: Beneath a Godless Sky

Chapter 34

The Hollow God descended like a bleeding star.

Its form was not one of flesh — but of emotion.Grief, rage, longing, and joy twisted into a thousand writhing faces, all whispering in unison, a chorus of forgotten names.

"You spoke the Name-That-Was-Erased," the voices said, "and so you will bear the burden of its return."

Nezutsu couldn't move.

His body pulsed with flame — the Fifth Flame — but it was as if the very presence of the god rejected his existence.Kaelith stirred at his side, eyes wide in terror.

"That… is not a Warden," she gasped. "It's one of the true ones. A Hollowed Divine."

"I thought they were locked in the Astral Vaults?"

"You unlocked the first one the moment you said Aez'rah."

The god extended one limb — made entirely of dream-silk and thorned time. It pointed at Nezutsu's chest.

"You carry a soul made of defiance. That is not allowed."

Nezutsu clenched his fists.The Fifth Flame erupted around him, his eyes glowing violet — and then black.

"Then come erase me."

And the sky tore open.

The Battle: Fire vs. Forgotten

The Hollow God — Jhazriel, Weeper of Echoes — launched a torrent of astral blades, each a fragment of a forgotten timeline.

Nezutsu spun, letting the flame coat his arms, deflecting some, dodging others — but each blade that missed struck the ground, rewriting it.

A tree became a statue.A stream became a desert.Kaelith blinked — and suddenly her leg had a scar she didn't remember earning.

"Nezutsu! His power isn't destruction — it's revision! Don't let him touch you, or he'll rewrite who you are!"

But Jhazriel's voices grew louder:

"You were never born."

"You are a copy."

"You are not real."

The words hammered at Nezutsu's mind.

His flame wavered.

His memories started unraveling — first his childhood, then his days in the Academy, then…

"NO!"

A spark flared inside him — not violet, but white.

His body shuddered. Kaelith stared in awe.

"That's… not the Fifth Flame. That's something else."

The flame turned from violet to ivory — pure, dangerous, and unnamed.

Nezutsu whispered a word he didn't understand.

The sky shattered again.

And suddenly, Jhazriel screamed — not in pain, but in fear.

The Twist: The Unknown Flame

Nezutsu didn't remember the name he spoke. It was as if something inside him borrowed his tongue.

Jhazriel staggered backward, pieces of its form unraveling into stardust.

"Who gave you that flame? Who taught you the Word Before Fire?"

Nezutsu was shaking.

"I don't know."

Kaelith stepped beside him, whispering low:

"You shouldn't have been able to do that. That magic… it doesn't belong to this world."

"What do you mean?"

"Because it predates even the Old Gods."

The Hollow God vanished — not in defeat, but in retreat.

And in its place, a single black feather fell from the sky — humming with power.

Nezutsu caught it.

His hand burned — but he didn't let go.

Subplot Twist: The Eye of the Archivist

Far across the shattered world, in a temple made of living ink, the Obsidian Circle gathered around a table of moving glass.

The Warden who failed to capture Nezutsu knelt before a new figure cloaked in hollow geometry.

"He's awakened more than the Fifth Flame."

The figure's face — entirely blank — nodded.

"Prepare the Inkbinders. If he speaks one more Word, the seams of this world will unweave."

A second voice whispered from the ceiling — a voice familiar only to one.

"He's coming to the Archive."

Asphor stood in the shadows, her eyes haunted.

She'd heard that voice before — not from books.Not from prophecy.But from her father's mouth.

Final Scene: Nezutsu's New Path

Back in the scarred field, Nezutsu examined the black feather.

It pulsed like a heart.

Kaelith wrapped his injured hand, frowning.

"You're changing."

"I can feel it. Something woke up… and it's not done with me."

"Then we can't stay here. If even one Hollow God can reach you now, the others won't wait long."

"Where do we go?"

Kaelith looked toward the broken horizon.

"We find the Vault of Glass. The last place the gods whispered a prophecy before they fell asleep."

Nezutsu turned toward the sky, watching it repair itself — wrong, broken stars in all the wrong places.

He didn't say it aloud, but deep inside, a whisper still echoed:

"You are the flame that should not burn. The voice that broke silence."

And as they walked into the horizon, the black feather hummed a name Nezutsu couldn't remember.

Yet.

[TO BE CONTINUED…]