Chapter 25
They stood on the edge of the world.
Before them stretched a bridge made of black feathers, suspended over an endless void that hummed like a sleeping beast. Windless. Soundless. Terrifying.
This was the only path to Abyssreach — the last known city where even truth dared not speak aloud.
Velgrim tightened the wrappings around his arm. "From here on, speak nothing unless granted permission by the gate. Even your thoughts may be overheard."
Kaelith gripped Nezutsu's hand tightly.
"The Librarian of Endings… is it human?"
"No," Velgrim said. "It was human. Once. Now it's something that remembers what it used to be."
As they stepped onto the feathered bridge, Nezutsu's flame flickered — not in rebellion, but in recognition.
"This place knows me," he murmured.
"It remembers all versions of you that never lived," Velgrim replied grimly.
Each step echoed with whispers — not voices, but possibilities. A Nezutsu who died as an infant. One who burned a city as a child. One who never met Kaelith. One who became the hunter instead of the prey.
"You are not walking toward truth," the bridge seemed to whisper, "but away from mercy."
They reached the threshold: a gate carved from glass bones. It opened with a sigh.
And the city of Abyssreach unfolded.
City of the Lost Futures
Abyssreach was unlike any city Nezutsu had seen.
Skyscrapers hung upward from the skies. Roads bled backward through time. Shadows moved before their owners. And every citizen wore a veil — stitched with runes — so their faces would not remember themselves.
At the center stood the Thirteenth Archive, a massive, spiraling structure made of ink and silence. No door. No windows. Just a feeling that if you stepped in, you'd forget why you came.
"The Librarian lives at the summit," Velgrim said. "But we don't go there. We call it to us."
He dropped a handful of Truth Ash — powder made from burned prophecies — and the air twisted.
A tall figure emerged from the Archive's base.
Wearing robes of torn timelines and a face made of parchment.
"Name," it asked, voice like a thousand overlapping pages.
Nezutsu hesitated. Then, "I… I am Nezutsu."
The Librarian tilted its head.
"Incorrect."
Kaelith stepped forward, defiant. "He is Nezutsu Flameborn."
"Flameborn is not a name. It is a sentence," the Librarian said.
It raised its hand, and Nezutsu's flame burst without permission — forming symbols mid-air. Forgotten glyphs. Lost syllables of creation.
The Librarian paused.
"You carry a name erased in the First Collapse. A name even the Old Gods feared."
"Then tell me," Nezutsu demanded. "What am I?"
The Librarian leaned closer. Pages peeled from its face.
And whispered:
"You are the Spark That Broke The Mirror. You are Zureth'Kel, in the tongue of fire."
The entire Archive trembled.
Subplot: Velgrim's Secret Loyalty
Suddenly — silence shattered.
Screams erupted from above the Archive.
A hunter's mark blazed in the sky — the sigil of the Obsidian Circle.
Kaelith unsheathed her twin daggers. "They found us!"
Velgrim swore and stepped between Nezutsu and the Librarian.
"Get him out of here. I'll hold them."
"No," Nezutsu said, "we fight together."
But then Kaelith's eyes widened in betrayal.
"Nezutsu… look at his blade!"
Velgrim's sword — once clear — now shimmered with Obsidian sigils.
"You're one of them," she whispered.
Velgrim didn't deny it.
"I was. Once. But they sent me to monitor you, not to kill you. I chose to help you."
Nezutsu stared at him. "Then why lead me here?"
"Because the Librarian is the only being that could unseal what sleeps inside you. And they will come now — to stop that."
Cliffhanger Ending: The Names That Hunt
The sky cracked.
Descending from black fire came four hunters — not human.
Each bore a name carved into their skin:
Silthros, the Memory Eater
Vael'Ruth, the Mirror Bane
Krinokh, the Laughing Void
And the fourth… wore Nezutsu's face.
Kaelith screamed, "That's—!"
Velgrim growled, "The Reflected Flame. The version of you that accepted power without restraint."
The Librarian turned to Nezutsu.
"You must make a choice."
"What choice?"
"To lock away your truth… or let it burn."
[TO BE CONTINUED…]