The Novaah family tree had no roots.
No branches.
No record.
Just embers—flickers of people who once were, scattered across dimensions, sealed away by flame and time.
Skyler sat in the chamber of remembrance, surrounded by swirling memory dust. Orias stood before a projection of the bloodline—what little remained of it. The image wasn't a tree… it was a starburst. Each line twisted and folded in on itself, severed violently at every attempt to extend forward.
There were only four names that still pulsed red with flame:
Aeria Novaah
Orias Novaah
Saya Novaah
And now… Veritas Novaah, reborn as Skyler.
Skyler looked at the projection. "That's it? We're all that's left?"
Orias's voice was heavy. "The last flickering light of a legacy they tried to unmake."
He gestured, and the projection shifted. Hundreds—thousands—of names appeared, then grayed out like falling ash.
"They erased us from time. Not by killing us," Orias continued, "but by unremembering us."
"They rewrote our role in history… until we became myth. Then made us myth until we became 'fiction.' And then… they banned the fiction."
Skyler's stomach turned. "You're saying those stories I read growing up…"
"They were shadow echoes," his mother said, entering the room. "Shreds of truth clinging to alternate timelines."
Skyler clenched his fists.
"I used to dream of fire. I thought I was insane."
"You were remembering," she said softly. "The Archive was stirring."
He turned back to the image.
"So what exactly are we?" he asked.
Saya answered.
"We are the True Witnesses—the only bloodline that can remember everything."
Orias nodded.
"You are the multiverse's conscience. You are what they feared most."
Skyler stepped forward. "Because I can bring the truth back?"
"No," Orias said. "Because you can't forget it."
Then the projection flared. One name at the edge of the map flickered—briefly, as though someone… somewhere… had remembered.
Skyler narrowed his eyes. "Someone else is still alive."
Orias turned sharply. "That's not possible. The Others were all—"
"Hidden," Saya interrupted. "Not gone. She never truly died."
Skyler turned to her. "Who?"
Saya tilted her head toward the Book of Recalled Flame, which had begun to hum softly.
"The First Witness," she said.
"Mother Flame. Aeria Novaah."