The Forgotten Labyrinth was not marked on any map.
It existed in a place memory refused to hold, a realm folded between moments, hidden not by walls, but by the world's own reluctance to remember it.
Only those whose names had been touched—scraped raw by the Hollow Veil—could find the way.
Althar had been marked. He could feel it now. A subtle pressure behind his eyes, a coldness in his spine, like something had brushed against his soul and lingered.
Which was why, when Kaelis's name began to fade from the records—even from Seris's own carefully written journal—he made the decision.
"We're going in," he said. "And we're bringing her back."
They gathered a team of six.
Ariya, ever loyal, who now bore a rune-etched blade that shimmered with the strength of remembrance.
Seris, her mind protected by a weave of dream-magic and fire-ink, layered three times deep.
Toven, a scholar whose family had once been victims of the Hollow Veil—he had nothing left to forget.
Nyra, a silent scout who never spoke but recorded everything in tattooed glyphs across her arms and chest.
And finally, Elder Irek—an ancient seer whose name was already half-erased, making him the only one who could walk ahead without being noticed by the Veil.
They entered the Labyrinth at the place where four forgotten roads crossed—roads no one remembered building, but which always led to dead ends.
There, Althar spoke Kaelis's name aloud.
Not just once.
But three times, binding it in fire, in breath, and in blood.
The ground trembled.
Reality bent.
And the Labyrinth opened.
Inside, time unraveled.
The first corridor was made of smooth obsidian, yet their footsteps left no sound.
Whispers trailed them—names of people they'd once known. Some real. Some… possibly theirs.
At one point, Seris paused and gasped, "Did we have a brother?"
Althar grabbed her shoulder, hard. "No. Keep moving."
Because in the Labyrinth, every step tried to unmake them.
Every corner turned led them not forward, but inward, into versions of themselves that might have existed had their stories gone differently.
Nyra almost vanished entirely when she paused at a mirror that reflected her with a family. Ariya snapped the glass with her blade before the image could trap her.
Hours—days—minutes passed. Time lost meaning.
Then came the Chamber of Half-Names.
There, Althar found her.
Kaelis sat in the center of a rune-inscribed prison, her back turned. Her shoulders shuddered, though she made no sound.
Her name was carved across the walls—but only half of it remained.
Just: KAE
The rest had been devoured.
Seris reached for her. "Kaelis?"
No reaction.
Althar stepped forward, raising his voice. "Kaelis Flameborn."
The rune walls shivered.
She turned slightly.
Eyes glazed. Lips parted.
"Who...?"
The Labyrinth howled.
It had noticed them.
A shadow pulled itself from the ceiling—long and faceless, draped in the Hollow Veil. A creature of stolen identity. It spoke with the voices of the missing.
"Return her to forgetfulness," it whispered in a thousand stolen tongues. "She is ours now."
Althar raised his blade.
"No," he said.
"I remember her."
He stepped into the warded circle, the runes burning his boots, scarring the stone.
He fell to one knee before Kaelis.
"You taught me to speak again. To feel. You gave me purpose when I was still hollow."
He reached for her hand.
"I bind your name."
She trembled.
The veil around her eyes flickered.
He pressed her palm to his chest.
"Kaelis Flameborn. Rebel. Flamewright. My friend. My light."
And then:
"I love you."
The name exploded back into being.
KAELIS FLAMEBORN burned across the chamber in golden fire.
The shadow screamed.
Nyra threw down her inked glyphs. Ariya drove her rune-blade into the creature's heart. Seris unleashed dreamfire in a torrent of violet flame.
Together, they shattered the Hollow Veil's hold.
Kaelis blinked. Her eyes cleared.
And she smiled.
"You remembered me."
Althar held her tight. "I'll never forget you again."
They left the Labyrinth not through a door, but through a tear in memory—walking back into a world that had tried to forget one of its brightest flames.
But they carried her name now.
Bound in love, in fire, and in truth.
And the Hollow Veil would soon learn…
Some names can never be unmade.