The Rootless Realms trembled again.
This time, not from decay, but from resonance.
Kiel emerged from the spiral staircase with the boy—once Nullborn, now something else. Something with a name.
> "What do I call you?" Kiel asked as they stepped into the shifting daylight.
The boy hesitated, fingers twitching as if sorting through invisible scrolls.
> "Riven," he whispered. "I… I think I was called Riven."
Kiel nodded. "Then we stitch that name back in place."
---
The world above had changed while they were underground.
Mountains floated in midair—not drifting but anchored upside down, their roots glowing with threads that spun toward the cracked heavens. Rivers flowed upward. Trees spoke backwards.
Time stuttered.
Reality looped.
Cause forgot its effect.
It wasn't just magic being broken here—it was logic itself.
---
A floating creature drifted toward them—a Weaver Wraith, its cloak a scroll, its arms ink made flesh. It hovered without malice but radiated a chilling curiosity.
Riven shrank behind Kiel.
> "It's not hostile," Kiel said quietly. "Not yet."
The wraith spoke in overlapping voices:
> "One stitch undone… one stitch repaired. What pattern do you follow, Traveler?"
> "Survival," Kiel replied.
> "That is not a pattern," it hissed. "It is desperation. Desperation leads to entropy. Entropy leads to consumption."
The wraith pointed one inky limb at Riven.
> "The child is a fragment. A broken glyph. He was erased for a reason."
Kiel's fingers twitched toward his blade. "Then maybe reason isn't sacred anymore."
> "Bold," the wraith intoned. "But foolish."
It vanished—not through speed, but by unraveling into concept.
---
They moved on quickly, following a trail of fractured earth that bled glowing script. Around them, relics of undone worlds floated—an upside-down tavern, a staircase with no floor or ceiling, a mirror that reflected people who weren't there.
And yet, somehow, they felt familiar to Kiel.
> "You've been here before," Riven said.
> "No," Kiel muttered, "but part of me has."
---
Night fell without warning—a blink between daylight and starlit distortion. The stars above shifted constantly, rearranging into messages, equations, sometimes faces.
And then… a scream.
Not distant.
Not human.
Kiel pushed Riven behind a crumbling stone obelisk just as a massive creature slithered from the sky—a Memory Maw, eyeless and wide-mouthed, dragging behind it a trail of stolen recollections.
> "It devours context," Kiel whispered. "If it touches you… you forget who you are."
The Maw turned.
It sensed them.
Kiel cursed and pulled Riven's hand. "Run."
---
They bolted through the twisted terrain, Kiel firing bursts of magic from his palm—songs of resistance that echoed like old prayers.
> Recollection: Flame.
A burst of red.
> Recollection: Wind.
A gust that knocked the Maw sideways.
But it kept coming.
Riven stumbled, falling into a shallow pit of flickering memories. His body convulsed as images surged through him—faces, names, screams.
Kiel turned back. No hesitation.
> Recollection: Binding.
Chains of light snapped around the Maw, slowing it. Not stopping. Just delaying.
He dove into the pit and grabbed Riven.
> "Don't let go of yourself!" Kiel shouted.
> "I—! I remember my sister—!" Riven cried, tears streaking down his face. "She's gone. But… she sang to me. That song..."
Kiel smiled grimly. "Then sing it."
---
Riven's voice was fragile, cracking, but real.
The song echoed, filling the pit with light. The memories swirled and settled, forming a shape—a crystalline blade etched with lyrics.
Kiel grabbed it, turned, and faced the charging Maw.
> "You want context?" he growled.
"Here's mine."
He slashed the blade downward.
The creature screamed—a sound of collapsing time—and vanished into a burst of words and weeping shadows.
---
Silence returned.
Kiel panted, helping Riven up.
> "You did good," he said. "You fought it with memory."
> "We need to find the others," Riven whispered.
Kiel froze. "What others?"
Riven's voice was distant, but sure.
> "The ones like me. The other Nullborn... the fragments."
He turned to Kiel.
> "We have to remember them… before the Maw finds them first."