"To kill a memory, you have to corrupt the language of the one who transmits it. »»
Veyra - The dawn of the project
The stones of the old school chewed downwind.
But the voices were starting to settle there.
Ashen, standing on the refectory slabs, observed the first ten arrivals.
Children.
Beggars.
A former soldier.
A blind archivist.
And even a boy who did not speak, but who listened better than everyone.
Ashen addressed them calmly:
- "Here there are no masters. Only names to remember, and to bring to life. What you will learn, you won't write it. You will transmit it by voice. Always. »»
He marked a break.
- "And if one day I fall, or that one of you is reduced to silence ... You will be there to speak. »»
The looks were serious.
Even Malen.
But Ashen saw a fleeting thing in his gaze.
A shadow.
Not a doubt.
Rather ... fatigue.
Later
Malen held a bag of mail.
Letters.
Sympathizers' messages.
But also ... threats.
Ashen read a few lines.
"Stop your business. We know what you prepare for the Caldor condemned. Your school will not protect anything."
He shrugged.
- "They are starting to be afraid. It's a good sign. »»
Malen remained silent.
Ashen turned his eyes slowly to him.
- "You don't say anything. Are you with me, right? »»
A short silence.
Then Malen replied:
- " Always. »»
But his voice ... Treated a little too much.
Meanwhile - the black council, in the upper city
A woman with a silver mask threw a scholarship on the table.
- "This Malen. He's close to Ashen, right? »»
A spy replied:
- "His confidant. From the start. He knows all their routes. The plan to save Caldor, the day of the execution. He still believes that they can reverse the decree. »»
- "To believe is fragile. Breaking a belief costs only a few pieces. And a promise. »»
The spy nodded.
- "He grew poor. Loyalty ... can be traded. »»
Back to Veyra - a strange plantation
Ashen had stones plant in the courtyard.
Not seeds.
Fragments of slates blackened by forgotten names.
Each student had to bury a stone, recite a name there aloud, then walk on it three times.
It was a ritual.
A living echo.
Malen observed.
Silent.
Ashen came to him:
- "Did you choose the name you want to wear in the echo? »»
Malen remained frozen.
- "I think I'm going to wait a little longer. »»
Ashen looked at him, suspicious.
But don't say anything.
Night fell on the Echo school.
And in his room, Malen opened a letter hidden in his sleeve.
She said:
"If you give us ashen before the 80th day, Caldor will die in silenceBut you, you will live rich, free, and with a new name. Think. Even the heroes sell. Why not witnesses? "
Malen hugged the letter.
He didn't burn her.
Not yet.
"There are names that are transmitted with pride. And others that we exchange for silence. »»
Veyra - Inner courtyard of the echo
Ashen helped a young girl pronounce a complex name.
-"Arvyn-el-Dar. Three rising syllables, a break, then descent. It was the name of a man who refused to flee during the great silence. »»
She repeated slowly.
The wind bore the last syllable far in the trees.
Ashen smiles.
- " GOOD. This name belongs to you now. You will have to transmit it one day. Not with your voice, but with your breath. Let others feel it, even without hearing it. »»
Malen observed from the shadow of the cloister.
His hand touched a small sealed roll.
The message of the enemy.
He still hadn't answered.
But he had kept it.
Later - in the old fresco room
Ashen was a plan on a large stone table.
Roads. Relay. Contacts.
- "If we want to save Caldor, we must act on the day of judgment. During the bustle. Not in force. In voice. »»
Malen approached, silent.
Ashen looked at him.
- "I'm going to give you a role. Maybe the most risky. You will have to bear a name inside the place of the seven votes. Caldor's name, aloud, at the exact moment. »»
A silence.
Then Malen replied:
- "Do you ... trust me at this point?" »»
Ashen smiles slowly.
- "You are my voice when mine weakens. »»
And Malen ... looked down.
Malen left his diaper before dawn.
He along the empty corridors.
Then came out of the enclosure.
At the edge of the forest, a hooded silhouette awaited him.
She did not speak.
Just a bag.
And a black wax vial.
- "When you give the signal, pronounce this word. Only once. Ashen's book will go out for a moment. That will be enough. »»
Malen took the bag.
Then asked:
- "And Caldor?" »»
- "will die. But without cries. Without name. Forget.**
A long silence.
- "And me?" »»
- "You will be rich. Anonymous. Alive. »»
Malen fell.
