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Chapter 23 - Chapter 23: The Face Beneath the Fire, and the Silence That Remembers Too Much

Sakamoto's Age: 4.5

Setting: Harrow's Reach

Tone: Uneasy. Tension between walls. Magic in the air.

Status: The party is under city protection — for now.

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Opening Line:

Some cities whisper your name.

This one… whispered what you did before you were born.

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Reading the Scroll

I opened the scroll Theren gave me.

It smelled like ash.

The ink moved as I read it — not like it was enchanted… but like it was still bleeding.

The scene it showed me:

> A battlefield.

A broken gate.

And me — older. Taller. Crownless. Eyes hollow.

I was Aevum.

I held Niris.

And I screamed as I stabbed her through the heart.

She smiled.

Then crumbled into dust.

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Sakamoto Breaks (A Flash of the Past)

I fell to my knees in the hall.

The scroll burned in my hands.

And for a second… I wasn't 4.5 anymore.

I was nineteen.

Drunk. Cold. Laughing in a stairwell before jumping into a road.

And the last thought I had before dying wasn't "I want another chance."

It was:

> "I hope no one finds my browser history."

Then I was back.

Gasping.

Aelira caught me before I hit the stone.

> "You're pale."

> "I remember dying."

> "In this world?"

> "No. The one before."

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Aelira's Mutation Escalates

Later that night, her magic flared again.

Black lines ran up her neck now.

Her eyes flickered orange-red — not fire… unstable mana core fusion.

> "You're changing fast," I said.

> "I know."

> "Are you scared?"

> "Yes."

> "Want me to stop it?"

> "No. Just… don't let me turn into something you have to kill."

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Ravian Gets a Letter

Ravian received a sealed message via bird.

He didn't open it.

But he knew the seal.

> "That's from the Herald Office," he said.

> "Good or bad?"

> "If they sent it, it's because someone wants you used before you're burned."

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Final Scene – The Girl in Chains

In a hidden cell beneath the citadel, a figure stirred.

A young girl — maybe twelve — eyes glowing with cursed glyphs.

She whispered:

> "Aevum is alive."

Her shackles cracked.

A noble screamed somewhere above.

And the city bells rang for the first time in ten years.

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