NOVEL WEB Chapter 27: The Echo of a Name
The Echo of a Name
The Karun household still stood amid the chaos.
Despite cracked walls, unstable floors, and the distant screams of a world in collapse, the shattered-windowed hall still held something rare: human warmth.
Kiyden looked at the makeshift table. They were all there. His parents, still shaken, but alive. And his three older sisters — Lena, the steadfast; Elise, the wise; and Maire, the gentle. Entire families had been swallowed by the earth or torn apart by beasts, but the Karuns… survived.
— Are you alright, Aiyden? — asked Lena, the most protective, as she handed him a cup of warm water.
He nodded.
— A bit confused… but yes.
"If only they knew the Aiyden they remember is gone," he thought.
But he couldn't tell them. They wouldn't understand. They couldn't. He was someone else now — someone who had already died once. Someone from a world long destroyed.
He was about to ask about their supplies when a vibration split the air, and an ancient, commanding voice thundered directly into their minds, echoing like divine thunder:
❖ [Universal Announcement] ❖
⚔️ Danilo Chicana has defeated Floor 1 of the Abyssal Tower.
🌑 Mode: ABYSS
🌐 Location: Floor 1 — Earth
Time stopped.
For a moment, even breathing paused. Not even the crickets dared disturb that brutal silence. They all looked at each other — the mother clutched her hands, the father raised an eyebrow in confusion, and Maire bit her lip.
It was Elise who broke the silence.
— What was that…? What does it mean?
— A… tower? — the father murmured. — What in heaven's name is that thing on the horizon?
Kiyden didn't answer immediately.
His mind spun like an overworked gear. "Danilo… Chicana? Abyss Tower? On the very first day? Floor 1?! That's… insane."
In his previous world, no one even dared approach the tower in the first days. Fear, chaos, the monsters… they had shattered people. Even the boldest waited for organizations to form, strategies to be drawn, sacrificial parties to be sent.
But this Danilo…
— What's wrong, Aiyden? — Lena insisted. — You've gone pale.
— That name… that man… — Kiyden whispered. — He must be connected to the tower.
His sisters looked at him, puzzled.
— The tower… it's a cosmic structure. No one knows who placed it — maybe God. But it must determine the path of the world now, establish new rules. Climbing it… must be like facing the gods themselves. And this man…
Kiyden clenched his fists.
— He did it. Alone. On Abyss Mode, which by name alone must be hellish — practically suicide. On day one.
The father stood up slowly, leaning on a beam.
— And what does that mean, son? Does it… change anything?
Kiyden took a deep breath.
— It changes everything, father.
If someone's already climbing the tower… then the tower must be the goal, and the world will soon follow. The monsters will return. Deaths will increase. We must adapt, because those who don't… will die.
— So life as we knew it… — Maire whispered.
— Is over, he said, staring through the shattered window, where in the distance, like a spear of darkness piercing the sky, the Tower of Ascension rose among black clouds.
But in the depths of his soul, Kiyden thought something he didn't dare say aloud:
"Who are you, Danilo Chicana? And where did this power come from?
You're not a king — I would've known.
A Chosen One? No… that would be disgusting.
The gods' lapdogs don't deserve admiration."
Kiyden, sitting with his back straight on the worn wooden chair, looked at his parents in silence. The once shy and gentle eyes of young Aiyden were now cold, sharp as blades. There was no rage on his face. No tears. But it wasn't calm — it was shattered resolve, like the silence that follows a war.
— Mother. Father. I saw.
The words dropped like a blade.
The mother, her gray hair neatly tied, trembled slightly. The father frowned and looked away. The sisters tensed. Even Maire, the most talkative, was silent.
— I saw Lene… with Moritz. — he continued. His voice neutral, but every word weighed like lead. — In the car. Kissing him like the world was ending.
No one replied. Only the fireplace's crackle filled the silence.
— So… — he continued, locking eyes with his father. — How long have you known?
The father cleared his throat but said nothing. It was the mother who spoke — voice low, trembling, like one walking on glass.
— Aiyden… we… we already knew. It's been a while.
— How long? — he asked.
— A few months, the father finally admitted. — Maybe almost a year.
Kiyden nodded slowly. But his expression didn't change. Only the silence between them thickened, the air in the room turning to stone.
— And no one said a thing. — It wasn't a question.
The mother lowered her eyes.
— We… couldn't.
— "Couldn't"… — he repeated bitterly.
— Aiyden, listen—
— I am listening. — he cut in, firm. — For the first time, I'm truly listening. So tell me: why?
The father stood slowly, as if shame weighed him down.
— Because the alliance between our families is older than any feelings. Because your grandfather — the patriarch at the time — decreed that the marriage must happen… no matter what.
— Even if she betrayed me? Even if she tore me apart?
— Yes, the father replied bluntly. — Because you're too fragile. Too sensitive. We thought… you couldn't handle the truth.
The word fragile made Kiyden's hands clench, knuckles whitening. But he didn't explode. Not yet.
— So you chose to lie. — he said. — To protect me? Or to keep me obedient?
The mother reached across the table to touch his hand, but he pulled away.
— Aiyden… my son… we suffered too. Seeing her… seeing them together and pretending not to. You have no idea…
— I have an idea. — he cut her off. — Because I saw it with my own eyes. Felt the knife in my back. Alone. Because even the people I loved most thought I wasn't strong enough to know the truth.
Lena, the oldest sister, finally spoke, voice heavy with guilt.
— We love you. We just… didn't know how to protect you without losing you.
— But you lost me. — he said. — You lost the boy who believed love was pure. Who trusted blood. Who believed everything would be okay in the end.
He stood up.
— I'm no longer him. And maybe that's for the best.
The father stepped forward.
— Aiyden… you still have a good heart. Don't let it turn bitter.
— I'm not just Aiyden anymore. — he replied. — And if it weren't for this apocalypse… I would've married her. Sat beside that worm. Called him "cousin" while he stole everything behind my back.
He looked around. Saw faces full of shame, sadness, and fear. But also love — twisted by tradition, politics, and cowardice.
— I don't hate you. But… for the first time, I understand.
— Understand what? — Elise asked softly.
— That blood isn't enough to keep someone by your side. That being family isn't the same as protecting. And that the name Karun… maybe doesn't mean as much as you thought.
Kiyden walked to the shattered door, pausing with his figure silhouetted by the dying gray daylight.
— I'll protect you. I'm still part of this family. But I'll never again be a piece on the Karun board. Thank the heavens a new era has arrived. I will no longer be bound by the rules of the past. From today on, I will create the rules.
And if anyone stands in my way… not even God will save them.
And without waiting for a response, he left — leaving behind the warmth of the fire… and the cold of a name beginning to crack.