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Chapter 16: The Pale Annex
The floor beneath Kaelen vanished—not fell away, not collapsed—vanished, as if it was only ever an idea.
He didn't drop.
He transitioned.
The world around him rippled like ink in water, reshaping itself without rules. Doors opened into staircases. Shadows had names. The sky blinked, and behind it, more eyes blinked back.
>
Description: Realm of Revisions.
Origin: Unknown. Possibly Pre-Sovereign.
Kaelen stepped forward.
And for the first time, the system hesitated.
> Would you like to proceed?
—"No record exists beyond this point."
—"Permission: Denied."
—"Override: ACTIVE"
He walked anyway.
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The Archivist of Cracks
At the center of the Pale Annex stood a crooked structure—half library, half cathedral, formed from broken architecture, floating ledgers, and towering quills impaling dead books.
Waiting at the altar was a woman.
Or perhaps what used to be one.
She was tall, her skin pale as paper, dressed in robes made of shredded contracts. Her mouth was sewn shut—not with thread, but with text. One eye was ink, the other glass.
She turned as Kaelen approached.
> "You are… an unlisted correction," she rasped, speaking without moving her lips.
"Do you wish to inscribe yourself?"
"Or are you simply passing through your own erasure?"
Kaelen looked her over. No hostility. But danger radiated from her like cold from deep water.
> "I'm looking for the truth," he replied.
She tilted her head.
> "Then you must offer a lie."
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The Price of Passage
A massive tome opened beside her—blank pages flipping endlessly.
> "One truth erased for one truth gained," she said.
"Erase a skill, a title, or a piece of your past… and I will answer."
Kaelen stared at the book.
And placed his hand on it.
He whispered something no one had ever heard from him before.
> A name.
A real one.
A piece of a childhood too painful to keep.
The book absorbed it in silence.
The air changed.
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The Answer Returned
> "You are Eclipseborne," the Archivist said. "Not by chance."
"You are not the only one."
"Others… shards… rivals… echoes."
"You are being watched by the Eye Without Reflection."
"And it has already moved against you."
Kaelen's heart stilled for a moment.
> "What is that?" he asked quietly.
She raised a hand and pointed.
Not behind him.
Not beside him.
But inside him.
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> "The Eye is not a being. It is a law."
"And you, Kaelen Eclipseborne, have begun to rewrite it."
Suddenly, the Pale Annex shook.
Not from collapse—from invasion.
A breach opened in the sky.
>
Entity: Crimson Mnemarch of the Scarlet Record
Hostility Level: Total
Objective: Memory Seizure
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Kaelen turned toward the rift.
He gripped the Hollow Fang.
And for the first time since awakening, he felt something stir in the weapon—not command, not obedience.
Eagerness.
> "Let's see what Sovereigns bleed like," he muttered.
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End of Chapter 16