The Sea of Sealed Light was not water.
It shimmered like it. Moved like it. But each ripple carried screams. Echoes of things that had died badly. The Hollow Tower had collapsed into this place a century ago—its divine wards cracking, its guardian deities slain in the War of the Unnamed.
And now, whatever remained below the waves stirred again.
Solan Maelvaran stood at the cliff's edge with Kaelir Thorne, both draped in travel-gray Veilwalker cloaks. The sky overhead was wrong—clouds hung motionless, and the moon didn't reflect on the water's surface.
"This sea," Kaelir muttered, "even Tier Sevens avoid it."
Solan said nothing. His left wrist still pulsed with the sealed rune—the same spiral the Mirror had marked. The System hadn't issued a damage warning since yesterday's duel, but something inside him was tracking. Breathing.
Waiting.
Instructor Delryn's voice echoed from behind them. "Your trial begins at descent. The relic chamber lies in the submerged sanctum—what remains of the Hollow Tower's heart."
"Expected resistance?" Solan asked.
Delryn paused.
"The Fifth Echo was buried here."
Kaelir froze. "That's a myth."
Delryn turned away. "So was the Tower."
Then he vanished, stepping through a spatial seal. They were alone.
—
They entered by way of the Shattered Bridge—a mangled causeway of glass and bone protruding from the sea like the ribs of a drowned god. As they walked, the "water" below pulsed with luminous fog, showing glimpses of ruins suspended in impossible angles. A staircase upside down. A corridor that curled into a spiral. A cathedral turned inside out.
As they descended, Solan felt the change.
Not in temperature.
But gravity. Logic. Sound.
Their steps no longer echoed right. Shadows lagged behind them, bending too far. The Veilcraft etched into their skin began to itch, reacting to the warped realm. Kaelir's Hollow Flame sigils flickered amber-red, while Solan's Wyrm tattoos pulsed in sync with a distant heartbeat.
Then the System flared.
Veiled Labyrinth Tier Identified:
Tier V: Desire (Corrupted)
Status: Breached by Unspeakable Realm.
Warning: Memory Stability at risk.
Solan's head throbbed. He glanced at Kaelir, who now stood still, hand trembling slightly.
"You saw that?" Solan asked.
"Didn't just see it," Kaelir muttered. "I remembered it."
The system had inserted something into their minds—a fabricated past or a buried one.
Solan focused. His Forgotten Sight activated—flashing fragments across his vision.
The Hollow Tower... rising from white stone. Five Lords standing in ritual formation. A sixth presence in shadow. Then a rupture—something screamed without sound, and the image snapped.
Wyrm's voice whispered: "They buried the Fifth. But not deep enough."
—
The entrance to the relic chamber was sealed by a Divine Lock—an octagram glyph only visible in mirrored reflection. Solan reached for his Mask, but Kaelir stepped forward instead, drawing a small obsidian shard from his robe.
"Don't ask how I got this," he said, pressing the shard to the glyph.
It hissed. Flames licked the air, and the seal cracked.
Beyond lay the sanctum.
Or what was left of it.
A dome-shaped hall of shattered murals. Veiled statues with broken faces. Runes that had no known syntax. And at its center—floating just above a fractured altar—was a grimoire.
Bound in flesh.
It wept.
Kaelir stepped forward.
"Wait," Solan whispered. "Can you feel it?"
Kaelir paused. Then nodded. "Breathing."
Not the book. The room.
It was alive.
Solan activated a Rite of Caution, tracing the glyph for silence into the air with his blood. The moment the symbol completed, the floor shuddered.
The Fifth Echo spoke.
Not with words, but names.
A dozen at once. All of them his.
Solan Maelvaran.
Sorin Valen.
Ashen-Born.
Nameless Core.
"Make it stop—" Kaelir hissed, clutching his head.
The Mask at Solan's hip shuddered violently.
Wyrm screamed.
And the grimoire opened on its own.
Its pages turned.
System Prompt: Potential Ascension Ritual Detected.
Warning: Forbidden Veilcraft Interface – Tier VIII Binding Structure Active.
Caution: Ritual will overwrite origin-state memory.
Solan's soul split—not literally, but in sensation.
He stood beside himself, watching his younger self as a child. Alone. Crying. Calling a name that didn't exist. And then—a gift. A voice. The System.
He had always believed it was random.
But it had been given.
The Nameless Core… had chosen him.
And now, the Fifth Echo wanted it back.
—
Kaelir tried to destroy the grimoire.
But the flames rebounded—screaming like infants and branding his face with mirrored script. He fell back, writhing.
Solan didn't move.
He reached out instead. The grimoire did not resist. Its pages turned to him.
And the System activated:
[Veilcraft Subpath Unlocked: Ash Tongue]
Effect: You may transcribe truth into flame. Requires ritual memory offerings.
[Forbidden True Name Ritual Available]
Perform now?
– Accept – Decline
Solan felt the urge to decline. To shut it down.
But the world outside—Umbracairn, the Lords, the Sea, even the Mask—all felt less real than this moment.
"I accept," he said.
The room exploded.
—
He awoke in silence.
Floating in the void.
Beside him stood a mirror. And in the mirror was not his reflection—but a boy with a face of fire, eyes empty, arms dripping with words.
"Solan," the boy said.
"Who are you?"
"I am who you were before the Core. I am the price you never paid."
The boy raised his hand.
And burned.
Solan screamed as truth lanced into his mind. Every lie he had told. Every name he had forgotten. Every soulchain he had bound, screamed in chorus.
And then… silence.
—
He woke on the shattered floor.
Kaelir beside him, alive but pale.
The chamber gone.
Only the sea remained.
The grimoire was gone—but not lost. It now existed within him, inked into his bones. His Mask gleamed with new symbols. The system pulsed softly.
True Name sealed.
Unlock condition: Dream of the Hollow Flame.
Tier Progression Updated:
Current Path: Veilwalker – Shadow Veil (Branching: Ash Tongue)
Soul Integrity: 83%
Talent Status: SS [Sealed] – EX form locked
Danger Level: Reclassified to Tier Threat 6
Solan exhaled, his breath curling like smoke.
Beside him, Kaelir opened his eyes.
"What… what did you do?"
Solan didn't answer.
He only stared at the sea, which now reflected the stars wrong. One by one, constellations were missing.
Something had escaped.