Chapter 8 – A Name Not Meant to Exist
Raen stood by the river, hands submerged in the cold current.
He watched the water flow like it could carry the weight in his chest away. But it didn't. It never did.
Behind him, Ellerin buzzed — the village had woken from the Choir's song. No one remembered what happened. No one questioned the missing time.
That was the Choir's curse.
Their magic erased memory like fire consumes air.
But Raen remembered everything.
And he wasn't the only one.
---
"You weren't supposed to be able to resist," said a soft voice.
He didn't turn.
> "You're the Choir girl."
She nodded, standing barefoot on the stones behind him, chains gone, hair loose, eyes no longer blindfolded.
She looked… human.
Not a weapon. Not a priestess.
Just a girl.
> "My name's Liora. I remember yours."
Raen turned sharply.
> "That's impossible."
She smiled — not with her lips, but with her eyes. Quiet. Knowing.
> "I saw it. In the silence."
"You were called… Raen Val'torren."
The name hit like a sword through his chest.
He hadn't heard it since—
> Since he was executed.
Since the kingdom erased his very existence from their records. Not just from history. But from memory.
> "How do you know that name?" he whispered.
Liora looked down.
> "Because I was there. When they erased you."
---
She held out a folded page — old, frayed, half-burnt.
Raen unfolded it.
It was a decree. Faded seal of the Crown.
His name at the top.
> "Hero Raen Val'torren — sentenced to Oblivion for crimes against Divinity. Unwritten under the First Edict."
He clenched the paper, his hands shaking.
> "Why are you giving me this?"
Liora looked at him, tears welling but not falling.
> "Because I've heard your silence."
"And I think the world was wrong to forget you."
---
For a moment, Raen said nothing.
Then he looked up at the sky — not with hope, but with challenge.
> "They called me the Lightforged once."
"But they were afraid of what I was becoming."
He let go of the page. The wind took it.
> "So I'll show them what I've become now."
Liora nodded slowly.
> "You're not alone anymore."
Raen glanced at her. For the first time since waking in this life…
> He didn't feel like a ghost.