Chapter 3 — Those Who Guard the Silence
Ryuuji did not return home.
He couldn't.
The moment his feet hit the outer streets of Kareth, he knew something had changed—not just in him, but in how the world looked at him.
The Sky felt… closer.
Not lower.
Heavier.
Lantern light flickered along the stone paths as night patrols doubled, then tripled. Wardens marched in tight formation, their gray armor etched now with fresh chalk symbols—temporary marks used only during heresy hunts.
They're already moving, Ryuuji realized.
The eastern district was sealed. Wooden barricades blocked the streets, and citizens were herded into communal squares where priests recited the Litany of Stillness aloud, forcing people to kneel and repeat every line.
"Stillness is mercy," the priests chanted.
"Memory is sin."
"Questions invite correction."
Ryuuji pulled his cloak tighter and kept his head low.
Every word scraped against his mind like a blade.
Because now he knew.
The Wardens of Silence were not merely soldiers.
They were believers.
Each Warden underwent the Rite of Emptying at sixteen—an ordeal where forbidden texts were read aloud until the initiate's mind fractured under contradiction. Those who survived learned to suppress doubt so completely that questioning became physically painful.
It made them loyal.
It made them terrifying.
And tonight—
They were hunting a flaw.
Ryuuji slipped into a side alley, heart racing. His forearm throbbed beneath his sleeve, the symbol pulsing faintly in time with his heartbeat. He dared not look at it.
Don't think. Don't remember too loudly.
That was a new kind of fear—one his people had never had language for.
A shadow detached itself from the darkness ahead.
"Ryuuji Valis," a voice said calmly.
He froze.
Captain Rohlan stepped into the lantern light, helmet on, visor down. Two Wardens flanked him, hands resting casually on their weapons.
"You're supposed to be at home," Rohlan continued. "Your district is under observation."
Ryuuji forced his breathing steady. "I couldn't get back. The barricades—"
Rohlan raised a hand.
"I didn't ask why."
Silence stretched.
The Sky above them shimmered faintly, clouds forming slow, unnatural spirals.
Rohlan tilted his head.
"You were near the eastern wall during the Omen."
It wasn't a question.
Ryuuji nodded once. Lying now felt… loud.
Rohlan sighed.
"Do you know how many people died tonight, Ryuuji?"
"No," Ryuuji said quietly.
"Seventeen," Rohlan replied. "Ash exposure. Structural collapse. Panic."
The captain stepped closer.
"Do you know how many more will die if the wrong ideas start spreading?"
Ryuuji's jaw tightened.
"My father asked a question," he said. "You killed him for it."
One of the Wardens tensed.
Rohlan did not.
Instead, his voice softened.
"I remember your father," he said. "He was gentle. Too gentle for this world."
The Sky rumbled distantly.
Rohlan leaned in.
"And do you know what he said to me before his sentence was carried out?"
Ryuuji looked up.
"He thanked me."
The words landed like poison.
"He said," Rohlan continued, "'If someone must bear this sin, let it be you, Captain. My son deserves a quieter world.'"
Ryuuji's chest burned.
"That world," Rohlan said firmly, "is built on silence."
Something inside Ryuuji snapped.
Not violently.
Not explosively.
It simply… aligned.
The mark on his arm flared.
The lanterns flickered.
For a heartbeat, Ryuuji saw.
Not the street—but the layers beneath it. Old foundations. Buried symbols. Forgotten passages.
Kareth was not just a city—
It was a seal.
Rohlan staggered back, hand flying to his helmet.
"What did you do?"
Ryuuji stared at his own hands.
"I remembered," he said.
The Sky thundered.
Not above—
But inside Rohlan's helmet.
The captain screamed, dropping to one knee as blood leaked from beneath the visor.
"Captain!" a Warden shouted.
"Don't touch him!" Rohlan roared, ripping his helmet off. His eyes were wide, unfocused.
"Get away from—him—!"
The air vibrated.
The Sky was reacting.
Ryuuji took a step back.
"I didn't mean to—"
Rohlan looked up at him, fear and clarity warring in his expression.
"You're not dangerous," Rohlan whispered.
"You're contagious."
The ground cracked.
A Sky Omen symbol burned itself into the stone between them.
The Wardens drew their weapons.
Rohlan stood unsteadily and spread his arms.
"Stand down!" he shouted. "This is an Internal Correction!"
They hesitated.
That hesitation saved Ryuuji's life.
He turned and ran.
Ryuuji fled through alleys only smugglers remembered, through half-collapsed tunnels his mind now recognized without knowing why. The city seemed to part for him—doors left ajar, walls weakened by time.
Behind him, bells rang again.
Not three.
Seven.
The highest alarm.
The one reserved for Ideological Threats.
By morning, every city in Erdveil would know.
By nightfall, other nations would decide whether to hide him—
Or offer him to the Sky.
Ryuuji emerged beyond the western gate, lungs burning, legs shaking.
He looked back once.
Kareth stood silent beneath the stars, obedient as ever.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Then he turned toward the forbidden lands beyond the Ash Plains—where maps ended, and lies grew thin.
Above him, the Sky watched.
And for the first time.
It did not look confident.
End of Chapter 3