But did not refuse.
Back to Veyra - a strange look
Ashen, from the tower, lives Malen to go through the rear door.
His clothes were covered with dew.
- " Ride ? He asked.
Malen simply replied:
- "Need loneliness. »»
Ashen looked at him for a long time.
Then whispered, almost for himself:
- "Sometimes the names that we do not say are those who weigh the heaviest. »»
In his room, Ashen opened the book.
He wanted to note a name for a new student.
But the page remained empty.
And in a corner, barely written:
A name has been sold. You don't know which one yet.
"A well -placed word can cause an empire to fall. A well -sold silence can prevent it from being reborn. »»
Veyra - week 5 echo
The Echo school was alive.
Each day, names were transmitted, sung, whispered, hidden in children's games, recited in the wind or slipped into shared meals.
Ashen noted the rhythms, watched the flows, checked that each name survives beyond his original voice.
He was holding a notebook apart, never entrusted to the book.
His own echo.
But that morning, one thing was missing.
A name.
Théran El Voss - The silent watchman.
He had heard it from the mouth of a student.
But by reciting it, nothing vibra.
No echo.
No trace.
Ashen frowned.
- "Strange ... This name was alive yesterday. »»
Meanwhile - Malen in the cards room
Alone, Malen was rereading the plan of day 80.
The routes. The relays. voice carriers.
Each point ... corresponded to a risk.
And every risk ... at a price.
He hugged the little black bottle, hidden in his belt.
A word, only one, and the whole network would collapse.
But it was not the word that frightened him.
It was the moment when he should say it.
And Ashen, this madman, continued to speak to him like a brother.
Ashen recited the name of Nira in front of a small circle of students.
But in the middle of the song ... his voice broke.
No emotion. No pain.
Just ... no more sound.
A dry, artificial silence.
He tried to resume.
Nothing.
The book, posed at his feet, vibrated as if he was holding a cry.
The children looked at him, worried.
Malen arrived running.
- " How are you ?! »»
Ashen slowly resumed the voice.
- " Yes. I believe ... that something has scrambled the link. The name failed not to pass. »»
Malen looked down.
And touched the bottle louder.
He hadn't even pronounced the word yet.
Meanwhile - Consulting of the silencer
A hooded woman gave a parchment to her superior.
- "Verbal poison works. The carrier begins to weaken. His link to the book loses stability. »»
The man whispered:
- "When his friend will say the word, everything will go out. The rescue plan will fall into a vacuum. Caldor will die without voice. »»
- "And Ashen?" »»
- "He will survive. Long enough to realize ... that he lost because of a silence. **
Ashen, in his room, opened the book again.
And on a page that he had not touched ...
Someone had written, in invisible ink, revealed only to the heat of the palm:
A silence has already been paid. You only have thirty days to hear which one.
Ashen froze.
The countdown had started.
"There are things that do not fall suddenly. They crumble slowly, like confidence. »»
Veyra - Dawn of the thirtieth day before Caldor's execution
Ashen stood in front of the wall of the echoes, a large surface of stone dug where each student engraved, not words, but sound marks, traces of rhythm, breath, spoken memory.
Behind him, Malen traced lines on a map.
But Ashen didn't look at him.
He looked at heaven.
- "Thirty days. »»
Malen stopped.
- "Are you counting?" »»
Ashen replied without turning around:
- " Yes. Thirty days before Caldor was executed. Thirty days before the voices were put to the test. »»
He touched the stone.
- "And only one betrayal ... would be enough to make everything collapse. »»
Later - the book vibrates in the wrong way
Ashen opened the name book to note Averas d'Yll, a name whispered by a beggar the day before.
But at the time of the inscription, the letters moved by themselves, as pushed.
And a word appeared, just at the bottom of the page:
"Bad carrier. Bad voice. Bad link. »»
Ashen frowned.
He was looking for the origin.
Not a forgetfulness.
Not an error.
Something interfered.
In the tower - Malen receives a second offer
That evening, Malen went up alone in the highest tower, where the voice bore the furthest.
A crow awaited him.
Message to the paw.
He unrolled the paper.
"You haven't talked about the word yet. But your silence is already worth gold. Keep silentAnd in the thirty-nastier, you will be free. With more than what you expected. "
Malen sat down.
Exhausted.
He looked at the stones of Veyra, the light of the torches, the small school ... and Ashen, standing, alone, to speak with the students.
