The air of the Plane of Dried Tears crystallized as the Eleven made their appearance. Kael felt the quicksilver in his veins pulse like a cornered animal, but there was no fear. There couldn't be. That concept had been ripped from him along with so many others.
"They're coming," the Silent Executioner murmured, his gloved fingers clenching the hilt of his sword. The word "Never" etched into the blade glowed with a sickening gleam.
Kael watched as the figures emerged from among the vocal cord trees. Eleven silhouettes, each more impossible than the last. But among them...
"That's not one of the Eleven," Kael said, his eyes fixed on the figure that moved differently, that seemed not to be entirely present.
The Executioner followed his gaze, and his armor gave a metallic creak. "The Devourer of Silences. Not even the Council names him."
The being in question moved forward, and with each step, reality seemed to fray around him. He had no face, only the outline of where one should have been.
"Kael Arcanis," the Devourer said, his voice not sound but the absence of it. "Subject. I offer you the only true comfort."
Kael felt something tear from his mind. It wasn't pain, it wasn't fear. It was... the memory of fear. The understanding of what it meant to fear.
"What have you done to me?" he asked, though the question lacked urgency.
The Executioner stepped between them. "Don't play his game, Twelfth. You can't beat him on his own ground."
"Then which one?" Kael looked at his quicksilver arm, where the living runes writhed restlessly.
"On yours. The one only you know."
The Devourer raised a hand, and Kael felt the sound disappear from the world. It wasn't silence. It was something deeper, more essential. The very negation of echo.
The Executioner charged at the creature, his sword tracing a silver arc in the still air. "Never!" he shouted, but the word made no sound.
The blade cut through the Devourer as if it were smoke. The entity didn't even flinch. Instead, it spun slowly toward Kael.
"All paths lead to oblivion," it said, and this time the words echoed inside Kael's skull like chimes in an empty cathedral.
Kael closed his eyes. No fear, no sound, no echo... but not unarmed. The Way of the Echothief awakened in his veins, and this time it didn't steal a power, it didn't steal an ability.
It stole silence itself.
The world exploded with sound. The vocal cord trees screamed in a thunderous cacophony. The Executioner took advantage of the distraction to attack again, but the Devourer simply reached out with a hand and...
"Executioner, get down!" Kael shouted, but it was too late.
The entity muttered something inaudible, and the Executioner's sword shattered into motes of silver light. The word "Never" floated in the air for an instant before vanishing.
The executioner fell to his knees, his armor clanking against the Plane floor. Kael rushed toward him, but the Devourer intervened.
"You are interesting," the creature said. "You have stolen what cannot be stolen."
Kael felt a crooked smile touch his lips. "I'm just getting started."
He extended his quicksilver arm, and this time he didn't steal. He invited. The runes on his skin came to life, dancing in complex spirals. The Devourer seemed to hesitate for the first time.
"What...?"
"Memories," Kael said. "All the ones I've stolen. All the ones I've lost. Do you want to taste them?"
The contact was inevitable. When the quicksilver touched the Devourer, reality itself seemed to hold its breath.
For an instant that lasted an eternity, Kael saw. He saw the Devourer's origin, he saw its purpose, he saw its...
"Vulnerability," he whispered.
The Executioner, still on his knees, looked up. "Now, Twelfth!"
Kael didn't need to be told twice. His quicksilver arm became a silvery river that engulfed the Devourer, penetrating the spaces between its atoms, the gaps between its thoughts.
The creature screamed, and for the first time, the sound was real. It was tangible. It was human.
"No! You can't know! You can't remember!"
But Kael already knew. He already remembered. And with that knowledge came power.
The Plane of Dried Tears trembled beneath their feet. The Eleven, who until now had remained on the sidelines, took a step forward as one.
The Executioner managed to rise to his feet, though his armor showed deep cracks. "This is not over," he warned.
Kael knew it. He knew it as well as he knew that the Devourer was only the beginning. But for now...
For now, victory was his.
The quicksilver in his veins sang a hymn of triumph, and for the first time in a long time, Kael Arcanis truly smiled.