The First Name of the Dead God

The shard throbbed in Kanji's satchel.

It hadn't spoken since the Rift.

Now it whispered—faintly. A vibration he alone could feel. A hum that told of ruins and secrets and things lain beneath centuries of divine silence.

He followed it.

No escort. No mission orders. Not even Lyra—at first.

Just instinct.

The road had led him out of Orivale's reach—out into the Bleeding Steppes, where ancient temples rotted in red grass and storm light split the sky like vicious veins.

He discovered it in a split in the land: a half-buried stairwell, buried beneath an eroded glyphstone and a brass-plated monument to The Great Church.

Kanji tore it open.

[Unmarked Location Found: "Vault of Forgotten Verse"]

[System:Entry Unregistered — Support Unavailable]

[Going further will break real-time support.]

[Kanji: Proceed]

The ruin was quiet. Cold.

Stone walls inscribed with language too ancient for the System to comprehend.

He lit no torch. The shard lit the way.

As he plummeted, his Soul Core bloomed, sensing what was older than memory. The temperature dropped. The air thickened.

And then he walked into a circular chamber.

At the center: a dais. On top: a black altar of bone and gold. Suspended above it — a sphere, fractured, exuding light. And inside it—

A name.

Not in words.

In feeling. In pain. In power.

It fell on him like a scream across eternity.

[SOUL CORE UPDATE: EXTERNAL IDENTITY DETECTED.]

[YOU HAVE UNLOCKED A FORBIDDEN FRAGMENT: NAHRA'ZETH — THE FIRST NAME OF THE GOD WHO DEVOURS.]

[Note: You Are Being Watched.]

[Warning: Failed System Suppression.

[Soul Infection Risk: HIGH]

[You Now Bear the Burden of One Who Knows.]

Kanji staggered. Blood dripped from his nose.

His knees hit the floor.

And for a heartbeat — he saw it.

A throne built of fractured systems. A crown of collapsing stars. A mouth that didn't open yet still spoke.

"GROW."

A hand caught his shoulder.

He turned.

Lyra was behind him, silent, unreadable.

"How long have you been there, though?" he asked, breath ragged.

"A long time, long enough to know you weren't going to die," she said.

"You didn't step in."

"I had to see if you would break."

Kanji wiped his mouth. "And?"

"You didn't."

He looked back at the altar. The sphere was gone.

Absorbed.

Or watching from within him now.

"Nahra'zeth," he whispered. Even the name was like a wound in his throat.

Lyra met his eyes. "Now you've seen it. The system never was the top of the ladder."

"And what is?"

Her voice was quiet. "A god who would not be forgotten."

[Title Gained: "Fragmentbearer"]

[+10% Passive Soul Resistance | All System Analysis Delayed for 2 Seconds]

[You Are Marked.]

Kanji stood. Slowly. Steady.

His destiny was no longer set for him.

He was choosing it.

And somewhere — beyond the edges of this fractured world — Nahra'zeth awakened.

….

They left before dawn.

No escort. No official record. Not even a mission title.

Kanji walked on, his cloak rippling behind, his eyes keen yet distant.

Lyra came after her, as silent as ever, arms folded inside her black cloak, the wind pulling strands of hair out of her braid.

They crossed the Ash Boundary and the gray sky of verdigris was red above them, and all around them, the sky bled softly a fine red mist through thin clouds, tear-shaped.

[Entering Contaminated Zone: "The Sorrowed Reach"]

[Status: Red: Class-Quarantine. Entry Requires Level 5 Church Clearance (Truncated)]

[Intruder Found.]

[System Tracking Turned Off Temporarily.]

Kanji could feel that burden lift off his shoulders.

The System could not see him in this place.

Good.

….

The ground was wrong.

Cracked, not just — but wounded. Black glass veins webbed with red soil. Plants grew sideways. Trees had no leaves. The air tasted of rust and memory.

"Why are we here?" Kanji finally asked.

Lyra didn't look at him.

"Touched a name," she said. "This is where that name first broke the world."

Kanji stopped.

She moved to his side, keeping her eyes ahead.

"They called it a miracle. But it wasn't. It was the first shatter. The spot where Nahra'zeth wrenched a divine construct inside out — without touching it. I just whispered, and it crumpled."

He scanned the hills.

Empty.

Quiet.

Too quiet.

"Why bring me here?"

"To feel it," Lyra said. "To know what's coming."

Kanji stepped over a stream. The water ran backward.

The further they walked, the more the world felt… unstable.

[Soul Core Vibrations Detected.]

[SITE LOCALIZED INTERACTION] [Local Anomaly: "Residual Thought-Form" — Manifestation of Nahra'zeth's First Shatter Event.]

[Warning: Soul Corruption Field Active. [Time Limit, 30 Minutes Exposure.

Then they found it.

It was a stone structure twisted in on itself — not collapsed, but folded. Like gravity had been redefined for a moment.

Etched into one of the outer stones: half a symbol.

Kanji made contact with it—and it burned.

[Fragment Reaction: 2/9 — Activated "Voice of the Devourer" Lineage Trigger

[New Ability Seed Detected: "Unmake" (Locked);

[You Are Awakening.]

Suddenly, the sky screamed.

Not thunder — a psychic scream that echoed through the zone as though a god were being torn to pieces.

Something answered.

From the far hills.

A creature stepped into view.

Pale. Faceless. Seven arms. Burning the bones of priests, and whispering Kanji's name in a hundred dying tongues.

[Boss Encounter: "The One Who Listens" — Servant of Nahra'zeth]

[Level:??? | Soul Core: Unknown Origin]

[Mission: Survive.]

Kanji pulled his blade.

Lyra retreated an inch or two, but not far. Her voice was soft.

"This one's yours."

He cracked his neck.

"Good."