"Silence, at home, is not absence. It's a strategy. They hear it. They place it. And they feed on it. »»
Road to Edelstadt - Second day of walking
Ashen advanced in unknown terrain.
The nom stones weighed on his belt.
The book remained closed on his back.
He was not talking. But he was thinking hard.
Every night he repeated the names in his head.
Not for him.
So that silence does not take up all the space.
But that evening, something changed.
In a hollow path, three silhouettes were waiting.
No weapon.
No word.
They wore gray capes.
Black pins in the shape of a barred ear.
Ashen slows down.
- "I have nothing to say, if that's what you expect. »»
The greatest advanced.
And put a hand on his chest.
Then, in a calm voice:
- "That's the problem. You have become too silent. They believe that you are preparing something stronger than speech. Raw memory. Mute fire. Of the name impossible to erase. »»
Ashen smiles.
- "So you came to erase me without touching me? »»
- " No. Just discourage you. Follow you. Use you. until even you stop making noise. **
They did not attack him.
They were happy to follow him.
And from that moment, every Ashen step weighed more.
Side Veyra - accelerated erasure
In the echo school, children were sleeping badly.
Some dreamed of voice that they no longer heard.
Others forgot faces upon waking.
Elen tried to recite an old name:
Silva Kor.
But the sound stunned in his throat.
She cried in silence.
Then, alone in the common room, she took a knife ... and engraved the name on the table.
Again. Again. Until he bleeds in the wood.
And she whispered:
- "He is not dead. I refuse. I refuse to forget it. Even if no one listens. »»
Ashen - fire in the night
He put a camp further than expected.
The watchmen were still there, at a distance.
But he made it expressly speak loudly.
Not to them.
To him.
- "Caldor. Silva. Morn. Erien. Your names hold. Because I wear them. Because someone, somewhere, continues to believe it. **
A strange silence fell.
Even the watchers recovered a little.
Because the book Vibra.
Not strong.
But a page opened.
And on her, in red letters:
"They want to wear you down. So burns stronger than their fatigue."
Malen, at the bottom of the forest, woke up with a start.
He had dreamed of Ashen's voice.
She called him.
Not to ask for forgiveness.
But to continue without him.
And that broke him more than the word itself.
He yelled in the night:
- "You don't have the right to succeed without me! »»
And for the first time since her betrayal ...
He wanted to come back.
But…
It may have been too late.
"Some enemies do not block the road. They walk behind you ... and destroy the ground. »»
Sixth day of walking - Entering white lands
Ashen arrived in a region of pale plains, without tree or stone.
The watchtower of silence always followed him.
They were walking five steps, without noise.
Not a word. Not a hostile gesture.
But ... he understood.
Whenever he took a step, they erased the trace.
Literally.
He turned around. Nothing.
Even the mud no longer kept its shape.
Even dust no longer lifted.
Ashen slows down.
He knelt, put his hand on the ground, and murmured:
- "You don't touch my words. You don't touch my body. But you kill the idea I have existed. You… replace me with nothing. **
One of the watchers advanced.
His mask was white.
But a tear was flowing below.
He simply says:
- "We don't fade you, Ashen. We only prevent you from having a future. **
Meanwhile - Lior resists Veyra
At school, the young Lior, one of the most gifted to memorize ancient names, gathered the children.
He climbed on a table and shouted:
- "Even if Ashen left, he didn't tell us to be silent!" He said to hold! So we're going to shout the names, even without the book! Even if they are erased tomorrow! We're going to use them! And they'll be in pain, not us! »»
The children looked at him.
Then, slowly, some pointed out their heads.
And at noon, on the Place de l'Echo, the voices returned.
A hubbub.
Not perfect.
But true.
And somewhere ...
The book vibra in Ashen's bag.
He is lucky.
His breath was cut.
He fell to his knees on the edge of the road.
The waters stopped.
One of them asked:
- "Are you going to stop here? It would be softer. You are tired. You don't have anything anymore. You won't have time to arrive. And Caldor will be dead, whatever you do. »»
Ashen looked up.
Rougis, but calm.
- "So he will die ... with his name in my mouth.
He got up.
And resumed walking.
In the forest, alone, Malen whispered a name.
Not a prohibited word.
A real name. An old one.
Erien.
And the name resisted.
He says it a second time.
Then a third.
And he felt something:
A piece of him came back.
He straightened up.
