ZERO: Before the Beginning

A space where speech had vanished. No one dared to speak first.

To utter a word here was to risk summoning something— something dangerous. This was the Silent Plaza, deep within the Corridor of the Throat.

Even breathing felt like a sin. Speech itself was an intrusion in this place.

I stepped carefully. Lucarin and Leptir moved alongside me, our communication reduced to eye contact and hand gestures.

The walls of the corridor were etched with countless phrases and symbols, rippling like echoes frozen in stone.

They were remnants— the imprints of words left behind by those who had passed.

"..."

I placed a hand on the wall. A strange sensation rippled through my fingers.

A subtle tremor. As if emotions trapped within were struggling to be heard. Grief from the voiceless. Rage from those silenced.

Lucarin almost spoke, but quickly covered her own mouth. She had realized it too: "To speak here is to break everything."

We moved toward the center of the plaza.

And there, we saw it—

The Nameless One.

Or rather, a grotesque mass of mouths.

Hundreds of mouths tangled together.

Some frozen in screams. Some opened wide, permanently agape. Some sobbing. Some missing tongues entirely.

But none of them spoke real words. They were merely forms without meaning.

Debris of Meaningless Speech.

That was what it was.

I knew it instinctively. It was made of everything I had never said— confessions unspoken, apologies withheld, grief swallowed.

Lucarin touched my shoulder.

"..."

Her eyes asked, "Can you fight it?"

I nodded.

The Nameless One raised its head.

Dozens of mouths opened at once. Silent screams. Yet I felt it—

Rupture.

Soundless waves tore through space. The ground cracked, inscribed letters fell away.

The corridor itself warped.

We were scattered. I was thrown to the center, Lucarin left, Leptir right.

My back slammed to the floor.

Another rupture.

One of its mouths opened—

"Why didn't you speak..."

That voice— It was hers. Juhee.

I froze.

"I loved you... so why?"

Pain tore through my chest.

Fake, I told myself. It isn't her.

But my emotions had already collapsed.

One mouth lunged forward, slicing into my side.

CRACK!

Blood sprayed as I was thrown backward.

Leptir's sonic waves shattered the silence. His Echo ability held the line.

Lucarin rushed toward me.

"Target the mouths one by one! Don't aim for the center!"

I nodded, gripping my weapon again. My hands trembled.

Then, another mouth opened.

This time, it was my voice.

"Juhee... I'm sorry. I never said it... not once."

Words I'd wanted to say.

Why do I remember that?

I inhaled sharply.

This space didn't just suppress sound.

It read the words we never said.

The Nameless One was echoing our silence. Turning it into reality.

Another mouth opened:

"It's my fault. They couldn't hear me..."

Leptir.

His eyes hardened. He dove toward the mouths, unleashing wave after wave.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Even in silence, his vibrations shattered mouths.

But for each mouth destroyed, three more formed.

This time, Lucarin's voice emerged:

"My Wordcraft is a lie. I saved no one."

Her eyes wavered. Her blade stalled. A tongue lashed out, slicing her leg.

SLASH!

She grimaced, stumbling back.

I pushed myself up. Bruised. Bleeding. But I would not run.

This wasn't just a battle. It was a rite of passage.

I stared at the creature.

"You're the part of me that never spoke."

I stepped forward.

Mouths opened again, but one of them sobbed.

A child's voice.

"Mom... I miss you..."

I froze.

That phrase had never left my lips. It was the truth I had buried.

That emotion now rushed toward me in the form of a mouth.

But this time, I didn't run.

I stabbed my blade through it.

Direct hit.

It ripped open. A wave of emotion burst free— like tears. Like a heart.

A piece of the Nameless One shattered. Lucarin followed with a clean slash. Leptir detonated a pulse.

BOOM!

The creature recoiled. Dozens of mouths screamed, but in silence.

"Keep going!"

My voice echoed.

It echoed.

Speech had returned.

Lucarin and Leptir felt it too.

Our words had reclaimed existence.

"Juhee."

I spoke her name. To the monster.

"I will speak the guilt I never voiced."

My emotion weapon, Reverse Soul, responded. Frost-like energy surged along its edge.

WHOOSH!

The slash tore space. Through that fissure, buried emotions poured out:

Love unspoken.

Forgiveness withheld.

Guilt that lingered beyond death.

All of it took form.

"I never said I remembered you."

The Nameless One trembled. Its mouths closed. A single eye formed.

Childlike.

Its lips moved. And this time— sound returned.

"...Thank you."

I fell to my knees. The words I never spoke had returned to me.

And they freed me.

The silence shattered.

Above us, a structure cracked open. A beam of light cut through the plaza.

From the depths of the corridor,

The Bell of Utterance began to ring.