The deeper Elian moved into the forgotten territory north of Scarhold, the more the threads bled.
Not energy. Not data.
Memory.
The walls pulsed with flashes of the past — flickers of beasts fighting, screaming, dying… and something watching it all. Not the system.
Something older.
He was close.
This wasn't a normal zone. It wasn't marked on any map. The system hadn't tagged it. It hadn't even warned him.
That alone meant it was worth walking into.
Then he heard it.
A low growl.
But not physical.
Thread-deep.
He stepped forward.
The trees here weren't real — not entirely. They flickered in and out of visibility, like glitching ideas the world hadn't committed to. In the center of the clearing stood a creature that should not have existed.
Tall. Quadrupedal. Its body made of fused bone and decayed threadlight. Its head was masked — not armored, but ritualized — marked with fractal runes that shifted every second.
And carved across its chest, still glowing:
[Writeseal Class: Fragmented – Devourer-Designate]
Elian's mind went silent.
A beast with a rank above what the system allowed to survive.
Something that wasn't supposed to still be alive.
And yet here it was.
Watching him.
Breathing.
Remembering.
[You have engaged: Unknown-Class Entity – Designation: "Threadmaw"]
[Rank Estimate: Between Strainbound (C) and Fractureclass (B)]
[System Note: This creature has consumed a portion of Author logic.]
[Kill reward: Unknown. Risk: Severe.]
Elian didn't hesitate.
He moved.
The creature struck first — not physically, but with a surge of raw thought. Its roar wasn't sound.
It was a command.
FORGET.
His Lucid trait flared.
[Lucid Trait Sync: 33% → 34%]
[Memory Anchor Triggered: Core Identity Locked]
[Trait Synergy Activated: Ghost Frame + Pattern Recall = Mental Countershock]
Elian didn't break.
He pushed back.
And the monster blinked — staggered.
That was enough.
He drove a corrosion shard into its leg, then flared his Threadsense — lighting up the monster's pattern from inside.
He saw the weak point.
A broken line at the base of the mask.
A stitch that had never sealed.
He whispered:
"You shouldn't have remembered me."
Then he severed the thread.
The creature didn't scream.
It unraveled.
[Entity Eliminated: Threadmaw – Designation: Writeseal Fragment Class]
[Author Shard Detected: Consumed during kill event]
[Author Seed Progress: 3% → 4.2%]
[Trait Fusion Opportunity Detected: Lucid + Author]
[New Passive Unlocked: Echo Resistance I – You cannot be forced to forget what you've lived.]
Elian crouched over the ash.
His hand trembled.
Not from fear.
From control.
Because now he knew — the system didn't just hide things like this.
It buried them.
And he'd just dug one up.