Chapter 122 — The First Witch
The silence after the laughter felt unnatural.
No one moved.
The fracture in the street remained open.
Far beneath them, hidden beyond layers of ancient stone, was the door.
Brook could no longer see it clearly.
But he could feel what was below.
Death wouldn't let him ignore it.
A lifeline pulsed somewhere beneath Remus.
Weak.
Damaged.
Then gone.
Brook stared into the darkness.
Henry stood beside him.
"Please tell me that means whatever is down there left."
Brook shook his head.
"No."
Henry waited.
Brook's expression tightened.
"I can't feel it anymore."
That made Crowley look at him.
Hades did too.
Sera frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Brook took a moment before answering.
"I don't know."
He hated that answer.
Especially now.
"The closer someone is to me, the more I can feel their lifeline."
Sera watched him carefully.
Brook continued.
"I can feel pain sometimes. Weakness. Damage."
Henry glanced toward the ground.
"And this thing?"
Brook's eyes stayed on the darkness.
"It was hurting."
Crowley crossed his arms.
"And now?"
Brook looked at him.
"Nothing."
The ground remained still.
But nobody relaxed.
Hades turned toward his guards.
"Keep the district evacuated."
One of the guards stepped forward.
"My King, should we send someone below?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
The guard bowed and stepped back.
Henry looked at Hades.
"That's surprisingly sensible."
Hades ignored him.
Crowley stared into the fracture.
"You know what this is."
Hades didn't respond.
Crowley's expression darkened.
"I can tolerate someone keeping secrets."
Hades slowly looked toward him.
"I know."
Crowley continued.
"But I dislike being treated like an idiot."
The two stared at one another.
Brook could feel the tension building.
And something inside him enjoyed it.
Lucifer.
A small, quiet laugh.
Brook immediately clenched his fists.
Sera noticed.
She didn't say anything.
Not yet.
Hades finally spoke.
"I know this place was here before Remus."
Henry folded his arms.
"That's something."
"I know that the people who built Remus found it."
"Still something."
Hades looked at him.
Henry slowly raised both hands.
"Sorry."
Hades looked back toward the fracture.
"The people who found it did not open the door."
Brook frowned.
"Why?"
Hades answered:
"Because the person who sealed it was still alive."
Silence.
Crowley's expression changed.
"Who?"
Hades didn't answer.
Brook looked toward Sera.
She had gone completely still.
Her eyes were fixed on the ancient symbols surrounding the fracture.
Brook walked closer.
"Sera?"
She didn't answer.
"Sera."
Her head slowly turned.
"I know that symbol."
Everyone looked at her.
Brook followed her gaze.
A symbol had appeared on the stone.
It wasn't like the others.
The ancient writing around it was complicated.
Layered.
But this symbol was simple.
A circle.
A line through its center.
And three small marks beneath it.
Sera stepped toward it.
Brook immediately caught her wrist.
She looked at him.
"Brook."
"Don't touch it."
"I'm not going to."
"You were about to."
Sera looked at his hand.
Then at him.
Brook released her.
She stepped closer.
Crowley watched her carefully.
"What is it?"
Sera stared at the symbol.
"I've seen it before."
Brook frowned.
"Where?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Then her eyes widened.
"Shoyo."
Silence.
Henry looked between them.
"Shoyo?"
Sera nodded slowly.
Brook looked at her.
"Our Shoyo?"
Henry turned.
"There's another one?"
"No."
Brook's eyes returned to the symbol.
Sera's voice became quieter.
"She used this symbol when she taught me."
Crowley stared at her.
"Why?"
Sera shook her head.
"I don't know."
Brook remembered.
Years ago.
Sera sitting across from Shoyo.
Frustrated.
Trying to understand magic that seemed impossible to control.
Shoyo had drawn symbols.
Words.
Circles.
Patterns.
Sera had always treated them as lessons.
Brook had never paid much attention.
It was Shoyo.
That was enough.
Shoyo had practically raised him.
She had been there when he needed somewhere to go.
When he needed to learn.
When he needed someone to tell him he was being stupid.
Which happened often enough.
Brook looked toward Sera.
"Are you sure?"
Sera didn't like the question.
He could see it.
But she answered honestly.
"Yes."
Her eyes returned to the symbol.
"I've seen it hundreds of times."
Crowley looked at Hades.
"What does it mean?"
Hades remained silent.
Brook turned.
"What?"
Hades's expression was colder than before.
"The symbol belonged to her."
Sera frowned.
"Shoyo?"
Hades nodded.
Henry looked confused.
"Okay."
