CHAPTER THREE:The Gate Of Forgotten Names

Thorne

The last time Thorne stood beside Kael and Elianah, he'd been bleeding out on sacred ground — betrayed, broken, and burning with vengeance.

This time was different.

Or so he hoped.

He led them through the whispering woods — trees that leaned close like they were eavesdropping on fate. The path beneath them changed with each step, shifting stones and moss into shapes from their past lives: feathers, flames, and crescent moons.

Thorne didn't look back.

"The Gate only opens to those who remember," he said.

"Remember what?" Elianah asked, brushing her fingers along a tree whose bark looked like scales.

Thorne glanced at her. "Your true names."

Elianah

The wind shifted.

Names.

Not the ones given at birth. Not even the ones used in secret.

But the ones that had weight — names etched in the soul long before this world.

She felt it stir inside her: a syllable, glowing like a memory behind her heartbeat.

And then—

"Stop," Thorne said.

They had reached a clearing. In the center: an obsidian archway standing tall, carved with symbols older than speech.

No door.

No lock.

Only mist.

Kael stepped closer, staring at the markings.

"I've seen this before," he murmured. "In a dream. Or a death."

"Both," Thorne said. "This is the Gate of Forgotten Names. Cross it, and you'll begin to remember everything."

"But once remembered," he added darkly, "you can't forget again. You'll carry it all. Even the lives that broke you."

Kael reached for Elianah's hand.

She nodded once. "We're ready."

Thorne moved aside.

"Then speak your soul names."

The Naming

Elianah stepped forward first.

She closed her eyes.

From the depths of time, through bloodlines and heartbreaks, it came to her.

"Alarienne."

The gate pulsed. The mist stirred.

Kael followed.

"Vaeron."

The symbols on the archway began to glow.

And when Thorne stepped last — his voice steadier than his past — he said:

"Thorell Vek."

The mist opened.

Light poured through — golden, aching, and ancient.

Behind the gate was a stairway descending into what looked like stars and ruins, galaxies and ghost-memories.

Thorne turned to them one last time.

"You sure about this?"

Elianah smiled. "Even if it breaks us, we'll break forward."

And they stepped into the gate.

Together.