Nhalem, the city of perpetual oblivion
Hidden behind a veil of amber mist, between eroded mountain ranges and nameless rivers, lay Nhalem , a city that remained undiscovered in archives, maps, and memories. Not because it was secret, but because it had been intentionally erased from the world.
Nhalem was an experiment. Founded by an ancient coalition of former judges and spiritual scientists, its purpose was simple and chilling: to create a place where memory could not accumulate.
The population lived in seven-day cycles. Each week, memories were extracted, compressed, and stored in a sealed core. No one knew why. No one remembered. That was the law. And that was peace.
Until a white root sprouted from the soil of the Compression Core.
Flourishing without reference
The root didn't grow like in other cities. It didn't emit vibration. It didn't generate memory. Its existence was registered only by the core's sensors, which flagged it as an "anomaly that interferes with cycles."
The technicians tried to remove it, but every time they touched it, they forgot what they were doing. They didn't feel fear. They didn't feel anger. They just stopped.
And in the following days, strange things began to happen:
A woman cooked the same dish for three weeks straight, believing it was the first time. A boy built a clay root figure, not knowing what it was. An old man began to pronounce a name that did not exist: "Sora."
III. Arrival without destination
Akihiko and Kazun arrived at Nhalem without a guide. The roots in their bodies weren't responding. It was as if the ground itself couldn't remember what they were.
The city welcomed them with mechanical courtesy. No one questioned them. No one celebrated them. They were simply registered, assigned a space, and forgotten.
But that night, Akihiko dreamed. And in his sleep, he didn't see visions of the past. He saw erased moments : faceless laughter, bridges he never crossed, scars he didn't remember having.
When he woke up, his root was still.
For the first time in their entire journey… the bloom had been neutralized.
The Encounter with the Archivist of the Void
Kazun, restless, explored the restricted area and was captured without violence. He was brought before an eyeless man, wearing a cloak woven from fragments of erased writing. His voice was faint, as if echoing himself.
—"My name is Aludren . I am the Archivist of the Void. And you bring resonance to a place that has sworn to have none."
Kazun asked him why. Aludren didn't respond with any reasons. He opened a box.
Inside, hundreds of memories floated like smoke. Images of failed trials, of poisoned roots, of wars between flourishing cities. Fragments of pain the world chose not to remember.
—"This place wasn't built for living. It was built for forgetting by those who couldn't accept their mistakes."
The awakening of the Garden of Silence
Akihiko arrived shortly after. Aludren watched him.
—"You are a carrier. You are a seed. But here… you have no soil."
Akihiko knelt before the root. He didn't try to activate it. He didn't project anything. He just silently remembered what he had seen in every city: the pain, the doubt, the betrayal… and the timid hope.
And then, the root moved.
It didn't bloom. It didn't shine. It just grew slowly, spiraling, enveloping the box of memories. Not to destroy it. To absorb it.
Aludren took a step back.
-"What are you doing?"
Akihiko replied:
—"I am sowing with what others have thrown away."
And in that instant, the entire city shook. The cycles stopped. For the first time in centuries, the people of Nhalem dreamed of what they had lost.
Serak gives the order
From his tower, Serak was informed of Nhalem's awakening. His response was immediate.
—"Activate the Mirror of Forgetfulness. If you blossom from guilt… you could become stronger than any faith."
The war would not be for control.
It would be because of the way the world chooses to remember.
END OF CHAPTER 119