Chapter 24
When the light faded, silence screamed.
Nezutsu opened his eyes to find himself nowhere. Not the void. Not the sky. Not even darkness. Just an endless plane of unbeing where even thoughts echoed like broken glass.
Kaelith floated nearby, unconscious — strands of her hair rising like smoke in the stillness. Velgrim was gone.
Nezutsu clutched the Voice Shard, now pulsing violently in his palm. Each beat stung his skin, but he did not let go.
"Where… are we?" he whispered.
"You slipped," answered a voice — his own, yet older, deeper.
He turned.
There stood another version of himself — taller, cloaked in flames, with eyes like galaxies imploding.
"This is the Veil Beyond Names. The space between soul and story."
"Are you… me?"
"I am the part they erased. The name they feared. The truth you're still too small to carry."
Nezutsu staggered. He looked down. His body was starting to fracture — small lines of violet cracking through his chest.
"Am I dying?"
"No. You're becoming."
The older Nezutsu stepped closer and touched his forehead.
"Remember this: Flame is not destruction. Flame is revelation. They will all try to shape your fire into a weapon. But it was never meant to kill. It was meant to unmask."
Suddenly—
A blade of sunlight tore through the void, missing Nezutsu by inches.
Sol'Vetra had found them again.
"You think you can hide even in the Between?" she spat. "I've slain gods who screamed louder."
She raised her hand to summon another divine blade—
But a violet flame caught her wrist mid-cast.
Not Nezutsu's.
Kaelith's.
She stood, coughing, eyes glowing faintly with violet and gold.
"You bonded with the Flame," Sol'Vetra whispered.
"No," Kaelith said. "It chose to share itself."
Subplot Deepens: Kaelith's True Bloodline
As Kaelith held off the Hunter, the older Nezutsu looked at Nezutsu with a grave expression.
"She carries a fragment too. Different from yours. Born of Skyfire."
"What's Skyfire?"
"The last breath of a dying god who loved a mortal. That god's blood runs through her. She was meant to temper you."
"Temper?"
"Or destroy. The bond has not chosen yet."
A pulse rocked the Veil — reality shuddering.
"You must wake now," the older version said. "And protect her. Not just from Sol'Vetra… but from herself."
Nezutsu reached out to Kaelith—
And the Veil shattered like glass.
Back in the Real World
He gasped awake in a forest — trees scorched black, air still crackling with residual magic. Kaelith lay beside him, breathing, her hand still glowing faintly.
They were back. Somehow.
But they weren't alone.
Velgrim staggered into view, bloodied, clutching his ribs.
"You're alive," he wheezed. "Thank the stars. I thought she'd taken you both."
"What happened to Sol'Vetra?"
"She vanished when the Veil collapsed. But she'll return. And next time… she won't come alone."
Nezutsu helped Kaelith sit up.
"You used the Flame," he said softly.
"Only because… I saw you fall. And I couldn't…" her voice trembled, "…I couldn't let you vanish again."
He looked at her — and for a moment, the forest around them felt warm. Safe.
"We need answers," he said. "And fast."
"Then we go to Abyssreach," Velgrim said. "The city that records even forbidden truths."
"And what lives there?" Kaelith asked.
"The Librarian of Endings. A creature who knows every version of you that ever might have been."
Nezutsu's fingers curled around the Voice Shard.
"Then let's find out what I could become."
Cliffhanger Ending
As they walked into the darkness beyond the forest, far away, in a temple made of frozen screams…
Sol'Vetra knelt before a mirror.
But the reflection wasn't hers.
It was Nezutsu's — older, crueler, burning with flame so deep it whispered.
"You will hunt him until the end," the reflection said.
"And when I find him?"
"You will offer him a choice. Serve the gods... or become one."
The mirror shattered.
And twelve more reflections stepped forward from the shards.
Each one wearing his face.
[TO BE CONTINUED…]