The stairs went down forever.
Concrete steps spiraled into the earth, each one cracked and damp, as if the ground itself had been sweating long before the sinkhole appeared.
Rei led the way, his hand brushing the wall, the mark beneath his skin pulsing softly, like it was counting each step.
Behind him, Aira followed in silence.
Zeke brought up the rear, metal knuckles scraping lightly against the railing, ready for impact.
Rena walked with her head tilted, listening to things no one else could hear.
Suki's flames stayed low, barely visible, reacting nervously to the air.
Kai's lightning did not spark at all.
That terrified him more than if it had gone wild.
The deeper they went, the quieter the world became.
Not normal quiet.
Not the absence of sound.
But a pressure, like sound had been pressed flat and buried.
Rena stopped suddenly.
"Do you hear that?" she asked.
Suki shook her head. "Hear what?"
Rena's face went pale.
"Exactly."
Rei felt it then.
A tug.
Not on his body.
On his name.
The stairway ended in a wide underground chamber.
Old transit maps were painted on the walls, half peeled away.
Tracks ran through the center, warped like something heavy had passed over them again and again.
But there was no train.
No machine.
Only footprints.
Hundreds of them.
Bare feet.
Boots.
Children's shoes.
All leading inward.
None leading out.
Kai whispered, "They walked in on their own."
Zeke muttered, "Or something walked them."
At the far end of the chamber stood a doorway that should not exist.
It was tall and narrow, carved directly into solid stone.
No hinges.
No handle.
Just a vertical slit of darkness that breathed slowly in and out.
Aira grabbed Rei's sleeve.
"That's not a door," she said.
Rei nodded.
"I know."
The mark flared.
The doorway opened wider.
A voice drifted out.
Not loud.
Not threatening.
Just familiar.
"Rei."
Aira stiffened.
"That sounded like you," she whispered.
Rei swallowed.
"I know."
Another voice followed.
"Kai."
Then,
"Rena."
"Suki."
"Zeke."
Each name spoken perfectly.
Each voice belonged to the person being called.
Suki took a step back.
"Nope," she said. "No. Absolutely not."
Rena stared into the doorway.
"It's copying us," she said.
"Not copying," Rei corrected quietly.
"Remembering."
The air shifted.
The ground trembled lightly.
From inside the doorway, figures began to emerge.
They looked human at first.
Too human.
A man stumbled forward, eyes empty, mouth slightly open.
A woman followed, clutching her arms like she was cold.
A child dragged his feet, humming softly.
Kai gasped.
"I saw them earlier," he said.
"They were on the street."
Rei stepped closer.
"Can you hear me?" he asked the man.
The man looked up.
For a second, recognition sparked.
Then his face collapsed into confusion.
"Who am I?" he whispered.
The words hit harder than any attack.
Aira covered her mouth.
"They took their memories," she said.
Rena shook her head slowly.
"No," she said.
"They took something deeper."
The child began to cry.
Not loudly.
Like he was embarrassed to be afraid.
"I can't remember my name," he said.
"Every time I try, it hurts."
The doorway pulsed.
Something moved inside.
A shape pressed against the darkness.
Tall.
Thin.
Its outline flickered, like it could not decide what it was supposed to look like.
Rei felt his knees weaken.
The presence spoke.
"This is where names go when the world has too many."
Zeke stepped forward aggressively.
"Show yourself."
The shape leaned closer.
And then it smiled.
Not with a mouth.
With recognition.
"You are heavy with identity," it said to Rei.
"Riftborn. Successor. Threat."
Aira shouted, "Get away from him."
The thing tilted its head.
"I do not take," it said.
"I relieve."
The man without a name collapsed.
His body folded like it had been emptied.
Rei moved instantly.
He caught him before he hit the ground.
But the man was already gone.
Still breathing.
Still warm.
But empty.
The mark screamed.
Rei roared and unleashed the rift.
Reality twisted violently.
The doorway cracked.
The presence shrieked.
For a moment, the darkness recoiled.
Then it laughed.
"You cannot erase me," it said.
"I exist because the world forgot how to let go."
It leaned close enough that only Rei could hear the next words.
"Azeroth named you."
"I will unname you."
The ground split.
Hands burst upward.
Not physical hands.
Concepts.
Fragments of lives reaching for anything solid.
Kai screamed as lightning finally exploded from him uncontrollably.
Suki's flames surged wild and blue.
Zeke slammed his fists into the ground, holding the floor together by force alone.
Rena grabbed Rei's arm.
"If it finishes speaking your name," she said, "you won't come back."
Aira locked eyes with him.
"Rei," she said softly.
"Look at me."
He did.
She spoke his name.
Not loudly.
Not magically.
But like she always had.
And the mark answered her.
The rift collapsed inward, dragging the doorway and the screaming presence down with it.
The chamber shook violently.
Stone screamed.
Then silence.
When the dust settled, the doorway was gone.
The sinkhole was sealed.
The footprints had vanished.
Only one thing remained.
A symbol carved into the floor.
A name.
Not Rei's.
Aira stared at it.
Her face drained of color.
"Rei," she whispered.
"That's not a villain's name."
Rei felt cold spread through his chest.
"It's a title," he said.
High above them, something shifted in the sky.
And somewhere far away, a god realized the world had started choosing something else.
Chapter 18 ends.