Chapter 127 — What the First Witch Sealed
The entrance beneath Remus waited for them.
Brook stood at the top of the old staircase.
No one had said much since Shoyo promised them answers.
Hades had increased the number of guards around the district. The streets above had been cleared, but the underground ruins remained untouched.
As if the city itself knew better than to go near them.
Shoyo looked down into the darkness.
Rick stood beside her.
Crowley remained behind Brook.
Sera was quiet.
Henry checked his weapon for the third time.
Brook noticed.
"You expecting something?"
Henry looked at him.
"Yes."
Brook waited.
Henry slid the weapon back into place.
"Something."
Brook nodded.
"Fair."
Shoyo began walking down.
Nobody questioned it.
Brook followed.
The others came after.
The first level was silent.
Their footsteps echoed through the old stone corridors.
Brook watched Shoyo.
She moved through the ruins without hesitation.
She remembered the way.
That fact bothered him more than he expected.
Sera noticed too.
"How long has this been here?"
Shoyo didn't stop walking.
"Longer than Remus."
Henry looked around.
"How much longer?"
"Long enough that the people who built the first version of Remus had already forgotten what this place was."
Crowley frowned.
Brook looked at Shoyo.
"So you knew Remus was built on top of it."
"Yes."
"Did Hades?"
Shoyo glanced toward the guards following them.
"Hades knows enough."
Henry smiled.
"That's becoming my least favourite sentence."
No one answered him.
They reached the chamber where Vaelor had disappeared.
Brook stopped.
The chains were still there.
Broken.
Some hung from the walls.
Others rested across the floor.
The place where Vaelor had been standing was empty.
Brook looked toward the wall.
There was no opening.
No crack.
Nothing.
Sera stepped toward it.
Brook caught her wrist.
She looked at him.
"I'm just looking."
"I know."
Brook released her.
Sera touched the stone.
Nothing happened.
Shoyo approached.
Her expression changed immediately.
Crowley noticed.
"What?"
Shoyo didn't answer.
Crowley stepped closer.
"Shoyo."
She placed her palm against the wall.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then symbols appeared.
Sera inhaled sharply.
They were old.
Brook couldn't understand them.
But Sera could.
At least partially.
She stepped closer.
Shoyo immediately turned.
"Don't."
Sera stopped.
Brook saw the look on her face.
"Why?"
Shoyo's voice was firm.
"Because these aren't words."
Sera frowned.
"They look like—"
"They imitate words."
Silence.
Sera slowly stepped back.
Crowley studied the symbols.
"Then what are they?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"Instructions."
Brook frowned.
"For what?"
Shoyo looked toward the broken chains.
"To remain closed."
Henry stared at the wall.
"So."
Nobody looked at him.
He continued anyway.
"Can we talk about the thing that tried to drag us through a wall?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"Yes."
"Good."
Henry folded his arms.
"What was it?"
Shoyo looked toward the darkness.
"A Watcher."
Brook remembered the name.
"What does it watch?"
Shoyo was quiet.
Then:
"The door."
Crowley frowned.
Brook looked at the wall.
"The ancient door."
Shoyo nodded.
Henry sighed.
"Of course."
Sera looked at Shoyo.
"Why are they awake?"
Shoyo's expression hardened.
"That is what worries me."
Brook watched her.
"You sealed them."
"No."
Brook frowned.
Shoyo continued.
"They were already there."
The room became quiet.
Crowley looked at her.
"Guarding it."
Shoyo nodded.
"Yes."
"Then who made them?"
Shoyo looked toward the wall.
"I don't know."
Henry stared.
"You?"
"No."
Brook watched her.
Shoyo rarely admitted she didn't know something.
That worried him.
Shoyo walked deeper into the chamber.
The others followed.
She stopped beside an old symbol carved into the floor.
It was almost completely hidden beneath dust.
She knelt.
Brook watched her fingers move over the stone.
"Vaelor found this place first."
Crowley looked at her.
"Not you?"
Shoyo shook her head.
"I found him."
The room became still.
Brook looked at her.
"Explain."
Shoyo stood.
"Vaelor was a king."
Henry quietly said:
"That much we know."
Shoyo looked at him.
Henry raised his hands.
"Sorry."
She continued.
"He ruled before the world was divided into the protected places."
Brook looked toward the ceiling.
Before the Walls.
Before Shinokuni.
Before Remus had become Remus.
Shoyo continued.
"Vaelor was intelligent."
Crowley laughed quietly.
"That's never good."
Shoyo glanced at him.
"No."
Her expression remained serious.
"He believed knowledge was power."
Crowley looked at the broken chains.
"And he found something powerful."
Shoyo nodded.
