Chapter 20
They flew beneath the world.
Through skies of inverted lightning, over oceans of broken constellations, where gravity whispered instead of pulled. The windrider sailed into the rift between realms — a chasm only visible to those who'd forgotten their names.
Nezutsu clutched the shattered mirror in one hand, Thalven's note in the other. Each time he blinked, his reflection blurred further, as if his own soul were unraveling.
"Is this what you meant by a prison that doesn't exist?" Nezutsu asked.
Thalven nodded. "The Hollow Womb. It's not in the world. It's beneath it — sealed inside the first lie ever told by the gods."
"What lie?"
"That they were never afraid."
Arrival at the Edge
The rider descended into a monolith of silence — an obsidian mountain with no sky above it, only void.
Floating runes circled its peak like vultures made of forgotten language. As they passed through them, Nezutsu's flame flickered violently.
"It doesn't want to enter," he murmured.
"No one's flame does," Thalven replied. "Because everything inside this place… wants it dead."
They landed before a gate with no hinges — just a surface that rippled like black water.
Velgrim placed a hand on it.
"This wall is made of anti-mana. It drinks magic."
"Perfect prison, then," Kaelith said. "Which means what we're about to find... wasn't supposed to be found."
The gate opened like a breath being held too long.
They stepped into the Hollow Womb.
The Living Walls
Inside, the air was heavy — like walking through the thoughts of a grieving god.
The walls pulsed, alive, made of fused soulstone and buried guilt. Shadows whispered names they hadn't spoken in years. Nezutsu heard one whisper his mother's voice, then his own — but distorted, like a memory too old to belong.
"This place was built to hold things that never should've been born," Velgrim explained. "And now it's trying to remember us, to rewrite us into its story."
They passed murals carved with moving scenes: winged mages torn apart by unseen forces, great beasts with eyes like galaxies, a burning city atop a whale's back.
Then one panel caught Nezutsu's breath:
A child made of fire, standing between two kneeling gods.
The caption read in ancient glyphs:
"The Flame That Refused. The Child Who Spoke the Last Word."
"That's… me," Nezutsu whispered.
Thalven nodded grimly.
"And this place was built to make sure you never remembered."
Subplot Deepens: The Whispered One
They reached a chamber that pulsed with rhythmic light — and inside, bound in chains of voidbone and wrapped in magic that tasted like shame, a prisoner waited.
A man... no, a thing with silver hair, no eyes, and a smile that never moved.
He spoke before they could.
"Ah. The boy returns. Whole… and not yet whole. Do you remember me, Nezutsu?"
Nezutsu blinked.
"Who are you?"
"I am the one who failed you. I am the one who sealed your name."
"Why?"
"Because I was afraid. Of what you'd become."
"Then give it back."
The man's face turned pained.
"I cannot. Not yet. The final key lies still slumbering in your third flame."
"I only have two," Nezutsu said.
The man grinned wider.
"Exactly."
The Third Flame
The room trembled. The walls whispered. Chains cracked.
And from deep beneath the Hollow Womb… something awakened.
CLANG.
A sound like a heart hammering open.
The prisoner shuddered.
"You brought it with you, didn't you?"
"Brought what?" Kaelith asked, stepping back.
"The flame that doesn't belong to this world. The outworld fire. The one that cannot be named."
Suddenly, Nezutsu's chest burned—not with pain but recognition.
And then a voice echoed from within him — one that did not sound like him at all:
"They are coming, Nezutsu. And if you don't burn first, they will burn everything you love."
The Escape and Twist
Velgrim unsheathed his blade. "This place is waking up. We have to leave — now."
The walls began to collapse inward.
Chains from the ceiling lunged like serpents. Shadows with mouths but no faces screamed his stolen name — syllables too broken to form.
Nezutsu grabbed Thalven. "Back to the rider!"
They sprinted out, dodging stone teeth, howling voices, and fragments of buried gods.
Just before the gate closed, the prisoner shouted:
"WHEN YOU FIND THE THIRD FLAME… YOU'LL KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR BIRTH."
"AND THE LIE YOU'VE BEEN LIVING."
Back in the Sky
They burst out of the Hollow Womb into nightlight.
Safe. For now.
Nezutsu looked into the mirror again.
This time… the reflection didn't change.
It shattered.
Not from the outside — but from within.
"Your soul's waking up," Velgrim muttered.
Kaelith stared at him.
"You're not just a bearer of flame anymore, are you?"
"No," Thalven said, staring ahead. "He's becoming something else."
Nezutsu didn't answer. He just looked into the stars.
And for a single moment, they looked back.
[TO BE CONTINUED...]