Chapter Two – The Silence in His Glyph
Part Seven – Glyph Collapse
Date: Maelis 27, Year 204 PCR
Location: Doctrine Tower Annex – Recovery Wing, Resonant Bed 7
Time: 11:17 Veil Standard
The glyph burned too bright.
It was no longer a mark.
No longer a symbol.
No longer a cast.
It was a language trying to escape skin.
Zephryn clutched his chest as the ∞ spiraled once more—but this time the rotation didn't stabilize. It bent out of pattern, bending across his ribcage, unraveling into jagged extensions like the glyph couldn't hold its shape anymore.
Selka backed away, eyes locked on him.
"What's happening?"
"I… don't know."
But he did.
Somewhere inside him—
Rael did.
—
The glyph began to split.
Down the middle.
The ∞ cracked, not from damage, but from pressure.
From growth.
It was expanding too fast.
The new glyph—Rael—etched itself further across his sternum, overlapping the core symbol until neither could breathe.
His pulse surged.
Then shattered.
His resonance dropped.
—
Outside the ward, Doctrine flared full emergency glyphs.
"Collapse detected."
"Resonant pulse dropped below containment threshold."
"Seal the chamber—Veil disruption in progress."
Kaelen heard it first.
He sprinted toward the door.
Yolti chased, voice sharp. "What's happening now?!"
Buta stepped into the hallway.
Eyes narrowed.
Hands steady.
His own Veilmark beginning to glow.
—
Inside the chamber, Zephryn fell forward on the floor.
His breath hitched.
And the glyph—
detached.
—
It lifted off his skin like a spirit shedding a body.
Still spiraling.
Still glowing.
But now made of light.
A hovering pattern of broken song, turning midair in quiet rhythm.
Bubbalor growled, wings half-open.
Selka reached for Zephryn—
And the glyph responded.
Not by attacking.
By echoing.
Her own Veilmark flared, unintentionally casting.
The glyph flashed red.
Selka dropped to her knees.
"It's not trying to hurt us—"
"It's trying to survive."
—
Then it cracked again.
One loud pulse.
BOOM.
The chamber's resonance barrier collapsed.
Outside, Buta lifted his hand—
And activated his Veilmark.
For the first time in front of everyone.
—
It was not a glyph.
Not a symbol.
It was a chain.
Burned down his right forearm, thick with broken harmonic script, one end looped and shattered, the other vanishing into skin like it was still bound to something unseen.
His voice boomed through the wall:
"STAND DOWN."
Kaelen froze mid-sprint.
Even the Doctrine guards stepped back.
Inside the chamber—
The glyph halted.
Shaking.
Listening.
Recognizing.
Buta stepped through the broken door.
Eyes locked on the floating mark.
"That's not a cast."
Selka looked up. "What is it?"
He said nothing for a moment.
Then:
"It's the residue of the name he used to be."
—
The glyph pulsed again.
Bright.
Desperate.
Rael.
And it began to collapse inward—
Fragmenting, spiraling into Zephryn's chest again—
But not whole.
Not this time.
—
Zephryn screamed.
Dropped.
And passed out cold.
—
Selka rushed to him, held him tight.
The glyph vanished beneath his skin again.
And for the first time since Caervale…
The Veil went completely quiet.