The Messenger was gone.

The village returned to its empty silence, as if nothing had happened. The people resumed their routines, their blank expressions unchanging.

To them, it was just another day.

Aelric and the nameless man stood in the same spot, unmoving, the weight of the moment still hanging between them.

The villagers had forgotten.

But this man—he remembered.

“You told me they forgot you,” Aelric said at last, watching him carefully. “But how did you make them forget?”

The man exhaled slowly. His fists were still clenched, as if he hadn’t yet decided whether he should fight something—Aelric, himself, or the very Order that had taken everything from him.

“I didn’t make them forget,” he murmured. “I just… never gave them a reason to remember.”

Aelric narrowed his eyes. “Explain.”

The man’s grip tightened at his sides. “The Order doesn’t just erase people physically. It erases them from history, from memory. If someone defies them, they don’t just die—they become nothing.”

Aelric had already suspected as much. He had seen it before, in other places. Entire lineages wiped from existence. A merchant once known across three cities—now nothing more than an empty house no one seemed to remember had once been occupied.

“But for you,” Aelric pressed, “it was different.”

The man nodded. “When the Messenger asked, ‘Who are you?’ I didn’t answer. I didn’t resist. I didn’t even think. I just… existed.”

Aelric’s mind pieced it together.

“You had no name,” he murmured.

The man nodded again.

“I was no one. No title. No identity. No meaning. The Order destroys those who stand for something. I stood for nothing. And so, they left me behind.”

Aelric exhaled, crossing his arms. “That’s how you survived.”

The man gave a bitter smirk. “I wasn’t worth breaking.”

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Aelric stayed silent for a moment. He studied him—not just his words, but the weight behind them.

“…You don’t remember your name,” Aelric said finally. “But do you remember them? Your family?”

The man inhaled sharply.

At first, he thought he didn’t. The years had stolen so much. He couldn’t recall their faces clearly, nor the exact sound of their voices. Their names had long since vanished from his mind.

But the feelings—those would never fade.

“I…” His voice wavered. “I remember… warmth.”

He could barely see it in his mind, but he could still feel it.

His mother’s arms wrapping around him when the winters were too harsh. The gentle pressure of his father’s hand on his shoulder when he helped with the fields. The way his younger brother used to cling to his sleeve, always excited, always talking about the future—

The future they never had.

And then came the day he lost it all.

The screams, the suffocating silence that followed. The blood on his father’s hands. The moment he realized that he was alone.

He had spent years pretending it never happened. That if he stopped thinking about it, if he let his name go, it would hurt less.

It didn’t.

“It’s strange,” he whispered, voice hollow. “I can’t remember their names. I can’t remember what our house looked like. I don’t even remember my own face back then.”

A deep breath.

“But I remember the pain.”

His fingers curled into fists.

“I remember what it felt like when she was taken. When I realized he was going to do it. When I realized that… nothing would stop it.”

His breathing grew unsteady.

“The fear, the helplessness. The rage.” His throat tightened. “Those will never fade.”

Aelric let him speak. He didn’t interrupt, didn’t offer empty words of comfort. He simply listened.

And then, after a long silence, he spoke.

“You were erased,” Aelric said quietly. “But you still exist.”

The man let out a short, bitter breath. “What does that even mean?”

“It means,” Aelric said, stepping closer, “that the Order didn’t succeed.”

The man blinked, stunned.

“They wanted you forgotten. They wanted you empty. But here you are, standing before me. Talking. Feeling.”

Aelric’s voice was calm, unwavering. “You said no one remembers you. That no one speaks your name.”

He held the man’s gaze.

“Then let me give you one.”

The man stiffened slightly. His first instinct was to resist.

Aelric had expected that.

“A name isn’t just something people call you,” Aelric continued. “It’s something that proves you exist. Something that can’t be erased.”

The nameless man’s fingers twitched at his sides. He still didn’t speak.

Aelric pressed forward. “Your father tried to protect his family by obeying. He gave them away, one by one. But you? You fought without fighting. You endured.”

He took one final step, meeting the man’s gaze directly.

“And now you stand here, still breathing, still thinking, still feeling. They tried to forget you, but you are still here.”

The man’s throat moved slightly, but he didn’t speak.

Aelric smiled—just slightly. “That deserves a name, don’t you think?”

The man clenched his jaw. He didn’t answer.

So Aelric gave him no choice.

“You are now Veyne.”

Veyne exhaled sharply, as if the weight of something long buried had finally surfaced. He stared at Aelric, emotions flickering through his usually hardened expression.

Aelric didn’t wait. “And if you accept that name—if you stand with me—then we’ll make sure no village ends up like yours again.”

Veyne’s hands clenched at his sides. “And what if nothing changes?”

Aelric met his gaze without hesitation. “It will. Because we’ll change it.”

Veyne laughed—a dry, bitter sound. “You say that like you believe it.”

“I don’t believe it,” Aelric said. “I know it.”

Veyne’s breath caught.

Aelric took a step forward, his voice firm, unwavering.

“One day, when I uncover the truth, I’ll return to this village. And when I do, I’ll make sure no one has to live like this again. So remember your anger. Remember your emotions. And give your life to me.”

Veyne stared at him.

For the first time in his life—or at least in the life he could remember—someone had a dream.

A dream in a world where dreams were impossible.

Aelric turned. “Come with me, Veyne. Give me your loyalty, and I’ll show you something beyond this dying world.”

Veyne lowered his head.

Then, slowly, he knelt.

“I am yours.”

End of Chapter 3