- "Why can't I hate you? He whispered.
He slipped the note into his pocket.
And still didn't answer.
That night, Ashen dreamed of an unnamed stone field.
He walked alone.
Each step erased the traces of voice left before him.
And on the horizon ... a silhouette.
Malen.
Turning his back on him.
He cried his name.
But no voice came out.
He woke up with a start.
And the book, by his side, had left an open page.
Day 30 - A voice has already returned. You sleep next to the void.
Ashen summoned the students the next day.
- "From now on, I want each name to be recited twice. by two different carriers. If one fails, the other must remember. »»
Malen stared at him.
- "Do you think one of ours could betray? »»
Ashen fixed him in return. Long.
- "I don't believe anything. But I no longer want to have to believe. I want memory to be based on anyone alone. »»
And Malen ... nodded.
Without a smile.
"It's not the cry that kills. This is the word that no one intends to come. »»
Veyra - Two days after the dream
Ashen stood in the center of the Rotonde d'Écho, an a circular amphitheater where the voices even wore without cry.
He had asked each student to recite his attributed name ... and that of another.
The voices rose, overlapped. Some trembled.
But others ... vibrated hard, clear, brilliant.
Ashen listened.
Not for words.
For the silences between the words.
Because this is where betrayal is hiding.
Malen - in the shadow of the transmission
He was not among the students today.
He was isolated in the flow room, a place where the names pass between the secret relays.
In front of him, the plan of day 80.
Ashen had marked her in living ink.
Each movement, each voice, each appearance.
And in the center ... The key point: the moment when Malen had to pronounce aloud the name of Caldor in the public square.
He closed his eyes.
Then came out of his pocket the little black bottle.
He rolled it between his fingers.
A word. Only one.
And Ashen's book would extend.
A serious voice in his memory.
- "You won't need to kill him. You won't even need to lie to him. You will only have to say this word. And everything will stop around him. »»
- "And then?" »»
- "Then ... he will see that you were his weak point. And you, you will live rich, free, with an erased name. You will have the luxury of oblivion. »»
Back to Ashen - growing suspicions
Ashen noted a strange phenomenon.
Names that took more time to fix.
Others who became fragile after being repeated by Malen.
He did not accuse.
But he recorded.
And that day, he locked himself in Veyra's lower crypt.
He opened the book on a blank page.
And murmured:
-"If a carrier is already cracked ... show me. »»
The vibra book.
A stain appeared.
Not a name.
Just a symbol.
A mouth… closed.
Malen climbed the hill away.
It was there that he had received the word the first time.
He murmured him in his head, without saying it.
But that evening, he surprised to mimic him with his lips.
No sound.
But the book felt it.
And a page slowly blackens.
Without Ashen knowing ... where it came from.
"It's not a word. It's the opposite of a word. A vacuum that is placed in the mouth of the one who was going to speak. »»
Veyra - Book crypt
Ashen descended alone.
He had not warned anyone.
He had read the sign.
The closed mouth.
And that haunted him.
He opened a new page.
REQUIRE: Has an opposite carrier been identified?
The book hesitated.
Then slowly traced a line:
Confirmed presence. Not revealed. Word in circulation.
Ashen inspired slowly.
- "Word or poison?" »»
The book replied, for the first time with a full sentence:
Both. A word that does not want to be said, but is waiting to destroy by being thought. An anti -avoix
Meanwhile - Malen, on the edge of the fire
He was alone that evening.
Not with others. Not in the common room.
He repeated, once again, the word in silence.
And in his throat, a metallic taste.
As if he was bleeding without being injured.
He talked to himself:
- "This is just a word. He won't make Ashen die. He will just ... fail his plan. And Caldor will die. That's it. »»
He gave his teeth.
Then lay in the grass, the empty look.
But in the air around him, nothing was singing.
Even the insects were killed.
Ashen summons the old carriers
In the morning, Ashen gathered six carriers. Those whose names had almost faded in recent weeks.
- "You all felt something, right?" A fragility. A floating in the word. »»
They nodded.
Ashen opened the book in front of them.
- "A word circulates. A word that does not make noise, but which removes the voice. Not yours. Mine.**
A woman asked:
- "What if someone uses it? »»
Ashen replied calmly:
- "Everything will stop. The day of execution. Caldor's name will be you. And he will die like a criminal, without any voice coming to defend him. **
A silence.
