Chapter 8 Gods Remember
---
---
There are moments the heavens cannot explain.
Moments that do not belong to fate.
Moments that survive even after the story ends.
Yun Che was such a moment.
And now… he was being remembered.
---
The first bond had awakened.
From across a thousand skies, Yun Che felt it—
a thread of heat through the void, fragile and new,
reaching from a girl with no past toward a man with no future.
He stood still.
The world around him shifted like breath in a dying dream.
"She said your name," Aestra murmured, eyes narrowed.
"And the moment she did, the weave cracked."
"She remembers?" Yun Che asked.
"She dreams you. She bleeds you. And now... she's marked."
He said nothing for a moment, then turned toward the unseen thread.
"They'll come for her."
"Of course," Aestra said, smiling faintly. "The Warden has already moved."
---
—Elsewhere: The Divine Sky Realm—
The White Warden stood at the peak of the Memory Spiral, his form wrapped in layers of blinding scripture.
Below him, a congregation of celestial judges chanted a name that no longer existed.
"Protocol: Narrative Break."
"Subject: Lyra."
"Violation: Spoke the Forbidden Name."
He raised a hand.
Reality twisted.
And from the wound in space stepped a being of pure white flame and empty eyes.
The Memory Hound — a creature born not to kill, but to erase.
"Find her," the Warden commanded.
"Unwrite her."
---
—Meanwhile: The Sacred Library—
Lyra sat with her knees drawn to her chest.
The scroll was gone now.
Her palm no longer burned.
But the name remained on her tongue—
and in her heart, something had begun to grow.
A seed of rebellion.
A truth too heavy to hold.
"Yun Che…" she whispered again, softer this time.
And from the cracks in the ancient walls, something answered.
A whisper.
"You are not wrong."
"You remember him because you are meant to."
A mirror fragment fell from the ceiling and landed at her feet.
Not glass.
But crystal—starlit and red.
And inside it, she saw a pair of crimson eyes.
"He's real," she whispered.
And behind her, space bent open.
The Memory Hound stepped through.
---
It moved without sound.
A creature born from scripture and void, its only purpose was to consume deviation—any thread that didn't belong.
Its breath turned memory to mist.
Its steps dissolved names from walls.
And it came for her.
---
But just before it touched her—
She moved.
No—not just moved.
Reacted.
The sigil in her palm flashed bright.
And the scrolls all screamed.
Thousands of ancient voices—words sealed for generations—rose in unison.
"SHE REMEMBERS!"
"THE NAME RETURNS!"
"HE LIVES THROUGH HER!"
A burst of white-red light exploded outward.
The hound staggered.
And Lyra stood, breathless, glowing from within.
---
[New Trait Awakened: "Remnant Oracle"]
Lyra can access forbidden truths buried in memory.
She can dream what others forgot.
She can hear names the world has erased.
And if her heart allows it—
She can speak them back into being.
---
The hound roared and lunged again.
But this time, it was interrupted.
A flash of silver fell from the sky like a falling star—
—and cut the hound in half.
But it didn't bleed.
It forgot itself.
It vanished.
As if it never existed.
---
In the fading light, Lyra turned—and saw a girl.
A young woman, cloaked in starlight, holding a crimson blade formed from pure soul energy.
Her eyes were sharp, haunted, and ancient.
A voice followed, low and ragged with disbelief.
"That name… Yun Che…"
The girl stumbled forward, clutching her heart.
"Why do I… remember that name…?"
She fell to one knee.
Jasmine.
Or rather—
What was left of her.
---
"You shouldn't be here," Lyra whispered.
"I shouldn't," Jasmine replied, trembling.
"But his name… woke me."
The two girls stared at each other.
And somewhere between them,
a lost god stirred.
---
Far across the realms, in the in-between void—
Yun Che smiled faintly.
"They remember me."
"Even if the world doesn't yet... they do."
---
Aestra stepped beside him, red wind in her eyes.
"Now the heavens will panic."
"Good," Yun Che said, turning toward the bleeding sky.
"Let them."
---