"Yes."
Brook stepped forward.
"The door."
Shoyo looked at him.
"Yes."
Sera folded her arms.
"What was behind it?"
Shoyo remained silent.
Brook waited.
Sera's voice became firmer.
"You said you would answer us."
"I will."
"Then answer."
Shoyo looked at her.
"What do you think is behind every door?"
Sera frowned.
"Something."
"Not always."
Shoyo turned toward the wall.
"Sometimes there is simply another place."
Brook watched her.
"Then where does it go?"
Shoyo's eyes moved toward him.
"I don't know."
The answer landed heavily.
Henry slowly lowered his arms.
Crowley stared at Shoyo.
"You sealed something you didn't understand."
Shoyo nodded.
"Yes."
Brook frowned.
"Why?"
Shoyo looked toward the broken chains.
"Because I understood enough."
She walked toward the centre of the room.
The others followed.
Shoyo stopped.
"This place was not supposed to be found."
Brook looked around.
"Clearly."
Henry looked at him.
"Don't start."
Brook ignored him.
Shoyo continued.
"Vaelor found the entrance in old records."
Rick looked at her.
"Records that should have been destroyed."
Shoyo nodded.
Brook turned.
"You knew about this?"
Rick shook his head.
"Not at the time."
Brook watched him.
Rick continued.
"She told me later."
Shoyo gave him a look.
Rick shrugged.
"What? I'm helping."
Shoyo looked back at the group.
"Vaelor believed the records described a source of power."
Crowley frowned.
"And did they?"
Shoyo nodded.
Brook felt the atmosphere change.
Sera went still.
Shoyo continued.
"Power."
Her eyes moved toward Sera.
"But not magic as you understand it."
Sera frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Shoyo looked away.
"It means there are things older than the systems people later used to explain magic."
Crowley studied her.
"Older than Sources."
Shoyo nodded.
Brook stared.
Henry quietly muttered:
"Great."
Shoyo ignored him.
"Vaelor opened the door."
Brook's eyes moved toward the wall.
"And?"
Shoyo's voice became quieter.
"Something noticed."
The room went silent.
Brook felt his hand close.
"What?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"I don't know."
Brook frowned.
"You said—"
"I know what happened after."
Her voice became firmer.
"I don't know what was on the other side."
Crowley stared at her.
"Then how did you stop it?"
Shoyo looked at the floor.
"Vaelor stopped it."
Brook looked at the broken chains.
"He locked himself here."
Shoyo nodded.
"Not immediately."
Sera stepped forward.
"What happened?"
Shoyo looked at her.
"For a time, Vaelor believed he could use what he had found."
Henry sighed.
"Of course."
Shoyo continued.
"He believed the door could be controlled."
Crowley looked at her.
"Could it?"
"No."
The answer was immediate.
Brook watched her.
"What happened?"
Shoyo looked at the wall.
"People disappeared."
Nobody spoke.
Shoyo continued.
"Not hundreds."
Her voice became quieter.
"At first."
Brook felt something cold move through him.
Sera looked toward the wall.
"The Watchers."
Shoyo shook her head.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
"They were not taking people."
Henry frowned.
"Then what?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"Something else was."
Silence.
Brook looked around the chamber.
For the first time, he understood what Shoyo meant when she said some knowledge was dangerous.
This wasn't simply an ancient monster.
It was a piece of history that had consumed people.
And nobody even knew what had been responsible.
Crowley walked toward Shoyo.
"Where was I?"
Shoyo looked at him.
Crowley frowned.
"You know."
Shoyo remained quiet.
Crowley's voice hardened.
"Where was I?"
Brook watched him.
Shoyo looked at Crowley.
"You were not here at first."
Crowley's expression changed.
"Then when?"
Shoyo hesitated.
"I don't remember exactly."
Crowley stared at her.
For a second, anger appeared in his face.
Then it disappeared.
He laughed bitterly.
"Convenient."
Shoyo's eyes narrowed.
"Do not confuse age with perfect memory."
Crowley stopped.
Shoyo stepped closer.
"You forget."
Crowley's expression hardened.
"So do you."
"Yes."
The honesty stopped him.
Shoyo continued.
"I remember more than you about this place."
Crowley looked away.
"But I don't remember everything."
Brook watched them.
Two people who had lived for so long that their memories had become incomplete.
History had not survived inside them perfectly.
It had worn away.
Shoyo looked at the broken chains.
"By the time you arrived, Vaelor had already changed."
Crowley looked at her.
"What did I do?"
Shoyo shook her head.
"I don't know."
Crowley's eyes narrowed.
Shoyo continued.
"Not everything."
That seemed to bother Crowley more.
