Chapter One – The Memory That Burned the Sky
Part One – The Veil That Doesn't Close
Date: Maelis 27, Year 204 PCR
Location: Resonant Recovery Ward – West Hollow Spire
Time: 08:44 Veil Standard
Zephryn didn't wake.
He returned.
Like someone surfacing from under ice—lungs full of silence, skin burned by memory. His eyes opened slow, unfocused, as if they were still trying to catch up to what they'd seen.
The first thing he heard was Bubbalor humming.
The second was Selka saying his name—soft, but guarded.
"Zeph?"
The hum cut.
His breath hitched.
And then the pain bloomed across his forearm.
—
The ∞ glyph wasn't active.
But it had scarred him.
Veilburn patterns snaked from his wrist to his elbow, glowing faintly beneath gauze. Not fiery. Not bloody.
Harmonic.
As if memory itself had branded him.
He sat up too fast.
Bubbalor leaned against the bed, low and heavy, like a shadow curled at his side.
Selka placed a hand to his chest.
"You're not ready to move."
He looked at her. Quiet. Then:
"It said I was the second."
Selka's jaw tightened.
"I know."
—
Outside the recovery chamber, Kaelen's voice could be heard arguing with someone.
Yolti and Mino?
Maybe Luma?
Zephryn couldn't tell.
Everything sounded like it was underwater.
Except Bubbalor's hum.
And the sound of his own pulse.
It wasn't right.
It was humming in reverse.
—
Selka stood slowly, brushing her cloak aside.
"I've already told them you're not ready."
"I'm fine."
"You passed out after a flare that leveled a basin."
He turned his arm, flexing the burned lines.
"I didn't flare."
Selka looked at him sideways. "What do you call that, then?"
He shook his head.
"It wasn't power. It was a—rebound."
"A rebound of what?"
He stared down at his hand.
"Everything I wasn't supposed to remember."
—
Outside, the Veil hadn't fully healed.
And Zephryn knew it before he even saw it.
Because the moment he took a breath—
He felt it.
A tear in the sky.
Not visible.
Not measurable.
But present.
Like a single string had been plucked across the world and never stopped vibrating.
—
He stood.
Selka didn't stop him this time.
Bubbalor rose beside him, slow, wings folded in tight.
And they walked.
Not to the field.
To the balcony at the western edge of the spire—overlooking the Caervale horizon.
That's when he saw it.
—
A ripple.
Far in the distance.
The Veil didn't shimmer like it should.
It staggered.
Like something had punched through and was still hiding inside it.
Selka saw his face change.
"What do you see?"
He didn't answer at first.
Then:
"There's a crack."
She looked again. Saw nothing.
"You're seeing inside now, aren't you?"
He nodded.
Bubbalor rumbled low.
Selka exhaled, hard.
"That's not a blessing."
Zephryn clenched his bandaged fist.
"I know."
—
Behind them, the door opened.
Kaelen.
Breathless.
"You're up."
"Yeah."
"Good. Because Doctrine just marked the whole mission classified."
Zephryn didn't flinch.
"Let them."
Selka asked, "Did Buta say anything?"
Kaelen shrugged. "Not yet."
Then he hesitated.
"But he's waiting for you in the courtyard."
—
Selka turned to Zephryn.
"You sure you're good to walk?"
Zephryn's eyes didn't leave the sky.
"I'm not walking," he said.
"I'm going to remember."