[SYSTEM UPDATE: FLOOR TWO – TASK MODULE UNLOCKED][FACTION REQUEST DETECTED: SHADOW BAZAAR][JOB CLASSIFICATION: BLACK-LEVEL][REWARD: +300 RECOGNITION | +1 NAME ROT IMMUNITY TOKEN (LIMITED)][COMMENTARY: You're not worth hiring. But you are cheap.]
The man who handed Kyren the scroll wore a cloak that flickered between shadows, his face obscured by an antique gas mask. His voice gurgled like oil through rusted pipes.
"You're new. And forgettable. That's exactly what we need."
"Thanks?" Kyren deadpanned.
The scroll unfurled in his hand, etched in writhing script. At the center, a single phrase pulsed red:
"FIND THE ONE WHO WAS NEVER NAMED."
Mirae read it over his shoulder, her brow furrowing.
"That's not cryptic at all."
The masked man chuckled.
"We believe they were born without a registered name. The Tower doesn't know what to call them… so it tries to delete them."
"And?" Kyren asked.
"And they keep surviving anyway."
That was enough to pique Kyren's interest.
Because survival without a name? That meant no recognition. No perks. No system. No reality.
"If they're not tracked by the Tower, how do we find them?"
"You don't. You follow the rot." The man dropped a token into Kyren's hand.
It twitched.
[ITEM ACQUIRED: ROTTEN NAME CHIP]
A cracked shard of identity. It leads to those who have none.
"The closer you get, the more you'll forget what you're looking for. So write it down."
Kyren blinked.
"Write what down?"
The man tilted his head.
"…Exactly."
He turned and vanished between stalls.
Kyren scribbled fast in his system notepad:
Find the one without a name. Don't forget.
The token pulsed once—pointing toward a ruined corridor beneath the main plaza.
"So what's the angle?" Mirae asked as they walked.
"We find this person, trade them for rewards, and delay being forgotten. Simple."
"No." Her voice dropped. "What's your angle, Vowbreaker?"
Kyren didn't answer.
Because he wasn't sure yet.
And because lying to Mirae now made his stomach twist in a way it hadn't before.
The descent into the under-platform tunnels was slow. Dark. Muffled. The token glowed faintly—jerking with each step like it was being pulled by invisible strings.
The deeper they went, the harder it became to focus. Words slipped. Names vanished from their minds like smoke.
Kyren clutched his wrist.
"I can't… remember my own class."
"I know," Mirae said, her voice now quiet. "The Tower's eating us already."
They reached the end of the tunnel. A room.
Cracked mirrors lined the walls—none reflecting them correctly. One showed Kyren as a child, bruised and hiding. Another showed Mirae… smiling. Whole.
Kyren turned away from his.
And then—
Movement.
A figure.
Thin. Gray. Almost not there. Clothed in torn fabric, face wrapped in gauze.
Their voice was wrong—like multiple echoes crushed together.
"You shouldn't have come."
Kyren stepped forward, heart thudding.
"Are you the one without a name?"
The figure didn't respond.
Because it didn't know.
Mirae whispered,
"The Tower doesn't recognize them. They might not even be real anymore."
Kyren stared.
And in that moment, he saw the horror of it. No title. No stats. No soul integrity. No nameplate.
Just… silence.
"I used to want this," he whispered. "To be invisible. Unseen."
The figure turned its head.
Then lunged.
Fast.
Too fast.
Kyren hit the wall with a grunt, the token in his hand burning like fire.
Mirae shouted—blades drawn—but the figure didn't attack her.
It only clawed at Kyren's system interface.
Trying to rip it off.
Trying to steal it.
Kyren screamed.
And the Tower laughed.
[SYSTEM ALERT: IDENTITY INTEGRITY COMPROMISED][RECOGNITION SCORE: 89 → 37][YOU ARE BEING ERASED]
Kyren gritted his teeth.
"Stop—I know what this is! You don't want my name… you want to exist."
The figure froze.
Just for a breath.
And Kyren took it.
He reached out—not to attack.
But to offer the token.
"Take this. Be remembered through me."
The figure touched it.
A light snapped in the darkness.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: UNKNOWN ENTITY – TEMPORARILY NAMED THROUGH VOWBREAKER CHANNEL][NEW ENTRY CREATED: "NAMELESS THROUGH HIM"][RECOGNITION REDISTRIBUTED: KYREN HAO → +23 (Current: 60)][COMMENTARY: Generous. Almost like you're trying to be human again.]
The figure flickered.
Then faded.
Still not whole. But… there.
Kyren slumped to the ground.
Breathing hard.
"You gave up points," Mirae said softly.
"No." He coughed. "I gave someone a chance not to disappear. For once, I didn't need to win."
She didn't speak again.
Just stood there.
Watching him.
Like maybe—just maybe—he was someone worth remembering.
