The assassin moved faster than thought.
One moment he was ten meters away.
The next—
Steel kissed my throat.
I froze.
His blade hovered a hair from my skin, so sharp even breathing felt dangerous.
Behind me, the nameless beast tensed.
Seris raised her sword, silver fire flickering across the blade.
The assassin didn't even look at them.
His voice was cold.
Mechanical.
"Aerin Vale."
I swallowed.
He knew my name.
He shouldn't have.
The Order of True Names carved names into existence—they didn't acknowledge "nobodies" like me.
He stepped closer.
"Do you know why the Blank chooses vessels?" he asked.
My voice was barely a whisper.
"No."
"You're lying."
The blade pressed closer.
"Your sigil is the reason. The Mute Sigil is not suppression."
He leaned in enough for me to see the runes carved into his mask.
"It is hunger."
A chill spidered down my spine.
"What?"
"A sigil created to devour names… just like the beast."
Seris hissed, "That's impossible—the Mute Sigil is a myth—"
"Is it?" the assassin murmured. "Then why did the first Name-Eater bond with one?"
My heart hammered so violently I thought it might burst.
The beast behind me stirred.
Its voice slid into my skull.
"He knows too much."
The assassin raised his second blade.
"Aerin Vale. Step forward. Only you."
Seris grabbed my arm.
"No—don't!"
The assassin snapped his fingers, and the runes on his armor flared.
A shockwave exploded outward.
Seris was thrown into a wall.
Her moon-fox yelped and vanished in a burst of shattered light.
The beast staggered—actually staggered—its form bending like the runes were crushing its existence.
The assassin's voice cut through the air like a decree:
"This armor erases your kind."
The beast snarled, more impatient than afraid.
Seris struggled to her feet, clutching her chest.
"Don't… go to him," she rasped. "He'll kill you."
The assassin didn't look at her.
His masked gaze pinned only me.
"Come."
Every instinct screamed no.
But if I didn't…
He'd kill them both.
I stepped forward.
The beast growled, taking a step too.
The assassin lifted his blade.
"One more step from that creature," he warned,
"and I sever the bond.
He dies.
You die."
I froze.
The beast froze.
Seris clenched her jaw, fury burning in her eyes.
The assassin lowered his voice.
"Aerin Vale… do you know your real name?"
My pulse stuttered.
He whispered:
"…The one your mother hid."
The sidewalk cracked beneath my feet.
"What are you talking about?"
I forced the words out through trembling lips.
He lifted one gloved hand—
and from his sleeve, a small metal cube floated into the air.
Symbols pulsed on its surface.
Recognition hit me like a hammer.
A memory seal.
Ancient. Highly illegal.
He placed it in my palm.
My veins froze.
The moment it touched my skin—
It unlocked.
Light flared.
My vision blurred.
A sound roared in my skull.
A voice—my mother's—echoed from the cube.
"Aerin… forgive me."
The world spun.
"Your true name is—"
A slash of darkness cut through the air—
And the cube detonated.
The assassin's mask snapped toward the attacker.
Something—or someone—had destroyed the cube mid-message.
He wasn't fast enough to defend it.
Which meant—
Someone faster than even him had arrived.
A figure emerged from the shadows.
Cloaked in black.
Face obscured.
Aura colder than night.
Presence heavier than the sky.
Even the beast stepped back.
Seris froze, eyes wide with horror.
"No…" she whispered.
"Not him."
The assassin gripped his blades tighter.
"You—"
his voice finally wavered
"—should not be here."
The cloaked figure lifted his head slightly.
No eyes visible.
Just void.
Not darkness.
Absence.
His voice dripped like honey through a coffin lid.
"The vessel belongs to me."
My blood iced.
Seris shook her head violently.
"Aerin—" she whispered, terrified for the first time
"—run."
The beast's voice trembled in my mind.
"That is not human."
The assassin lunged toward the figure—
—and his blade shattered.
Not broke.
Not snapped.
Shattered into dust.
The figure tilted his head at the assassin.
"You dare touch my heir?"
My stomach dropped.
What—
What did he just say?
Before I could react—
He raised one finger.
Just one.
Runes exploded across the walls.
The ground split.
The air screamed.
The assassin—
one of the Order's strongest—
was lifted into the air, choking, as his armor melted into liquid silver.
Seris shouted, "STOP—!!"
But the cloaked figure squeezed his fingers—
—And the assassin imploded into a sphere of silence.
No sound.
No blood.
No body.
Gone.
The figure turned to me.
Slowly.
Too slowly.
Predatory.
"Aerin Vale," he said, voice soft.
"Come."
The beast stepped between us, body glowing with warping shadows.
"I will devour you before you touch him."
The cloaked figure chuckled.
"Little Name-Eater…"
His aura surged—
—And the beast was thrown back like a ragdoll.
My heart felt like it was tearing itself apart.
"W-Who are you?!"
The figure approached until he stood an arm's length away.
He lifted his hand.
Cold fingertips touched my cheek.
And then he whispered—
"I am the one who named you."
My breath stopped.
My world stopped.
Everything stopped.
He leaned closer.
"And now…"
His fingers slid toward my throat.
"…let me take it back."
A ring of runes ignited around my neck—
tightening—
burning—
draining—
Seris screamed my name.
The beast roared my name.
But I couldn't speak.
I couldn't breathe.
My vision dimmed.
My name—
my identity—
my existence itself—
was being pulled out of me.
And the final thing I heard before darkness swallowed me was:
"Aerin Vale…
your true name is not yours."