Chapter - 13

Crossing into the Valley

The path to the Valley of Forgotten Souls was stitched from broken terrain, ghostly rivers, and bridges made from bone. Kaito moved silently, his senses stretched to the edge.

He passed through a forest where the trees whispered names—names of the forgotten. Their branches clawed at him. He cut through them.

And then he reached it.

A vast expanse of white fog. The valley.

As Kaito stepped in, the world lost all sound. Not silence—absence.

Time felt wrong again, but differently than before. Here, it wasn’t warped. It was stuck.

A figure appeared in the mist.

He readied his sword.

“State your name,” Kaito demanded.

The figure stepped forward—thin, skeletal, but cloaked in flowing black and silver. His face was porcelain-white, his eyes blind.

“I am the Herald of the Still Bell,” it said. “You do not belong here.”

“I’ve come for Sanzi.”

The Herald shook its head slowly. “Then you bring ruin.”

The ground split.