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Chapter 31 - Ripples and Reverberation
The sound had long since faded away, but Lucian stayed in the bell tower.
Below him, the town of Staesis stopped.
Nobody just dropped dead after the bell rung, but they weren't re-energized either.
They just...stopped. Like they didn't know what to do with themselves.
Slowly, they fell out of rhythm.
People marched in the streets, but every now and then one of them would stagger, and the guards hesitated before giving the laborer their daily potion. For the first time, the various bakeries and food stalls started sending out food at different times.
Before the bell rung, every bakery and food stall would display their food at the same time, like a strange tableau. The air no longer smelled of clean oil and wax—but of stone and time.
The townscorpses still feared him, so Lucian felt safe enough to sit in the park, his Grimoire open across his knees. It wasn't floating or lethargic. Instead, the Grimoire pulsed gently to his own heartbeat.
Like it was a mirror.
Lucian gently flipped the pages and felt a little uncomfortable. Usually his system would suggest different entries according to their present situation: emotional check-ups, area-specific rituals, and even some notes on important people in town.
But now, it only gave him this note:
[REINITIALIZING: Conscious Mortician Interface Detected.]
A thought loop encouraging autonomy has been acknowledged.
Now observing: user-formed intent will determine future entries.
Lucian frowned.
"You're learning from me now?"
The Grimoire didn't answer right away. But blotches of ink appeared on its surface, like it was thinking. Slowly, a flicker of script came to view like a hurried confession. If it had been written by a person, Lucian could almost see the ink stains on their pinky finger.
+
[Query: Legacy Thread Scan — Unaltered Entries Only]
He initiated the scan.
It bled through the pages—charcoal lines glowing blue as they traced old records. Births. Burials. Soulweight valuations. All with glowing green markers... until halfway through his Staesis entries.
Then red.
Then gray.
Then—nothing.
[Tampered Entries Detected]
Authorized override: Spymaster-Class Emotional Filter Injection.
Secondary Injection: Marionette-Class Narrative Gradient Disruption.
Modules Compromised: Rites of Decision, Suggested Empathic Pathways, Historical Precedent Logs.
Lucian's hands went cold.
"You changed what I could see."
The cane buzzed softly at his side.
"You changed me."
He dug deeper.
When he reached back far enough—past his assignment to Staesis—he saw locked entries.
Restricted Rites: Requires Rank Advancement.
The Path to Emotional Rites is Unavailable - Grief Cycle 2 Must be Completed.
He grit his teeth.
"You were holding back my choices?"
A slow response unfurled from the margin.
Each System adapts to a Mortician's soul. Choices are unlocked as the bearer confronts their own dead. Control was never denied. Only shaped.
Lucian slammed the book shut.
"You're a god in training wheels."
He paused.
Then asked, "Who trained you?"
The pages vibrated.
A new passage bloomed on the spine:
"Creator Thread: Initiated by Bellkeeper #3 – Staesis Tower."
Lucian's blood went cold.
+
He returned to the tower base that evening.
The bell's caretaker was already waiting.
He was ancient, skin like stretched wax, but lucid—almost too lucid. He looked like someone who'd heard every sound silence had ever made.
"I found your name in the Grimoire," Lucian said.
The man didn't blink. "So it's awake again?"
Lucian nodded.
"You helped build it."
"I helped guide it," the bellkeeper said. "The book was a conduit. An empty channel. We gave it structure. Bound its laws to death."
Lucian frowned. "Who's 'we'?"
The man stared out at the lake.
"We were morticians before the book was a book. When it was just a stone that listened."
Lucian stepped closer. "And now?"
The bellkeeper's voice dropped. "The being that gave the book its spark is gone. It fled. Or was eaten. But its imprint lingers. A shape in the dark that remembers what it was to end things."
Lucian swallowed. "And that imprint... it's almost as strong as death?"
The bellkeeper shook his head.
"It is death. Just not the kind you understand yet."
+
The Queen stood before her mirror again, scrying glass repaired but cloudy. The Spymaster lounged nearby, balancing a crystal decanter on two fingers.
"We had a deal," the Queen said.
The Spymaster smiled. "We still do."
"You promised the people would hold."
"I promised they wouldn't rot. Not that they wouldn't remember."
She turned sharply. "They're breaking."
"They're waking." He set down the glass. "You asked me to make it easier for them. Not cleaner."
She looked away.
The Spymaster approached, speaking low.
"You came to me when you lost your first child. When the courts failed. When your grief made the world taste like ash."
She said nothing.
"And I offered you order. Quiet. Sleep."
He paused.
"And you took it."
+
Meanwhile, Lucian's Grimoire started flickering once more. It showed Lucian a corrupted thread with only one label:
[??: UNKNOWN - MISSING MORTICIAN RECORD]
Lucian opened it.
A few torn entries appeared:
Name: ???
Assignment: Rural Druidic Sectors — Unlisted.
Status: Unknown. Last ping: 312 years ago.
Known traits: Self-trained. Rejected rites.
Claimed to hear the "voice of endings" without a book.
Lucian stared.
"She never died..."
The Grimoire responded with a whispering tremor.
No body. No rites. No tomb. No confirmation.
Lucian exhaled slowly. "She just... vanished long enough for you to forget."
The pages pulsed again.
Some truths hide when left untended.
+
Alice found him at the base of the tower, sitting beside the remains of a cracked rune circle.
Lucian didn't look up at first.
"I keep thinking... I betrayed her," he said.
Alice sat beside him, quiet.
"I was supposed to free you," he continued. "But I let you live inside her instead."
Alice didn't answer right away.
When she did, her voice was calm.
"I had no concept of love or friendship before Rosa."
Lucian turned to look at her.
"I was just observing. A spirit pushed into a box."
She smiled faintly.
"Her life was long and sad. Her unlife... dutiful. Monotonous. But it became colorful when you arrived."
Lucian looked away.
"Then I painted over her."
"No," Alice said softly. "You let me keep the brush."
+ Elsewhere in Staesis +
Citizens moved in strange rhythms.
Some chanted their own names.
Some stared at the sky, as if waiting for something else to break.
In his home, Mayor Gray locked the doors, trembling.
He paced until his hands shook.
"She said he was dead," he muttered.
He turned to the window, where the tower stood illuminated in pale moonlight.
"My brother did this. Where are you hiding?"
