The morning was quiet, wrapped in a silver mist that hung low across Valemire's rooftops. The kind of silence that felt like it belonged to secrets.
Ryuji walked alone, his breath curling in the cold as he made his way toward the lower barracks. It was where the older guards and veterans stayed now, those too wounded or aged for service, but still close enough to the Citadel to be kept under watch.
Cael lived there.
Once a decorated officer. Once one of the trusted voices of the Ninth. Now, he spent his days tending the armory ledgers and drinking tea that tasted more like rust than leaves.
But Ryuji remembered the way Cael had looked at the breach when it was last spoken of, like a man who had seen something he could not name.
He reached the door and knocked softly.
No answer.
Another knock. Firmer.
Then a slow shuffling sound, followed by the creak of a latch. The door opened an inch.
Cael's face appeared, older than Ryuji remembered. Deep lines under his eyes. His hair, once dark, was now gray streaked with white. But his gaze was sharp.
"Ryuji", he said quietly. "You're not supposed to be here this early."
"I'm not here on orders", Ryuji replied. "I'm here for the truth."
Cael didn't move. Didn't speak.
Then, after a long pause, he stepped aside.
"Come in", he said.
The room was small, but neat. A fire crackled low in the hearth. Simple shelves lined the wall, holding scrolls, oil jars, and one long-forgotten sword wrapped in cloth.
Cael poured them both tea and sat across from Ryuji at the narrow table.
"You went to the breach, didn't you?" he asked.
Ryuji nodded. "And I found someone still watching over it. Someone who remembers the Ninth as it really was."
Cael looked down at his cup. "I thought they were all dead."
"They're not. But they might as well have been."
Silence stretched between them. Ryuji let it linger, then reached into his cloak and laid the letter on the table. The black wax seal had been broken, the words inside now heavy with weight.
Cael didn't touch it.
His fingers trembled slightly, just once, before going still.
"Do you know who wrote this?" Ryuji asked.
Cael didn't answer. His jaw tightened.
"I think you do", Ryuji continued softly. "I think you were there the day the Ninth swore their oaths. And I think you remember there were only eight names on the final stone."
Still, Cael didn't look up.
"I saw the records. I saw the missing name", Ryuji said. "I'm not here to accuse you. I just want to know who they were. The one who never truly swore."
Finally, Cael spoke.
"She was one of us. A soldier first, not a lord. Her name was Liraen Vos."
The name hit the air like a blade drawn in a quiet room.
Ryuji's eyes narrowed. "Liraen? But that name's not in any Dominion archive."
Cael gave a bitter smile. "Because she didn't want it to be. She said titles made people stop listening. She wanted to be forgotten, in case things went wrong."
"And did they?"
Cael nodded once. Slowly. "Yes. Horribly."
He stared into the fire, his voice low.
"She believed in the Pact. More than any of us. She saw it as a chance to rebuild, not control. But when the others started speaking of enforcement, borders, control through loyalty... she began to question."
Ryuji listened, heart steady but heavy.
"I remember the day she walked into the hall during the last meeting. She said, 'This is not what we swore. You're building a throne on ash and calling it salvation.'"
"And they erased her", Ryuji murmured.
Cael nodded. "She vanished. A week later, her name was struck from all seals. The others said she had defected. That she had lost her mind. But I think... she just refused to kneel."
Ryuji sat in silence. The fire crackled. Tea cooled between them.
"What happened to her?" he asked.
"I don't know", Cael said quietly. "She was seen near the breach once after that. Some say she wandered into the frost and never came back. Others say she's still out there... waiting for the Pact to finally fall."
"And you said nothing all these years."
Cael closed his eyes.
"I was a coward", he whispered. "I told myself I was protecting the city. But in truth... I was just afraid of what she might've been right about."
Ryuji rose slowly.
"I don't blame you", he said, though part of him still wanted to. "But I have to find out if she's still alive. And if the Pact was truly poisoned from the start."
Cael looked up at him. "You'll be watched now. They'll know you're asking questions."
"I know", Ryuji replied.
He turned to leave.
Just before the door closed, Cael spoke one last time.
"There's someone else. Someone who was close to Liraen. An old scholar. Name's Mirael Solace. Lives near the outer ridge. Keeps to herself. But she used to archive the oaths, before they were altered."
Ryuji paused. "Solace?"
Cael nodded. "If anyone has the last records, it's her."
As Ryuji stepped out into the fading light, a chill wind blew across the city.
He pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders.
The name Liraen Vos echoed in his mind.
A ghost of the past.
A name once erased.
But not forgotten.
Not anymore.