The Memory Sea went quiet.
Not peaceful quiet.
The kind of quiet that happens right before a blade touches skin.
Qi Shan Wei stood on the dark mirror-water, his Name Anchor rings glowing in seven calm colors around his chest. His Heavenpiercer Ruler rested in his hand like a mountain made into steel.
Across from him, the Warden smiled like it had just found a new game.
And behind Shan Wei, inside the fog, a second figure stepped forward.
The sea did not ripple under that figure's feet.
The figure did not breathe loudly.
It simply appeared, tall and still, wrapped in pale bell light and thin moon-dust frost. Its eyes were calm, almost like Shan Wei's—controlled, sharp, and hard to read.
It spoke his name again, slow and heavy.
"Qi Shan Wei."
Shan Wei did not turn quickly.
He turned like an Emperor turning to face a court—steady, no fear, no rush.
"What are you?" Shan Wei asked.
The figure's lips curved into a small smile.
"A mirror," it said. "A judge. A cleaner."
The Warden laughed softly beside them.
"He's the first drowner," the Warden whispered with love and hate mixed together. "The one who pushed the threads into the sea."
Shan Wei's eyes narrowed.
"Why?" he asked.
The figure stepped closer. The fog pulled away from it, like the sea itself respected it. As it came near, Shan Wei could feel something strange.
Not raw power like a beast.
Not sharp killing intent like an assassin.
This was different.
This felt like permission.
Like the world wanted to listen to this figure.
The figure spoke calmly.
"I drowned your first consort thread," it said. "And I crossed out the second one."
Shan Wei's Prismatic Heart ring slammed.
His fingers tightened slightly on his ruler.
But his voice stayed calm.
"You admit it," he said.
"Yes," the figure replied.
"Then you die," Shan Wei said, simple as law.
The Warden giggled, pleased.
The figure did not look angry.
It looked… tired.
"Listen," it said. "I did it to save you."
Shan Wei's eyes hardened.
"Saving me by stealing them?" he said.
The figure nodded once.
"Yes," it said. "Because the moment your consort threads fully connect, the Court will label you a fate hazard. A destabilizing obsession. A world-breaking anchor."
Shan Wei's gaze did not change.
"That is their fear," he said. "Not my crime."
The figure lifted a hand. The bell light around its fingers formed thin lines in the air, like strings on a puppet.
"These are not feelings," it said. "These are threads. Threads can pull worlds. Threads can drag past lives back. Threads can wake what is buried under your name."
Shan Wei remembered the Emperor Nail Core's whispering laugh. He remembered the Record's page showing crossed-out slots. He remembered how the Silent Bell Monastery's law moved like a blade that did not need strength.
He did not show doubt.
But he stored the information like a weapon.
"Who are you?" Shan Wei asked again, colder now. "Give a name."
The figure smiled lightly.
"I have many names," it said. "In one cycle, they called me a monk. In another, they called me a traitor. In another… they called me your shadow."
Shan Wei's eyes narrowed.
"You are tied to me," he said.
"Yes," the figure replied. "That is why I can stand in this sea without drowning."
The Warden leaned close and whispered like a poison sweetness.
"He is not lying," it said. "He is part of your past. A piece that did not die properly."
Shan Wei's voice stayed calm.
"Then you are a remnant," he said.
The figure nodded.
"A remnant," it agreed. "A leftover judge made from your old life's choices."
The words hit the sea like stones.
For one breath, Shan Wei's mind flashed with images he did not own.
A throne of prismatic light.
A battlefield of broken stars.
A bell ringing over a city that burned.
A woman's hair like snow.
A woman's hands smelling like herbs.
A woman's eyes like moonfire.
Then the Memory Sea tried to swallow those images.
Shan Wei's Name Anchor rings flared and forced them away.
He kept his face calm.
"You're trying to confuse me," Shan Wei said.
"No," the figure replied. "I'm trying to warn you."
The figure stepped closer and lowered its voice.
"The Silent Bell Monastery is not just watching you," it said. "They are building a case. They want to prove you are repeating the old disaster."
Shan Wei's eyes sharpened.
"What disaster?" he asked.
The figure lifted one finger.
"A Prismatic Emperor who loved too hard," it said softly. "And broke the Court's clean laws."
The Warden hummed with joy, like it loved the pain in the story.
The figure continued, calm and cruel in its honesty.
"In that cycle, your consort threads became a weapon," it said. "Not by your choice. By their attacks. By their traps. They used your love like a handle to pull you."
Shan Wei's jaw tightened.
He could see it.
If enemies could touch those threads, they could stab his heart without touching his skin.
He understood the danger.
But he did not accept the theft.
"So you drowned them," Shan Wei said.
"Yes," the figure answered. "I took the threads and hid them here, where only a Prismatic Heart could reach them."
Shan Wei's gaze turned colder.
"And you left them to suffer," he said.
The figure's eyes softened for the first time.
"I did not want them to suffer," it said. "I wanted them to survive."
Shan Wei's voice stayed calm, but it carried weight.
"Survival without memory is not life," he said.
