THE CODEX
EPISODE 13 — The Name That Will Never Return
> When he came to, he was in a room he didn't recognize.
Walls of salt.
Ceilings of bones.
And before him... an empty throne.
But beneath this throne...
A page.
Written in his own hand.
Or almost.
---
> Conclusion of the Tormented Child Cycle
The salt crunched beneath his feet.
Benjamin Borax advanced toward the empty throne, breathless, his hands soiled with an alphabet that no longer existed.
The silence wasn't empty.
He was waiting.
Beneath the throne, the page moved—
as if breathing.
As if waiting to be read... or recognized.
Benjamin took it.
And read.
A spiraling prayer.
An infinite sentence.
A single word, written a thousand times: "Absolvo."
And then, the figure—the one without form, born from the bones of fear and forgotten faith—appeared, bare-faced, as tall as a recumbent cathedral.
The demon.
Hurald-Tha.
He spoke into the dead light:
"You want to chase me away? You want to deny me? You nourished me more than him."
But Benjamin didn't answer.
He planted the page in the ground.
He recited a verse that only his heart still remembered:
> "You are not what fell from the sky,
You are what memory has not been able to mourn.
But here, this world no longer belongs to you."
Then... the throne bled.
A white light burst from the pedestal.
Pure. Inhuman.
It didn't burn.
It separated.
The demon's howl split the salt walls.
Bones cracked, shadows twisted.
And in this spectral tumult, a child appeared.
The adolescent.
Twelve years old, his eyes closed, his arms bound by shadow for too long.
Benjamin took him against him.
And, with a final breath, whispered:
— "You can go home now."
---
And everything disappeared.
The throne.
The room.
The salt.
---
Benjamin woke up in the exorcism chamber, lying on the floor.
The circle was broken.
Rain beat against the windows.
Silence had returned, human this time.
Before him, the boy lay peaceful, breathing shallowly but alive.
His mother collapsed in tears.
The auxiliary priest, once terrified, held out his hand.
— "God has guided you. Thank you."
Benjamin stood up, wobbly, his soul still heavy.
The Codex, lying nearby, had changed.
The black page had been replaced... by a blank one.
And this time, he remembered his old master.
And the taste of fire.
And how to pray.
Before leaving, he whispered to the boy:
— "Your name is Elias. Always remember your name. It's what saves us, sometimes."
And he left the house, in the rain,
leaving behind a defeated demon
and a child... freed.