Chapter 41: The Other Name
The sky had become something else.
The clouds twisted, shifting like liquid, making shapes that didn't make sense like faces turning away, then eyes opening to watch them. Above them, names danced. Lyra's name was there, among others, but one stood out: Nyra.
It glowed like a curse, dripping down the edges of the clouds.
The ground trembled beneath their feet as if the entire town heard the call.
Kael grabbed Lyra's arm, his eyes frantic. "Lyra, what the hell is happening?"
Her pulse was frantic, and her mouth went dry.
"That's not my name," she whispered, her voice trembling.
Kael stared. "It is your name."
"No." She shook her head violently, taking a step back. "It's not. It can't be."
But the cloud the name kept pulsing, as if to remind her.
She wasn't sure which was worse: the fact that something about her had always been hidden, or that the town, the curse, had known it before she ever did.
They ran through the streets, but everything was changing.
Buildings that had once felt familiar now loomed like unfamiliar specters. Windows were filled with eyes pale, empty, but staring. The townsfolk's bodies had started to decay, the veins under their skin turning black.
They were all walking toward her.
To her.
Lyra could hear them. Soft whispers calling her by the name. Nyra. Over and over.
And the worst part?
She recognized it. It felt like an old echo in her chest, something she'd heard before. It felt like she was supposed to remember, like she'd forgotten an entire chapter of her life.
Maerin was ahead of them, cutting through the twisted streets. She was looking back, her eyes wide.
"What's happening to them?" Lyra asked, voice tight.
Maerin wiped the sweat from her brow. "They're becoming part of it. It's trying to take you, Lyra. Trying to make you the centerpiece again."
Kael moved beside her. "It? What is it?"
Maerin's face darkened. "The town itself. The pact didn't just steal the lives of the founders. It took the names too. Over time, it's consumed them. The ones left behind are part of its fabric."
---
They reached the town square, but it wasn't the same anymore.
The roots were gone.
And in their place… something else.
A massive figure stood where the Hollow Saint statue once was. Made of bone, root, and shadow, it was too large to comprehend, too alive in ways that didn't feel natural. It was the very embodiment of Whisperwood, a parasitic thing that grew with the land, always hungry, always demanding.
It stared at them. At Lyra.
"Nyra," it whispered. "My other name. Come back."
Lyra's body froze, heart thumping painfully in her chest.
"You were always mine, child of the root. Come. Come home."
Kael stepped in front of her, sword raised. "Stay away from her!"
The thing's laugh echoed. "You think I am the enemy? I am the town. And she is the key."
Lyra's breath came in jagged gasps. She wanted to fight. To run. To scream. But all she could do was stare.
"Nyra," it crooned again, "The one who betrayed me... the one I made."
Her knees buckled. A new memory pushed into her mind.
A dark room. A voice.
"You were always meant to be my heir. You were born to carry the names."
A cold hand on her shoulder.
A promise, made in a tongue she didn't understand.
"The town calls, Nyra. You will keep us whole."
Lyra shook her head violently, desperate to claw at the memory.
"No," she gasped. "No, this is wrong. I'm not Nyra. I'm..
But the more she tried to reject it, the more the name pulled at her heart.
---
Kael's voice broke through her thoughts, rough with urgency. "Lyra, snap out of it! You can fight this!"
But the words felt distant. Like they were slipping through her fingers. The name… Nyra… it felt like a truth she couldn't escape.
"You can't run from yourself," the entity's voice boomed. "She is here. She is you."
Lyra stumbled back, tears blurring her vision. "I'm not her!" she screamed.
But the thing didn't care. The roots at the base of the statue shuddered, reaching toward her like greedy hands.
Kael pulled her back with all his strength. "Don't listen to it! You are Lyra! Not Nyra. You're"
And just then, the ground cracked beneath their feet.
A deep, low rumble shook the earth.
Lyra looked up.
The sky was opening.
They were pulling her back.
The town the root Whisperwood was calling her. It had never forgotten her.
Maerin grabbed Kael's arm. "We need to get her out of here. Now. Before it gets worse."
But Lyra's eyes were glued to the sky. The names in the clouds were rising, circling. They were waiting for her to make a decision.
To accept what she was.
"I was always here, Nyra. Come back. We need you."
Lyra's voice broke as she whispered, "But I didn't choose this."
The ground cracked wide open,
She was falling falling into a vortex of names and roots and memories. She reached for Kael, but the distance stretched farther than her arm could reach.
"We are the same."
And then, darkness.