedly.
"Who… what are you?"
"I'm the shard of the original Scribe. The one who completed your erasure. I've been hiding in her… waiting for you to remember."
The clone lunged at Nezutsu with a blade of starlight.
But Nezutsu didn't block.
He absorbed the strike — and for a moment, his skin turned black like obsidian.
"You can't kill what's already been erased," he whispered, his voice overlapping with a deeper, older one.
He grabbed the clone — and burned it from existence using the Third Flame.
Kaelith coughed, collapsing back.
"I… didn't know. I'm sorry…"
He knelt beside her.
"You saved me. You gave me back part of my name."
She clutched his hand.
"Then… what now?"
Nezutsu looked toward the sky, now rippling like water.
The Eleventh Seal had not just opened a name — it had called something back.
"Now?" he said.
"Now we wake the gods up."
[TO BE CONTINUED…]