The Name That Refuse Silence

Not every name is uttered. Before they burn, some are carried.

There was no name for the village.

Even the bones of its title had been pulled from the ground, assuming it had been obliterated at all. Ash swirled around Kaelen's boots like grudging ghosts as he stood at the edge of the ruin. Rooftops drooped forward. The walls had split skin fissures in them. The earth steamed slightly, but there was no fire, not flame, but memory heat.

Beside him, Saelira stood.

She whispered, "She's here." "The person carrying Myen."

Kaelen gave a nod. "How much of Myen do you believe survived?"

Saelira remained silent.

Because they didn't really know.

They were cautious as they navigated the streets.

There was an awkward silence. No wind. Not an insect, No time.

The hollow frames of every window stared at them. Something was muttered in every ruin, just out of earshot. Even if the sword didn't burn, Kaelen's palm was lightly resting on Mourncaller. Not quite yet.

The air became thicker as they continued to walk, as if memories were being forced into the stones.

Then they caught sight of her.

A female. Thirteen, perhaps. seated in the middle of a dust-filled, fractured fountain that once stood. She had ripped fabric wrapped around her hands. She had a slight glimmer in her eyes.

Not with authority. with acknowledgement.

Kaelen paused.

Saelira declared, "She's awake."

The girl raised her head.

She said, "You arrived late." "She's talking already."

They moved slightly closer.

A few steps away, Kaelen knelt.

"What's your name?"

The young lady cocked her head.

"I can't recall. However, she does.

"Are you aware of her identity?"

When I close my eyes, she starts crying. She calls you by name, but not in an antagonistic manner. similar to a former singing partner.

Beside Kaelen, Saelira knelt. Controlled flame flowed through her presence.

"What is it she says?"

The girl hesitated.

"Vaeran forgot the song," she says.

Kaelen's eyes were closed.

Myen had sang all her life.

Thornwake Prior to the Binding

The world was silent beneath them as they sat with their legs hanging on the brink of a shattered watchtower.

Myen hummed a wordless song. Simply rhythm.

"What is that?" Kaelen had asked.

She grinned. "A tune that predated names." It is not my property.

"So why sing it?"

"Because someone might remember out there."

The centre of the circle had been her. Everyone paid attention to the one who didn't talk much.

Even Aurel.

Even Kaelen.

The girl shuddered back to the present.

"I have something inside of me. It's trying to burn but it can't. inside. As if I were being folded into her.

Then Kaelen grabbed her hand.

"Myen was someone I know. She doesn't want to harm you if she is inside of you.

The girl gave a headshake.

She doesn't frighten me. When people learn that she has returned, I fear what will happen.

At that moment, Saelira abruptly stood up.

as she had also heard it.

Steps.

Stepping from the brink of a ruined inn was a Sovereign hunter.

Armour made from glass obsidian stitched together. On his back are relic-bolts. A brand in the shape of a cross over his right eye.

He remarked, "I was told I'd find a spark here." "It was unexpected to discover the torchbearers as well."

Kaelen moved to the front.

"She is only a girl."

The hunter's head cocked. "No. She has a name. Names like hers ignite things.

He suddenly pulled out a relic-knife and threw it.

Kaelen shifted.

Mourncaller performed a song.

The altercation was brief.

But brutal.

The hunter battled with quickness, not strength, seeking to disable, not kill.

But Kaelen remembered him now. One of Aurel's bloodbinders. A memory-leech.

Kaelen disarmed him with a stroke that rang through the stone.

Saelira raised her palm.

And the fire flared. not to burn the hunter. To burn his name.

It sizzled off his armor.

He collapsed.

Not dead.

Just… forgotten.

Kaelen turned around.

There was no movement from the girl.

Her eyes, however, had changed.

They were glowing now.

Kaelen muttered, "Myen."

The female gave him a look.

"I'd rather not be her. I wish to remain myself.

Saelira got down on her knees.

"You can. However, you will need to share a soul. Are you strong enough ?

The young woman blinked.

"I'm not sure."

"Then we'll assist you."

At dusk, they departed from the settlement.

Behind them, the hunter lay still.

The young woman moved in between them. She didn't cry.

She was given the new name Liraen by Saelira.

Kaelen was also aware of:

Myen was still there. She wasn't entirely recovered, though.

Simply waiting.

Liraen's body curled against the base of a fallen tower while she slept in brief gasps. Beside her, Saelira sat motionless, a silent flame encircling her fingertips. Kaelen gazed at the horizon while standing at the edge of the ruin.

Sunrise did not occur.

The Iron Sky was still gone.

But now there was a new pulse above the globe, a delicate, shifting haze of memory-light, as if the environment itself was starting to recall things it was never supposed to.

Saelira stated, "She's stabilising."

Kaelen turned around.

"She isn't yet Myen."

"No. However, she is near.

"Will she make it through it?"

Saelira remained silent.

Rather, she said, "We're being followed."

They were on the move.

Liraen awoke in the middle of the trip, her speech odd but her eyes clearer.

"I dreamt of a field of salt. with tooth based towers.

"Did the dream speak?" Kaelen said softly.

"Yes," she replied. "You are the answer to a question no one asked," it stated.

Kaelen and Saelira looked at each other.

That was the voice of Myen.

The landscape shifted.

They arrived at the eastern rise's edge, a cliffside with a view of a crumbling metropolis. Few remembered what the Archivist had called it: Sorrowhold.

There, three Sovereigns had fallen. When it was initially untied, it was burned by the echo of the fire.

However, the city was still alive.

The silence had fallen.

They came in close to sunset. Saelira's movements resembled those of a flame that had mastered unapologetic walking.

Kaelen stopped next to an ancient mural that had faded representations of the Sovereign Circle.

One had been removed by scratching. Not as you get older. with purpose.

It said MYEN.

Scratched deeper beneath it: STILL LIVES.

In the metropolis, they were not alone.

It was Liraen who first saw it. She muttered, "There's a voice beneath the stone."

They trailed her to a buried courtyard with broken artefacts.

And a pulsing sealed nameglass obelisk in the middle.

Above it, three symbols turned. Myen's sigil was one of them.

Kaelen moved to the front.

The obelisk murmured as he did:

Silence is necessary for memory anchors. You don't have either.

Beside it, a form appeared.

A woman clad in smoke and silver-thread garments. Her eyes shone with clarity, but her face was half-burned.

She said, "You shouldn't have come here." "You're not prepared."

Kaelen moved to Saelira's side. "Are you, too?"

The woman said, "I was." "Once."

Kaelen scowled. "What's your name?"

She lowered her head.

The one who carried Joren was me.

Saelira's body tensed up.

"You were an object."

"I still am. However, the name is no longer sleeping. Since Myen stirred, no.

They used fire to communicate.

Ryenna, the woman, described the actions of the Sovereigns..

Myen, Joren, and another had been sealed in living memory containers rather than relics.

Dispersed and deserted, these vessels were only shielded by glyphs designed to postpone awakening.

The others were unravelling now that one had woken up.

"Why seal them in people?" Kaelen asked.

"Because the fire cannot be forgotten," Ryenna stated. just reincarnated.

The obelisk cracked abruptly.

There was a profound, primordial sound, like the exhalation of a name.

Ryenna's body froze in place.

Then a voice came out, not hers.

It stated, "Vaeran."

Kaelen stopped.

"Joren?"

"No," the voice answered.

The name that defied silence is mine. I also have some questions.