Sera stepped toward Shoyo.
"What did you seal?"
The question brought everyone back.
Shoyo looked at her.
Sera didn't move.
"What did you seal?"
Shoyo looked toward the wall.
Then at the symbols.
Then at the floor.
When she finally answered, her voice was quiet.
"Nothing."
Brook frowned.
"What?"
Shoyo continued.
"I didn't seal a creature."
Sera's eyes narrowed.
"Then what?"
Shoyo placed her hand over the symbol in the floor.
"I sealed the door."
Brook stared at her.
"That's it?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"That was enough."
Crowley frowned.
"Explain."
Shoyo nodded.
"Vaelor opened something that should not have been opened."
Brook waited.
"People disappeared."
Shoyo continued.
"Something came through."
Henry raised his weapon slightly.
Brook looked at him.
"What?"
Henry pointed toward the darkness.
"Just being prepared."
Shoyo continued.
"I fought what came through."
Brook frowned.
"You fought it?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"Yes."
Sera stared.
"What was it?"
Shoyo remained silent.
Brook's expression hardened.
"Shoyo."
She looked at him.
"I don't know."
Sera frowned.
"You fought something and don't know what it was?"
Shoyo's eyes moved toward the darkness.
"It had no name."
The chamber became still.
Shoyo continued.
"Not because nobody had named it."
Her voice became quieter.
"Because there was nothing to name."
Brook didn't understand.
Henry didn't either.
Crowley did.
His expression changed.
Shoyo noticed.
Crowley whispered:
"Nothing."
Shoyo looked at him.
Crowley stepped backward.
A memory.
Something had moved inside his mind.
But he couldn't hold it.
His hand went to his head.
Brook moved toward him.
"Crowley."
Crowley looked up.
His face was pale.
Then—
the memory disappeared.
Crowley's expression changed.
Gone again.
"I hate this."
Nobody laughed.
Shoyo looked toward the broken chains.
"Vaelor eventually understood."
Brook watched her.
"He could not control the door."
Shoyo nodded.
"Yes."
"And he chose to remain here."
"Yes."
Brook looked at the chains.
"He asked you to bind him."
Shoyo nodded.
"Yes."
Henry stared at the empty place where Vaelor had been.
"And now he's gone."
Nobody answered.
Henry looked at the wall.
"That seems bad."
Hades's voice came from the entrance.
"It is."
Everyone turned.
Hades walked into the chamber.
His expression was cold.
But Brook could see the tension behind it.
Shoyo looked at him.
"How much do you know?"
Hades stopped.
"Enough."
Henry closed his eyes.
"No."
Brook almost smiled.
Hades looked at him.
Henry shrugged.
"Sorry."
Hades looked back at Shoyo.
"Not enough."
Shoyo nodded.
For the first time, Brook understood something.
Hades was afraid too.
Not of Shoyo.
Not of Brook.
Of what was beneath his city.
Shoyo walked toward the centre of the chamber.
She placed both hands against the floor.
Sera immediately stepped forward.
"Wait."
Shoyo looked at her.
"You don't know what's going to happen."
Shoyo almost smiled.
"Neither do you."
Sera stared.
Shoyo's expression softened.
"But you can help."
Sera froze.
Brook looked at her.
"How?"
Sera asked.
Shoyo looked down at the symbols.
"Tell it to sleep."
Sera stared at the floor.
"You said those weren't words."
"They aren't."
Shoyo nodded.
"But you are."
The room went quiet.
Sera slowly lifted her hands.
Brook immediately moved closer.
Shoyo noticed.
"You can let her."
Brook looked at her.
Sera stepped forward.
"I know."
Brook stopped.
Sera looked at him.
"I know."
Brook nodded.
"Okay."
Shoyo and Sera stood beside each other.
The First Witch and her student.
But Brook could feel the difference now.
Sera wasn't standing behind Shoyo.
She was beside her.
Sera closed her eyes.
The air changed.
Brook felt the pressure of magic.
Words formed around Sera.
Not symbols.
Not light.
Words.
They moved through the air like they were searching for somewhere to belong.
Shoyo whispered:
"One word."
Sera nodded.
She spoke.
"Rest."
Nothing happened.
Then the chamber shook.
Henry stepped back.
Brook's hand moved toward his weapon.
Crowley watched the floor.
The symbols began glowing.
Sera's knees weakened.
Brook caught her.
The pressure stopped.
The chamber became quiet.
Too quiet.
Shoyo stared at the floor.
Her face was serious.
"It heard you."
Brook looked at her.
"What?"
Shoyo didn't answer.
A sound came from beneath them.
One knock.
Then another.
Then—
something knocked back.
End of Chapter 127