He looked toward the symbol.
"So she sealed this door."
Hades didn't respond.
Brook noticed.
"That's not all."
Hades looked directly at Brook.
"No."
Crowley took a step forward.
"Then stop wasting time."
For several seconds, Hades said nothing.
Then:
"The oldest records of Remus describe a woman."
Sera stared at him.
Brook felt something tighten in his chest.
Hades continued.
"She arrived during the final years of the Old World."
The district became quiet.
Even the guards seemed to stop breathing.
"She entered the ruins beneath what would eventually become Remus."
Brook glanced at Sera.
Sera was staring at Hades.
Hades continued.
"She was accompanied by survivors."
"Who?" Brook asked.
"I don't know."
Crowley narrowed his eyes.
"That's convenient."
Hades ignored him.
"The records say she descended below the kingdom."
Henry looked toward the fracture.
"And?"
Hades's eyes moved toward the darkness.
"Three days later, the door was sealed."
Sera whispered:
"By Shoyo."
Hades nodded.
Brook looked toward the ground.
That was strange.
Not impossible.
Shoyo was powerful.
Everyone who knew her understood that.
But this was different.
This wasn't just another story about something Shoyo had done before Brook met her.
This was ancient.
Older than Remus.
Older than the protected places.
Brook looked at Hades.
"Why didn't she tell us?"
Sera looked at him.
Neither of them answered.
Crowley did.
"Because apparently nobody in this world enjoys telling people anything."
Henry looked at him.
"That's fair."
Crowley looked toward Hades.
"What else?"
Hades hesitated.
Brook noticed immediately.
"Tell us."
Hades looked at Sera.
"The records don't call her Shoyo."
Sera's face changed.
Brook frowned.
"What do they call her?"
Hades spoke slowly.
As though he understood that once he said the words, there would be no taking them back.
"The First Witch."
Nothing moved.
Brook stared at him.
Henry blinked.
Crowley didn't react.
At least not at first.
Sera looked almost offended.
"What?"
Hades continued.
"The records say the woman who sealed the door was known as—"
"Stop."
Sera's voice cut through him.
Everyone turned.
She looked at Hades.
Her face had gone pale.
"You're talking about Shoyo."
Hades said nothing.
"The Shoyo who taught me magic."
Still nothing.
"The Shoyo who raised Brook with us."
Brook looked at Sera.
Her breathing had changed.
"You're saying she was—"
"The First Witch."
Hades finished.
Silence.
Brook couldn't speak.
For once, there was nothing sarcastic Henry could say.
Sera stepped backward.
Brook caught her arm.
She looked at him.
"Brook."
"I know."
"No."
Her voice trembled.
"You don't."
She pulled her arm free.
"Shoyo never told me."
Brook stared at her.
"I know."
Sera shook her head.
"She taught me everything."
Crowley looked at her.
"Apparently not everything."
Sera snapped toward him.
Crowley didn't move.
Then Sera looked away.
Because he was right.
And that made it worse.
Brook remembered Shoyo.
Not the First Witch.
Not a legend.
Not an ancient figure from stories.
Shoyo.
The woman who complained when he tracked dirt into the house.
The woman who had scolded him when he was younger for trying to fight something he clearly couldn't defeat.
The woman who had taught Sera patiently.
Or as patiently as Shoyo was capable of being.
Brook had known she was old.
He had known she was different.
Immortal.
Powerful.
But there was a difference between knowing someone had lived for centuries—
and discovering that history itself had been built around them.
Henry finally spoke.
"So."
Everyone looked at him.
He pointed toward the symbol.
"Shoyo is the First Witch."
No one answered.
Henry lowered his hand.
"Right."
Brook looked at Hades.
"How old are these records?"
Hades answered:
"Older than Remus."
Brook's expression hardened.
"How old?"
"Older than the twelve protected places."
That hit harder.
Crowley finally moved.
"Impossible."
Hades looked at him.
Crowley stepped forward.
"The First Witch is a title."
Hades nodded.
"Yes."
"A myth."
"Apparently not."
Crowley looked toward Sera.
Then Brook.
For the first time, Crowley looked genuinely unsettled.
"You two knew her."
Brook stared at him.
"Yeah."
Crowley laughed quietly.
It wasn't amusement.
"You grew up around the First Witch."
Henry looked at Brook.
"When you say it like that, it sounds insane."
"It is insane."
Sera whispered.
Her eyes were still on the symbol.
Brook walked toward her.
She looked at him.
"She lied to us."
Brook shook his head.
"Maybe she just didn't tell us."