And murmured:
-"Can I still be a carrier?" Is it possible ... Despite what I did? »»
Silence did not answer.
But that night, Malen looked into this name in the bark of a oak.
And he did not disappear.
Ashen stopped for the night.
He looked behind him.
And for the first time in four days ...
His steps remained.
The waters have erased anything today.
One of them, younger, said to him: passing:
- "We cannot destroy a memory that others constantly repeat. Even if you fall, they will continue. So ... good luck, carrier. **
They disappeared in the mist.
And Ashen, alone, murmured:
- "I am no longer alone. »»
"We can always come back. But you never come back to the same place. »»
Eastern forest - at dawn
Malen was walking.
Not quickly.
But he advanced.
His breath thickened.
His body became real again.
He had pronounced three names in the night, and they held.
Not powerfully.
But enough for the stones to remember under his steps.
He arrived at the edge of Veyra.
The school walls took shape in the fog.
And he saw a group of children recite aloud in the courtyard.
Names. Real. Ancients.
They did it. Without him.
Malen cleaned his fists.
And he entered.
Veyra - icy reaction
Lior lives it first.
He approached, followed by two other students.
Silence.
Then :
-"What do you want? »»
Malen lowered his head.
- "I don't come to go back to my place. I come to repair what I can. »»
- "You can't. »»
- "So I'm going to do it anyway. Even if it's useless. Because someone has to know that I was there ... and that I was not only silence. »»
Lior fell.
Then murmured:
- "Ashen never named you traitor. He just said, "He injured meBut it is because I counted for him. ""
And Lior added, below:
-"If you want to do something ... then make up for it. He is alone. And he's going to fall. **
Ashen - a day from the capital
The walls of the imperial center appeared on the horizon.
Immense. Cold.
overlooked by nameless statues.
Ashen stopped at the top of a hill.
He took out the Caldor stone.
And he spoke:
- "Caldor. I'm almost there. If you are still alive, hold one more day. If you're already there ... then let me wear you, even in death. »»
The book, still closed, vibra slightly.
Not enough to open up.
But enough for Ashen Sourie.
Malen - The race
He took a bag.
Food.
A coat.
And he left.
Not to flee.
But to join.
He followed the marks of Ashen.
Pebbles posed.
Bits of ropes.
imprints.
Ashen never left a road without echo.
And the more he ran ...
The more he remembered.
Not just names.
But from whom he was.
The night fell.
Ashen put up a last camp.
Tomorrow he would enter the city.
Tomorrow, Caldor would be executed.
But he wouldn't sleep.
He repeated the name again and again:
- "Caldor. Caldor. Caldor. »»
Not for him.
For the sky, the stones, the earth, to hear it.
And far behind ...
A second breath, tired, breathless ...
was finally approaching.
"There are days when you don't live. We wait. While trembling. With a name stuck in the throat. »»
Imperial center - at the entrance to the city
The doors of Edelstadt stood up like a stone cleaner.
Ashen introduced himself.
Not by begging.
Not as a carrier.
In silent walker.
He stretched a knotted rope.
Above, the symbol of echo.
The guards looked at her. Looked at each other.
Then, without a word ... let him pass.
The Empire knew he was coming.
But he didn't prevent him from entering.
Ashen understood:
We wanted him to be there.
To see.
Everything was clean.
Too clean.
The posters announced the execution of a "corrupter official".
No mention of the name.
No "Caldor."
No link with the school.
Nothing to remember.
Ashen observed people.
Some read.
Others looked away.
No one said the name.
Even by mistake.
He was already erased.
Ashen stopped in front of the big square.
The ground was white.
In the center, a stone platform.
This is where the ax would fall.
And that's where he should speak.
In the forest - Malen falls
He was running.
For two days.
But his body no longer followed.
He fell, face down.
Hands in blood, split lips.
But in his palm ... He still tightened a stone.
Ashen's name.
Severe.
END.
But present.
He hugged it stronger.
- "I can't leave him alone ... Not after all that ..."
He got up.
And left.
Box.
But alive.
Ashen - Mute preparations
He found refuge in an abandoned attic.
From there he saw the platform.
He noted each angle.
Each guard.
Each outing.
And it engraved in the dust, on the ground:
Caldor.
In capital letters.
With rage.
With faith.
Then he sat down.
And closed his eyes.
Not to sleep.
To remember.
Again. Again.
At midnight, he opened his eyes.
And in the shadow of the alley, a hoarse breath approached.
