The city died quietly.
When the reverse rain stopped, it did not fall. It simply ceased to exist, as if it had never dared to be.
SFX: shhhhht—CRRKKK—
The inverted skyline folded into itself like burning paper.
The Widow's colossal body dissolved into black snow that evaporated before touching the ground.
Only three remained standing in the sudden, aching silence.
Rhaen knelt, palms flat against the cracked street, breathing through the holes where his lungs used to be.
Seere stood behind him, one hand resting lightly on the crown of his head—blessing, claiming, or both.
Asha leaned on her broken sword twenty paces away, chest heaving, blood dripping from her chin in perfect crimson beads.
Above them, thirteen shards of impossible light hung in the air like frozen screams.
They were beautiful the way collapsing stars are beautiful. Each fragment pulsed with a different sin, a different promise.
[First Trial Complete]
[Name: The City That Weeps Upward — Perfect Clear Achieved]
[Hidden Condition "Defiance" fulfilled]
[Greater Nightmare Creature "Mother of All Forgotten Names" slain before full awakening]
SFX: ZHHHHHH—
The obsidian steles unfolded before them, taller than thought, letters carved from living night.
First came the fragments.
The thirteen lights descended slowly, orbiting the three survivors like obedient moons.
Divine Fragments Revealed — First Batch (13/777):
Crown of the First Night — Dominion over absolute darkness and perfect lies
Heart of the Pale Moon — Mastery of dreams, memory, and emotional decay
Wings of the Red Dawn — Absolute authority over blood and stolen vitality
Veil of the Forgotten — Become unnamable, untraceable, erased from fate
Tongue of the Last Lullaby — One spoken word can end any mind
Eyes of the Widow's Grief — See every wound the world has ever suffered
Hands of the Childless Mother — Steal the future of any bloodline
Womb of Reverse Rain — Birth nightmares into reality
Tears of the Nameless — Weaponize identity erosion
Voice of the Hollow Cradle — Speak and make the living infertile with hope
Bones of the Unborn Saint — Armor forged from prayers that were never answered
Shadow of the First Traitor — Betray any oath without consequence
Echo of the Broken Covenant — Bind or shatter the souls of others
The moment the list etched itself into vision, the fragments stopped orbiting.
Three went to Rhaen.
Three to Seere.
Three to Asha.
Four remained suspended in the center, pulsing, waiting for the first betrayal.
Rhaen's three settled into his chest like hot coals.
[Crown of the First Night — Fragment 1/7 absorbed]
[Veil of the Forgotten — Fragment 1/5 absorbed]
[Shadow of the First Traitor — Fragment 1/3 absorbed]
His shadow thickened, writhing at his feet like living oil.
The Flaw Bleeding Heart pulsed once, painfully, then quieted—as though even it was learning to lie better.
Seere received:
Heart of the Pale Moon, Tongue of the Last Lullaby, Tears of the Nameless
Asha received:
Wings of the Red Dawn, Hands of the Childless Mother, Bones of the Unborn Saint
The four unclaimed fragments hovered, patient as vipers.
Then came the second wave of notifications.
[Title Granted to All Three — "Gravewalkers of the First Night"]
[Soul Core Promotion: Flawed → Tempered]
[Aspect Rank Up: Flawed → Awakened]
[New Ability Unlocked — Covenant Resonance: Skills and memories may be shared temporarily between bound souls]
[Flaw Evolution Detected… calculating acceptable cruelty…]
Rhaen's stele went black for three seconds.
When it returned, one line had changed:
[Current Flaw: Bleeding Heart → Crimson Masquerade]
Genuine affection no longer caused bleeding.
Instead, the loved one temporarily inherited your pain.
He stared until the words burned into him.
Asha barked a laugh that was half snarl.
"Perfect. Next time I decide I like one of you, you get to enjoy my broken ribs. Romance achieved."
Seere traced a finger down Rhaen's spine, thoughtful.
"I wonder what my new Flaw tastes like," she murmured.
Rhaen ignored them both.
He was reading the final notification—the one written in letters that hurt to perceive.
[Memory of the Widow absorbed — Playback available]
[Do you wish to witness the fall of the Nameless Monarch? Y/N]
He clicked Yes before the others could react.
SFX: SHHHH—ZZZZZT—
The world dissolved.
Suddenly, they stood on a plain of black glass beneath a sky that bled starlight.
A titanic figure knelt in the center—human-shaped, but only the way nightmares are human-shaped.
Thirteen wounds glowed in its chest, each leaking a different divine light.
Around it lay the corpses of a thousand gods, halos shattered, names erased.
The Nameless Monarch lifted his head.
Where his face should have been: smooth nothing.
His voice was every voice that had ever begged for mercy:
"I crowned myself with night so that my children would never fear the dark.
I broke my own name so no one could command me again.
And still…
still they came.
My beloved.
My betrayers.
My widows."
The vision fractured.
The last thing they saw: the Monarch reaching toward three tiny figures in the distance (white, red, shadow) and whispering:
"I will make you stronger than I ever was.
Even if I have to kill you thirteen times thirteen to do it."
The memory ended.
They were back in the empty, dead city.
Rhaen's hands shook—not from fear, but recognition.
He had seen those three figures before.
In the largest mirror.
Kneeling. Offering their names.
He laughed once—soft, wet—the same laugh he'd given on the rooftop the night he died.
Seere watched him with gentle, predatory curiosity.
Asha cracked her neck and grinned at the four unclaimed fragments.
"Four left. We each take one, and the last one starts the war early. Anyone want to roll the dice?"
Rhaen stood slowly.
The new shadow at his feet looked up at him with his own face, smiling with too many teeth.
"No," he said quietly.
"We take them all. Together. For now."
He met their eyes—Seere's frost, Asha's fire—and told them the truth for the first time.
"My name was never Rhaen val Asteria."
He drew a small, worn photograph—the only thing he'd carried from his old world.
A little boy with winter-gray eyes beside a girl with the same face. Both smiling. Both already dead.
"I killed my first person when I was nine," he added.
"My sister's rapist. Made it look like suicide. Then the detective. Then the journalist. Then the judge. Seventeen years. Seventeen perfect ghosts."
He let the photograph fall. The shadow at his feet caught it, cradled it, then devoured it.
"I stopped counting when I stopped believing names mattered. Turns out the world disagreed."
He looked at the four waiting fragments.
"No scraps yet. We get strong enough that when betrayal comes, the universe itself will flinch."
Seere's smile was beautiful and terrible.
Asha sheathed her broken sword and stepped closer, leaving bloody footprints.
"Good. I'd hate to murder someone boring."
The four remaining fragments lowered obediently into the space between them—shared, for now.
[Divine Fragment Distribution Complete]
[First Nightmare Fully Cleared]
[Return to the Dream Gate in 10… 9…]
Rhaen closed his eyes.
When he opened them, the city was gone.
They stood once again before the three broken thrones.
But everything was different now.
Their shadows had teeth.