[KYREN HAO – LEVEL: 1 | CLASS: VOWBREAKER][RECOGNITION SCORE: 60][SOUL INTEGRITY: 68%][REPUTATION: "THE NAME-BINDER" – Known for anchoring forgotten beings][CURRENT QUEST STATUS: COMPLETED][NEW FACTION INTEREST: ??? (Unknown group has taken notice)]
[SYSTEM ALERT: UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY BINDING DETECTED][THE TOWER SEES YOU.][COMMENTARY: That wasn't a reward. That was a gamble. And now it's your debt.]
Kyren and Mirae emerged from the tunnel carrying silence like a second skin. Neither spoke. They didn't need to.
Because every step back toward the hub was heavier.
Kyren's Recognition Score now floated faintly above his head: [60], pulsing like a heartbeat. Survivors watched him differently now. Not with admiration. Not with fear. With curiosity.
That was worse.
At the far edge of the plaza, an information broker flagged them down.
"You're the Name-Binder, right?"
Kyren flinched at the title.
"No."
"Well, the ones looking for you don't care what you call yourself. They're calling in a Reclaimer."
"What's a Reclaimer?" Mirae asked.
The broker just smiled.
"Someone who collects... unapproved memories."
And vanished.
[SYSTEM ALERT: FLOOR-TWO FACTIONAL BALANCE SHIFT DETECTED][THE ENTITY YOU BOUND HAS BECOME A POINT OF INTERFERENCE.][A RECLAIMER IS EN ROUTE.][ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL: 00:03:17]
Kyren froze.
"We have to hide it. Or erase it."
"Erase the Nameless?" Mirae narrowed her eyes.
"No. Just… make sure the Tower thinks it was a mistake. That it wasn't real."
"That sounds like you."
"What?"
"Trying to protect something while pretending you don't care if it dies."
They ducked into a crevice between two decaying archive towers, Mirae gripping her blade, Kyren clinging to the interface flickering with his newly bound "Name-Binder" title.
Time ticked.
[00:02:10]
[00:01:30]
Then…
They heard it.
A sound like footsteps made of stone and static.
The Reclaimer entered the plaza.
It looked like a person at first—tall, symmetrical. Clean robes. A blindfold of data strips floated where its eyes should be. But where its shadow touched the ground, System windows flickered and died.
Its voice was the Tower, spoken through broken glass.
"WHERE IS THE GLITCH?"
A woman pointed.
"There. The Vowbreaker. He has it."
The Reclaimer turned.
And Kyren felt his Recognition Scorebleed.
[RECOGNITION: 60 → 43][SYSTEM NOTE: TARGET IDENTIFIED – STABILITY IN PROGRESS: THREAT]
Kyren stood.
Not out of courage.
Out of instinct.
"It wasn't a glitch. It was a person."
The Reclaimer didn't respond. Just raised one hand—and the entire alley vanished in a flash of inverted light.
Mirae lunged forward, blades singing.
The Reclaimer didn't dodge.
It simply deleted the space between them.
Mirae staggered back, slamming into a wall that wasn't there a second ago.
Kyren's HUD was screaming.
[SOUL INTEGRITY – 68% → 60%][REASON: SYSTEM OVEREXPOSURE – TRUTH-FORCE CONTACT][WARNING: YOU ARE BEING REWRITTEN]
He fell to one knee, gritting his teeth.
The Nameless.
They were behind him.
Still wrapped in gauze. Still flickering.
Trying to stay here.
To exist.
"Don't fight it," Kyren whispered to them. "Hide in me."
The Reclaimer raised its hand again.
But something stopped it.
The Nameless reached into Kyren's chest—not physically, but through his interface.
Through his name.
And vanished.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: ENTITY "NAMELESS THROUGH HIM" – STATUS: SEALED][HOST: KYREN HAO – VITAL SYNC ACHIEVED][WARNING: THIS WILL NOT PROTECT YOU. THIS WILL ONLY DELAY CONSEQUENCES.]
The Reclaimer tilted its head.
Then it spoke—slowly.
"You will forget something important. That is your punishment."
Kyren blinked.
"What?"
"You kept something alive that should not be. So something else must rot."
It vanished.
And the moment it did—
[SYSTEM MEMORY DELETION: COMPLETE][YOU HAVE LOST: ONE UNCHOSEN MEMORY][COMMENTARY: Let's hope it wasn't something you loved.]
Kyren clutched his head.
"What was it? What did I lose?"
Mirae helped him up.
"You okay?"
He looked at her.
And felt… wrong.
Like a thread had snapped somewhere deep.
"I forgot something," he said hoarsely. "And I'll never know what it was."
They left the alley slowly.
Kyren didn't speak again for a long time.
But the title floated above him now, clearer than before:
[KYREN HAO – "THE NAME-BINDER"]
And behind his interface, something stirred.
Not a glitch.
Not a monster.
But a presence.
Quiet.
Watching.
Waiting for its name.
[KYREN HAO – LEVEL: 1][CLASS: VOWBREAKER][SOUL INTEGRITY: 60%][RECOGNITION SCORE: 43][TITLE: THE NAME-BINDER][SEALED ENTITY: ??? – STABILITY UNKNOWN]