A silhouette, broken, trembling ...
clung to the wall of the wall.
Ashen got up slowly.
He didn't need to see his face.
He whispered:
- "You came back. »»
And Malen, out of breath, nodded.
Then, without saying a word ...
He stretched the stone.
The one he had kept.
The one that bore the name of Ashen.
"Silence is not always absence. Sometimes it is filled with cries that do not belong to us. »»
Edelstadt - Dawn of the 80th day
From dawn, the bells ranged.
Whole crowds flocked towards the place of the seven votes.
Not a market.
Not a fight.
Not a ceremony.
An execution.
And everyone knew who was going to die.
Not officially.
But in the alleys, in the murmurs, in the eyes ...
"The corrupter of the academy."
"The one who brought in an unnamed child."
"The man who challenged the system."
Caldor.
He was there.
Standing.
Hoodie lowered.
Silent.
By his side, Malen.
But neither was moving.
Ashen would hug the stone stone in his hand.
That of Caldor.
Cold.
He held her so hard that her phalanges whited.
Malen Chuchota:
- "Are you going to intervene now?" »»
Ashen did not answer.
His eyes stared at the platform.
The cart appeared.
Dragged slowly in the center of the square.
Caldor, standing.
Steel handcuffs on the wrists.
Bare head.
Brands of fatigue on the face.
But standing.
The crowd began to scream.
No pity.
No doubt.
Joy.
"Down with the traitors!" »»
"Shame on those who lie to tradition!" »»
"Blood for order! »»
"Death to the corrupter!" »»
" Justice ! Justice ! »»
Black flowers were thrown at the foot of the platform.
Death symbol "accepted by society."
Caldor put on the steps without trembling.
For a moment, he looked up to the sky.
No one cried out his name.
Because no one remembered.
The executioner advanced.
The imperial clerk reads the sentence:
- "For the abusive use of institutional privileges, illegal admission of an unnamed individual, and attempt to scratch the sacred rules of the Academy ... The individual is declared dissolved. His memory will not be recorded. His name ... will not be mentioned. **
The crowd applauds.
Some launched pieces.
Laughter broke out.
They celebrated oblivion.
Malen took a step back.
His eyes shone.
- "Ashen ... I ... I think I can't ..."
Ashen no longer listened to him.
He didn't hear anything anymore.
He saw Caldor.
Calm.
Standing.
Silent.
waiting for no one to save him.
Ashen took a step back.
Then moved two.
He opened his bag.
His fingers cleared the stone.
The throat will be clenched.
The moment had not yet come.
But in his inner breath ...
A name was armed.
Caldor.
Place des seven votes - dawn of the 80th day
The sky was pale.
Marble, too clean.
The crowd, too numerous.
Ashen would tighten Caldor's nom-names against his chest.
He was there.
In the crowd.
Among the cries.
Sputum.
Laughter.
Malen was by his side.
Breathless. Red eyes. Trembling.
-"It's time, Ashen," he said. Are you sure of yourself? »»
Ashen nodded.
- "I have to do it. It is necessary that at least a saying its name aloud. He must not die in silence. »»
He was about to move forward.
But Malen slipped one hand over his arm.
Pressure.
An almost soft gesture.
But ... too long. Too precise.
Ashen felt furtive pain in the flank.
He went back.
-"What did you do? »»
Malen looked down.
- " Pardon. I slowed you down. Just enough. They promised me, Ashen ... they told me that if I made you miss your cry, I could keep my name. »»
Ashen felt his muscles stiffen.
His legs flanked.
The poison was weak, but sufficient for a few seconds of paralysis.
He fell on his knees.
Around him, the crowd was screaming:
"Death to the corrupter!" »»
"Justice for the Academy! »»
"Undeyed = worthless! »»
And up there, on the platform, Caldor climbed the steps.
Right. Fatigue.
But worthy.
Ashen yelled.
Not with the voice.
With the belly. With the book. With rage.
But the word died in his throat.
The ax rose.
A breath.
Then the fall.
Net cracking. A red jet.
And silence.
Then…
Applause.
Ashen, on the ground, lives blood flowing on the white stone.
Caldor's name ... never pronounced.
Malen was already moving away, melted in the crowd.
Without a word.
Ashen did not cry.
He got up. Slowly.
Fixed the sky.
And murmured:
"I'm going to come back. Again. And again.
And next time ... I'll kill you myself. »