Mist coiled around the Hollow that morning.
Thin at first. Pale. Harmless.
But beneath it lay silence too deep to be natural.
Not the stillness of calm.
The stillness of something listening.
Kaien rose from meditation within the Oathstone chamber.
Dreamfire clung to his fingertips, still spiraling from his last breath.
He paused.
Something was missing.
Not a person.
A place.
Outside, the disciples trained, unaware of the unweaving creeping through their world.
Rin struck through illusion drills, sweat and smoke dancing across his arms.
Veyra knelt before a beaststone, her Judgment Brand glowing with steady, unreadable light.
Seren walked the dreampath behind the Veilbranch, whispering the names of every disciple into
flame—binding them to memory.
The new recruits followed in soft, wary silence.
Tora adjusted Lenari's stance. Mazren practiced sigils.
Even the Unnamed Boy sat near the edge of the firelight,
unspeaking, unregistered—yet always watching.
Everything felt normal.
Until it didn't.
Seren froze mid-step.
"The trial ground," she whispered."It was here. I— I know it was here—"
She turned.
And the clearing behind her…
Was gone.
Not burned.
Not destroyed
.Erased.
[System Alert: Memory Distortion Detected]Origin: Unknown Flamepath InterferenceAffected Zone: Sector 3 — Ember GroveOathstone Defense Barrier: Suppressed (Severance Song Active)
Kaien's breath caught as his flame dimmed.
"They're here," he said.
His voice fell like a sword into silence.
"The Choir."
The Fog That Sang
From the mist came the first note.
Not a voice, not quite.
A low vibration—like the humming of old names.
The trees bent.
Memory faltered.
Mazren clutched his head, gasping. "What's my name—?! Why can't I—?"
Lenari screamed, falling to her knees. Her flameroot flickered wildly, no longer tethered.
Seren's eyes flashed.
She inhaled sharply—
Then sliced the mist in three directions with dreamfire, each spiral humming with burning script.
"Rin! Guard the recruits!"
"Veyra—strike anything that sings!"
They emerged from the fog like knives in velvet.
Six figures—draped in robes of glass-threaded black.
Faces veiled.
Mouths sewn shut.
Yet their voices echoed everywhere.
Severance Choir Disciples.
The Trial of Memory
Kaien arrived like a falling brand—
His cloak disintegrated into Sovereign fire, one hand raised in command, the other drawing
glyph of 寂 (Silence).
"You came to steal names," he said, voice even.
"Then take mine."
The first Choir disciple hurled a Severance Thread—an attack meant not to wound flesh, but to
untie the soul from memory.
Kaien caught it mid-air. His palm shimmered with script.
"I remember too much to forget now."
He turned the thread.
Reversed its intent.
The disciple vanished—
Not killed.
Unmade.
Not in blood.
In meaning.
Rin erupted forward, smoke coiling into his fists.
He struck a songcaster mid-chant—his chains whirling, disrupting the fog's resonance.
It left behind only a carved word in the dirt:
"Mazren."
"Speak your names!" Rin roared.
"Hold them! Speak them aloud!"
Tora screamed hers into the wind.
Lenari stammered through sobs.
Even Mazren found the strength.
Only the Unnamed Boy said nothing.
Because the fog never touched him.
A third Choir member drifted toward him.
Paused.
Knelt.
Her voice emerged like a cracking mask:
"You… you don't belong here."
"You are one of us."
"You've already been forgotten."
Still, the boy did not answer.
He lifted his hand.
The system shivered.
[Dormant Flame Reactivation – Catalyst Detected]Identity: ???Talent: UnmeasuredSkill: "Echo of the Vanished Self"Status: Partial Awakening
The Choir disciple stumbled back—too late.
He exhaled.
And every voice that had sung to erase others—
was erased.
Their resonance collapsed inward.
A vacuum of song.
A silent scream.
The Names That Remained
Kaien strode through the stillness.
He approached the boy.
"You're not like them," he said.
A pause.
"But you were. Once."
The boy's eyes lifted.
"Was I?"
Kaien's reply was quiet. Tired.
But lit by something vast beneath it.
"We'll find out. Together."
The mist lifted. The Choir was gone.
But the Hollow did not cheer. Did not chant.
They had won—
But something darker had been shown.
That night, Seren's flame writhed in her sleep.
She dreamed of a ruined chapel.
A name carved in grief.
Kaien kneeling before it.
Screaming.