Sera's expression hardened.
"That's the same thing."
Brook didn't have an answer.
Because it was.
The ground shook.
Everyone moved back.
Brook's head snapped toward the fracture.
The lifeline returned.
Pain flooded through him.
He gasped.
This time, he knew exactly what he was feeling.
Someone was suffering.
Close.
Too close.
Brook grabbed his chest.
Sera immediately turned.
"Brook!"
Henry moved toward him.
Brook raised a hand.
"Wait."
His eyes closed.
The world changed.
Darkness.
Stone.
Water dripping somewhere far away.
Then—
a woman.
Brook couldn't see her face.
She stood before a massive door.
One hand pressed against it.
Blood ran down her arm.
Words covered the walls around her.
Thousands of them.
The woman whispered something.
A single word.
The door began to close.
Brook felt the pain.
Not hers.
Something on the other side.
Then—
the woman turned.
Brook's eyes opened.
He stumbled backward.
Sera caught him.
"What did you see?"
Brook stared at her.
"Shoyo."
Everything stopped.
Sera's grip tightened.
"What?"
"I saw her."
Crowley stepped closer.
"When?"
"I don't know."
Brook looked toward the darkness.
"But she was here."
Hades's face changed.
Henry noticed.
"Again."
Hades slowly looked at him.
"What?"
"You know something."
Hades didn't answer.
Henry pointed at him.
"Every time we get close to something, your face does that."
Hades looked genuinely irritated.
"What does my face do?"
Henry hesitated.
"That."
Brook almost laughed.
Almost.
Hades looked toward the fracture.
"The records say the First Witch did not leave the ruins alone."
Sera's attention snapped back.
"Who was with her?"
Hades looked at the darkness.
"A king."
Crowley frowned.
"Vaelor."
"No."
Hades's answer was immediate.
Brook looked toward him.
"Then who?"
Hades shook his head.
"His name was removed from the records."
Crowley stared.
"Removed by who?"
"I don't know."
Crowley closed his eyes.
"Of course."
The ground shook again.
Harder.
The fracture widened.
Guards raised their weapons.
Hades's magic formed around his hands.
Brook felt the lifeline pulse.
Pain.
Then something else.
Recognition.
Brook froze.
The feeling coming from beneath Remus changed.
It wasn't just pain anymore.
Something below had noticed him.
The same way Death allowed him to feel others—
something was feeling him.
Brook's eyes widened.
"Crowley."
Crowley looked at him.
"What?"
Brook stared into the darkness.
"It's looking at us."
The door beneath Remus groaned.
Sera stepped forward.
Brook immediately grabbed her shoulder.
"Don't."
She looked at him.
"I can hear something."
"What?"
"The words."
Her eyes moved across the ancient symbols.
Brook looked at them.
They were changing.
Sera whispered:
"They're waking up."
Hades raised his hand.
"Everyone back."
Nobody moved.
Crowley looked at Sera.
"What are they saying?"
Sera stared at the stone.
Her face slowly changed.
"No."
Brook turned.
"What?"
She looked at him.
"They're calling her."
"Shoyo?"
Sera nodded.
The symbols illuminated.
One after another.
The ancient city beneath Remus seemed to answer.
And then—
a voice came from the darkness.
Not a scream.
Not a roar.
A woman's voice.
Calm.
Almost amused.
Brook knew it immediately.
His body went still.
Sera stopped breathing.
Henry looked between them.
"What?"
The voice came again.
This time, clearer.
From somewhere beneath Remus.
Or somewhere much farther away.
Brook couldn't tell.
But he knew that voice.
They all did.
Sera whispered:
"Shoyo."
The symbols went dark.
The fracture stopped moving.
Silence returned.
Brook stared into the darkness.
He thought about Shoyo.
About everything she had taught them.
Everything she had refused to explain.
Everything they had assumed they understood.
And for the first time in his life—
Brook realized something terrifying.
They didn't know Shoyo.
Not really.
They knew the woman who had raised them.
The teacher.
The witch.
But somewhere in the history of the world—
before the Walls—
before the Shinokunis—
before Remus—
Shoyo had been someone else.
A name history had buried.
A name even she had never given them.
The First Witch.
Far beneath Remus—
Vaelor opened his eyes.
The chains around his wrists remained still.
The darkness around him was silent.
Then Vaelor smiled.
Not happily.
With dread.
Because if the First Witch's name was being spoken again—
then something he had spent centuries trying to forget was beginning to wake.
Vaelor lowered his head.
And whispered to the darkness:
"She should have stayed gone."
End of Chapter 122