Glacial.
Malen arrested by a student
A little girl, in, approached him.
- "Malen, you look sad. Do you want me to say a name for you? It takes care of, names. »»
He forced a smile.
- "Thank you, little one. But there are names that I can say anymore. »»
She stared at him.
- "So are you sick? »»
He hesitated. Then murmured:
- " A little. But it was I who drank the poison. Not you. »»
She did not understand.
But she hugged him.
The space of a moment ...
He wanted to throw the black bottle.
He did not do it.
That night, Ashen slept deeply.
And the book… dreamed for him.
He dreamed of a word without letter.
a cry swallowed.
In a voice strangled by a name never pronounced.
And at the heart of this dream, a black page.
On which was written:
"He will come. He will say it. And you can't take it back.
Veyra - Day 27 before execution
Ashen stood in front of the old school bell.
He had summoned all the carriers of voice.
- "This morning, a name has died. A strong name. A name transmitted three times. And yet ... he disappeared. »»
He turned to them.
- "It means one thing: the link is broken somewhere. »»
The students murmured.
Some panicked.
Others denied.
Malen, he kept silent.
But Ashen felt.
Not betrayal.
The absence.
He did not accuse him.
But he was starting to doubt.
In an austere office, at the academy, the masked woman dicta:
- "The carrier received the word. He hasn't said it yet, but he's weakened. Send the Ultimatum. And remember: not a word behind his back. Let him betray ... knowing it. **
A messenger left immediately.
With, in his hand, the second price.
That evening, away from school, Malen found a grant hanging from a tree.
Inside :
Gold, yes.
But also a ring.
his father's ring.
The one he had been told to him during the Béliarn bag.
The one he had looked for, all his youth.
A small parchment was slipped there:
"Some names are worth more than friendship. We offer you both: your past found ... and your future bought."
Malen hugged the ring against his palm.
And this time it cried.
That night, he opened the book.
And asked:
-"Is it Malen?" The cracked carrier? The carrier of the anti -voix? »»
The book hesitated.
Then registered:
You love it too much to read the answer.
Ashen closed slowly.
And murmured:
- " You're right. Not yet. But soon. »»
The next day, during an echo ritual, Ashen distributed the roles.
He passed in front of Malen, notebook in hand.
And for the first time ...
He did not give him any name.
Just a look.
Sad. Silent. Fraternal.
Like a farewell that does not mean.
"Silence is not the absence of voice. This is the weight of a word you dare not say. »»
Veyra - In the evening, carrier room
The school still lived, despite the tension.
Ashen spoke little.
But everyone felt that the rope was stretched.
Malen was walking in empty corridors.
Each step moved him away from Ashen.
And yet he was still coming back to the same place.
The wall of living names.
A space where each wearer lay down, each evening, the name he had transmitted during the day.
An ink whisper.
A written breath.
But Malen ...
… Did not deposit anything for two nights.
He stopped in front of the wall.
Came out a small paper.
But it was not a name.
It was the word.
The word black.
The silent word.
The anti -avoix.
He wore it ... between his teeth.
Ashen, in his room - last letters from Caldor
That evening, he reread a coded message, sent from the prison of the imperial center.
Irregular writing. But the clear message:
"I'm ready to fall, Ashen. But don't let my memory die. Nor yours. Don't get lost saving me."
Ashen put the letter on the book.
- "You will not fall." Not if the voices hold. **
He got up.
And went to register a new rule in the school:
"He who was named a name becomes responsible for his disappearance."
In the forest, a silhouette was waiting for him.
He was not a spy. Nor a killer.
He was his brother, whom he believed dead.
- "It is you ... who had me delivered the ring? »»
- "I sold my name to survive. Now I offer it to you: sell yours, and live. »»
- "By betraying Ashen?" »»
- "By saving you. He won't blame you. Not long. He's like that. He forgives. And he will forget. **
Malen lowered his head.
- " Exactly. This is what hurts me the most. He would even forget my betrayal. And that ... I wouldn't stand him. **
The next day, Ashen consulted the memory of the book.
A line, written the day before by a student, had disappeared.
A name.
A real one.
And just below, a trace of bite on the page.
As if someone wanted to eat the word instead of saying it.
Ashen touched the ink.
- "He's there. Nearby. He hasn't talked yet. But he has it in his mouth. **