Chapter 47
The road to Veyrune was never mapped.
Because Veyrune… didn't always exist.
One moment it would bloom on a cliffside, shining like a city sculpted from glass and snow. The next, it would vanish — swallowed by fog, time, and forgetting. Legends said it was the resting place of lost memories, a sanctuary where the erased went to dream.
Nezutsu, Kaelith, and the sentient Codex crossed the Wane Ridge after days of spectral storms. Behind them, Starfall burned. Ahead, clouds shimmered with strange reflections — not of the sky, but of possible tomorrows.
The air grew colder as they approached.
"It's happening," Kaelith murmured. "We're stepping out of the Threadline. Into forgotten time."
"Will she be there?" Nezutsu asked. "The girl with mirror-eyes?"
"If she exists… this is the only place she could."
A City That Breathes Memory
Veyrune emerged before them not like a city, but like a breath drawn by the world itself. Spires curved like frozen music. Bridges led to doors with no walls. Giant crystal hourglasses floated in the air, bleeding sand upward instead of down.
But most haunting of all were the Echo Walkers.
People without names, without shadows. Some walked backwards. Others blinked in and out of sight. They whispered fragments of their pasts like prayers:
"I was once a sister…"
"He loved me before the reset…"
"Don't forget me. Please. Don't…"
Kaelith trembled. "These are the erased. Victims of Silex or broken timelines."
Nezutsu turned to the Codex.
"Can she hear me? The girl with mirror-eyes?"
"She can. But she will not come to your voice," it replied. "She will come to your doubt."
The Mirror Maze
A spiraling staircase led them into the Mirror Heart, Veyrune's core — a chamber made entirely of reflective glass. There were no torches, yet light pulsed within every surface.
Kaelith stared at her reflection.
But it didn't mimic her movements.
Instead, her reflection smiled when she didn't. Then it shattered.
Nezutsu's reflection did worse.
It spoke.
"You shouldn't exist. You're a memory that refused to die."
"I'm more than that," Nezutsu whispered.
"Are you?" the mirror replied. "Then why does every god, every rewrite, every fragment of this broken world fear your flame?"
He stepped forward… and the mirrors folded open like pages of a book.
In the center of the chamber… stood her.
A girl no older than sixteen. Hair like woven moonlight. Silver eyes fractured with galaxies.
She looked at him.
And in her eyes — he saw himself.
Not as he was now — but as he had been before the world had names. A child bathed in flame, screaming into the void.
"I waited," she said softly. "All this time. Watching you forget."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Eshryn. The last Mirrorborn. Created by the gods to preserve truth. And you, Nezutsu… were once their undoing."
Subplot Reveal: The Pact of the Refusers
Eshryn led them through a hidden hall beneath the Mirror Heart. There, etched into marble and memory, were the twelve names of the Refusers — the ones who first denied the Scriptorium Mind's rewritten world.
"You were the thirteenth," she said. "But you died in the first rewrite. Or rather, they made the world forget you ever existed."
"Then how am I here?" Nezutsu asked.
"Because a fragment of your Will became the Flame. Magic that couldn't be categorized. Couldn't be silenced. The Obsidian Circle, Project Silex — all of it was created to stop your existence."
Nezutsu shook his head, overwhelmed.
"And what now? What do I do with this… this truth?"
Eshryn's eyes glinted.
"You reclaim yourself. You burn the lie."
The World Shatter Clock
Kaelith called from the upper gallery.
"Nezutsu. You need to see this."
They followed her into a vaulted chamber with no floor — only sky.
Suspended in the center was a colossal timepiece made of bones and galaxies — ticking backward.
"What is it?" he asked.
Eshryn's voice grew grave.
"It's the World Shatter Clock. A fail-safe built into Project Silex. When the last Resistance node is activated… it triggers the full rewrite."
"And how many nodes are left?"
"Two. One… is you."
Nezutsu staggered.
"And the other?"
The World Shatter Clock struck one.
The sky cracked like glass.
And in the distance… across the sky's wound… stood a second Nezutsu.
But older. Harsher. Cloaked in flames that bled screams.
"That's… me?"
"No," said Eshryn. "That's what you become if you lose yourself to the Flame."
[TO BE CONTINUED…]