> "Some names die in silence. Others… kill when spoken aloud."
— Inscription outside the House of Forgotten Names
---
The Labyrinth shifted again.
And this time, it didn't roar — it whispered.
Windless. Weightless. Wrong.
Kai and Lira stood before a structure carved into the side of a mountain made of bone.
A library. An archive. A tomb.
> The House of Forgotten Names.
---
> "No echo," Kai said quietly.
"Not even footsteps."
Lira's hand hovered over her blade.
> "Don't speak unless absolutely necessary."
> "This place doesn't just remember… it punishes."
---
🌀 The Rule of the Archive:
> Do not say your name.
Do not read aloud.
Do not turn around when called.
Do not bleed.
---
They stepped inside.
Rows and rows of floating tablets.
Scrolls sealed in glass teeth.
And books that exhaled when passed by.
It felt like walking through the mouth of something asleep.
But the deeper they went…
The colder Kai felt.
Not physically.
But emotionally.
As if something was un-writing his past with every step.
---
Suddenly—
Lira froze.
She placed a hand on the wall.
> "There's a name here."
> "Scratched beneath the black mirror."
Kai looked.
A single word, etched in blood and sealed under dreamglass:
> Kaius
---
> "That's me," Kai whispered.
"That's what the Oracle called me…"
The moment the name was spoken aloud—
The shadows moved.
---
ENTITY DETECTED:
> [Archive Guardian: "Ink-Eaten Monk"]
Classification: Unwritten Warden
Status: Awakening
Threat Level: ⚠️⚠️⚠️
---
The walls folded inward.
A humanoid figure crawled out of a sealed book — skin like wrinkled paper, mouth a vertical ink-slit, dripping lost syllables.
It spoke without sound.
Words bled out of its form like vapor.
Lira grabbed Kai's arm.
> "Run. Now."
---
They sprinted through corridors that didn't make sense.
Staircases led sideways.
Doors opened into forgotten memories.
And at every turn, Kai saw fragments:
A woman with golden hair holding a child
A burning map with five names crossed out
Himself — younger, screaming:
> "Don't make me forget again!"
---
At last, they burst into a chamber that was not part of the archive.
It was too raw.
Walls made of exposed nerves.
And in the center:
A suspended glass coffin.
Inside it:
> A girl. Eyes closed. Breathing faintly.
Wearing a pendant with a shattered mirror shard.
Kai recognized her.
---
> "That's… Ayra."
> "She was in the dream-fragments. A Dreamseed like me."
Lira was quiet.
Too quiet.
Kai turned—
And saw the tip of her blade pointed at his throat.
---
> "I didn't want to do this here," she whispered.
"But we're running out of time."
---
⚔️ Betrayal Unlocked
> [Event Triggered: "Reversal of Trust"]
Lira has activated her Dreambind: "Flickerblade – Divide the Self"
Her form split into two — one remaining with Kai, and another merging into the wall of shadows.
> "They offered me freedom," she said.
"In exchange for you."
> "The Veilstriders don't want you dead, Kai."
> "They want you… rewritten."
---
Kai clenched his fists.
> "So this was never real?"
> "Our bond. The fights. The nights we watched dream-stars together?"
> "That was all just part of the plan?"
Lira's expression cracked.
> "No."
> "That's the problem. It was real."
> "But I made my choice before it ever began."
---
The Archive began collapsing.
Ink rained from the ceiling like melted words.
The Monk shrieked as Kai's phantom bond activated:
> Phantom Bond: Rei — Emotional Override
Effect: "When betrayed, awaken suppressed potential."
---
> [New Skill Unlocked]
"Echolash – Memory Weaponization"
Create weapons from personal betrayals and forgotten truths.
Kai's arm extended — and from his palm, a whip of glass and grief snapped into place.
> "Then let's see what your lies are made of."
---
They clashed.
Steel vs memory.
Lira moved like flickers of broken light.
Kai countered with weapons made of pain.
A dagger formed from their first campfire conversation.
A shield from the time she saved him from a dreamhound.
> He was weaponizing every shared moment.
And it hurt her.
Each time she struck, she remembered.
Until—
Her blade stopped.
She dropped to her knees.
> "I… can't."
> "I thought I'd buried my past."
> "But you… made it real again."
---
Suddenly, the coffin cracked.
The girl inside — Ayra — opened her eyes.
And whispered:
> "Kaius."
> "They're coming."
> "All of them."
---
💀 SYSTEM ALERT:
> [Dream War Phase I — Activated]
[Divine Executors En Route]
Estimated Arrival: 3 Chapters
Objective: Purge the Echobound