The Warden clicked its tongue like it was disappointed.
"Pretty words," it whispered. "But will you pay the price?"
Shan Wei ignored it.
He looked at the figure.
"You crossed out Ling Xueyao," he said. "Why her first?"
The figure's face tightened slightly.
"Because she was the first blade," it said. "The first anchor. The one who could cut Bell law if she awakened fully."
Shan Wei's heart hit his chest hard.
He remembered Xuan Chi cutting memory fog.
He remembered how the moon line sliced contracts.
A thought formed, sharp and dangerous.
"The women are not just romance," he realized. "They are keys. They are weapons against the Court."
He stared at the figure again.
"And Mei Yulan?" Shan Wei asked.
The figure's voice lowered.
"Because her flame can rebuild what the Bell breaks," it said. "Because her life Dao can restore a drowned thread."
Shan Wei's eyes sharpened even more.
He was seeing the pattern now.
The Monastery feared the Six Consorts not only because of love.
They feared the system the six could form around him.
A Sixfold constellation.
A power that could resist fate.
Shan Wei's face stayed calm.
"So you hid them," he said. "To keep the Court from proving me 'dangerous.'"
The figure nodded once.
"Yes," it said. "And to keep you from waking the Forbidden Awakening early."
The Warden's smile widened.
"Oh," it whispered. "Now we get to the good part."
Shan Wei's voice stayed even.
"My Forbidden Awakening is not for you to decide," he said.
The figure looked at him, almost like it was looking at itself.
"You always say that," it said quietly.
Then it raised its hand and the Memory Sea shifted.
The dark water-mirror cracked open like a window.
A scene showed inside it.
A past scene.
A battlefield of bells.
A young Shan Wei—silver hair, golden eyes, blood on his robes—standing in front of a giant bell tower.
Behind him, six silhouettes.
The bell tower rang.
And the world screamed.
The scene shook and broke like glass.
The figure lowered its hand.
"That was the day the Court feared you," it said. "Not because you killed. But because you refused to let them take your bonds."
Shan Wei watched the broken image without blinking.
Then he asked one calm question.
"Are they alive?" he said. "Their true selves. Not these drowned echoes."
The figure's eyes turned serious.
"Yes," it said. "But scattered. Locked. Severed across cycles."
The Warden leaned closer, hungry again.
"And to pull them back," it whispered, "you will pay more prices. Much bigger ones."
Shan Wei did not answer the Warden.
He looked at the figure.
"You will give me the key path," Shan Wei said. "Now."
The figure stared at him.
Then it spoke slowly.
"I can show you a path," it said. "But I will not open it for you."
Shan Wei's voice stayed calm.
"Show it," he said.
The figure lifted its hand and pointed deeper into the fog.
The fog peeled away to reveal a river.
Not water.
A river of glowing names, drifting like lanterns.
Some names were bright.
Some were dim.
Some were half-erased.
And above the river, huge bell runes hung like chains in the sky.
The Warden whispered, almost reverent.
"The Name River," it said. "The place where drowned threads float before they rot."
The figure's voice turned colder.
"The Silent Bell Monastery built a gate above it," it said. "A gate that filters what names are allowed to return."
Shan Wei's eyes narrowed.
"And you are part of that gate," he said.
The figure nodded.
"Yes," it said. "I was forged to enforce it."
Shan Wei's aura sharpened slightly, like steel being pulled from a sheath.
"Then you are my enemy," Shan Wei said.
The figure's eyes did not deny it.
"Yes," it answered.
The Warden giggled again.
"Fight him," it whispered. "Break him. Take his keys. It will be fun."
The figure raised one hand.
Bell light formed into a blade, long and thin.
Not a sword.
A law blade.
It hummed with permission.
"Do not misunderstand," the figure said calmly. "I do not want to kill you."
Shan Wei's voice stayed quiet.
"I do not need your want," he said. "I need your keys."
The figure sighed, almost sad.
"Then you will take them," it said. "The hard way."
Shan Wei stepped forward, ruler lifting.
The Memory Sea shook.
At the same time, far outside, in the real battlefield, the fog surged again.
Xuan Chi's moon line cut a path, saving people from forgetting their faces.
Zhen's core cracked louder.
A new warning line flashed:
NAME VAULT MODE: AVAILABLE.COST: CORE FRACTURE +1.
Drakonix's body trembled and curled tighter.
His prismatic flames leaked out in short bursts, burning small contract threads in the air like angry sparks.
And above all of it, the Silent Bell monk's voice snapped with cold anger.
"He entered," it said. "Then seal the tomb. Execute the outside. And when he returns… take his Heart."
Back in the Memory Sea, Shan Wei faced the law-blade remnant.
He did not rush.
He did not shout.
He simply spoke one calm line that felt like a vow.
"I will pull every drowned name back," Shan Wei said. "And if you stand in my way… I will cut you like Bell law."
The figure lifted its law blade.
"Then prove you can," it said.
Their weapons met.
Not with a clang.
With a bell sound that shook the whole sea.
And the Name River behind them began to rise, as if the battle itself was waking the drowned threads.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.