Chapter 123 — The First Witch's Secret
The voice was gone.
The fracture remained.
Brook stood at its edge for a long time, staring into the darkness.
Nobody told him to move.
Nobody spoke.
They had all heard it.
Shoyo.
Not someone who sounded like her.
Not a memory.
Not an imitation.
Shoyo.
Sera was the first to move.
She turned away from the fracture.
"No."
Brook looked at her.
Sera walked several steps before stopping.
Brook followed.
"Sera."
She didn't turn around.
"She knew."
Brook remained quiet.
"She knew about this place."
Sera's voice was shaking now.
"She taught me those symbols."
Brook stepped closer.
"Maybe she didn't know they were here."
Sera turned.
"Brook."
That was enough.
He stopped.
Sera pointed toward the fracture.
"Those symbols reacted to me."
Brook looked at the ground.
"They reacted to your Source."
"Exactly."
Sera's expression hardened.
"And who taught me how to use my magic?"
Brook said nothing.
"Shoyo."
Henry stood nearby, unusually quiet.
Crowley watched Sera.
Hades stood farther away.
Sera continued.
"She knew something about my Source before I did."
Brook frowned.
"She was your teacher."
"No."
Sera shook her head.
"She didn't just teach me."
Her voice became quieter.
"She prepared me."
That made Brook look at her.
Sera stared toward the ancient symbols.
"She knew I would eventually need this."
Crowley finally spoke.
"That doesn't mean she knew about Remus."
Sera looked at him.
"No."
Crowley continued.
"But it means she knew there were things in the world that could recognize what you carry."
Sera didn't like that answer.
Brook could tell.
But she didn't argue.
Because it made sense.
And somehow—
that was worse.
Hades ordered the guards to move the perimeter farther away.
The district remained empty.
Brook watched the soldiers work.
His mind was somewhere else.
Shoyo.
The First Witch.
He tried saying it to himself.
It didn't fit.
Not because he doubted Hades.
But because Shoyo had never felt like a legend.
She had been too ordinary.
Too familiar.
Brook remembered being younger.
Coming home exhausted.
Shoyo sitting near a window.
Rick somewhere nearby, pretending not to listen.
Brook complaining about training.
Shoyo telling him to stop complaining.
Rick laughing.
That was Shoyo.
Not a title.
Not a story carved into stone.
A person.
Brook felt someone beside him.
Henry.
"You alright?"
Brook looked at him.
"No."
Henry nodded.
"Yeah."
Brook looked back toward the city.
"You believe it?"
Henry considered.
"That Shoyo is the First Witch?"
Brook nodded.
Henry shrugged.
"I've known her long enough to know that if someone told me she was older than the moon, I'd probably ask what she did with her time."
Brook almost smiled.
Almost.
Henry continued.
"But yeah."
Brook looked at him.
"You believe it."
Henry nodded.
"She's Shoyo."
Brook frowned.
"That's your reason?"
"She's terrifying."
Brook stared.
Henry looked toward the fracture.
"You've seen her get angry."
Brook couldn't argue.
Henry folded his arms.
"Honestly, 'First Witch' explains some things."
Brook looked down.
His smile disappeared.
"She should've told us."
Henry's expression changed.
"Maybe."
Brook glanced at him.
Henry continued.
"Or maybe she thought she was protecting you."
Brook remained silent.
Henry looked toward the ground.
"People like Shoyo and Rick have been alive longer than us."
Brook frowned.
"Rick isn't immortal."
"I know."
Henry looked at him.
"But he knows more than he tells us."
Brook thought about that.
Rick.
His mentor.
His teacher.
The man who had trained him in weapons when Brook needed to learn how to survive outside of ordinary fights.
Guns.
Knives.
Bombs.
Swords.
Brook had never asked where Rick learned everything he knew.
Maybe he should have.
Henry spoke again.
"Think Rick knows about this?"
Brook didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"Probably."
Henry sighed.
"Of course he does."
"Enough."
Everyone turned.
Hades stood before the fracture.
Brook approached.
Crowley and Sera followed.
Hades looked at Sera.
"I need you to explain exactly what you saw."
Sera crossed her arms.
"Why?"
"Because the magic responded to you."
"And?"
"And I need to know why."
Sera stared at him.
Brook stepped beside her.
Hades noticed.
Crowley did too.
Hades continued.
"The First Witch sealed this place."
Sera's eyes hardened.
"Shoyo."
Hades nodded.
"Shoyo."
It sounded strange coming from him.
Too casual.
Like someone had taken an ancient name and made it human.
Brook preferred it that way.
Hades continued.
"If her magic responded to your Source, there is a connection."
Crowley looked toward Sera.
"Did Shoyo ever talk about Word Magic?"
Sera hesitated.
"Not directly."
Brook looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
"She taught me words."
Henry frowned.
"Words?"
Sera looked at him.
"Not normal ones."
She crouched beside the ancient symbols.
Brook watched carefully.
Shoyo had taught Sera thousands of things.
Symbols.
Spells.
Old languages.
Things Brook had stopped trying to understand years ago.
Sera traced one of the symbols without touching it.
"She used to make me repeat them."
Crowley watched.
"Why?"
"I thought it was pronunciation."
Sera looked at him.
"But maybe it wasn't."
The symbol glowed.
Brook immediately reached for Sera.
She raised a hand.
"Don't."
Brook stopped.
Sera looked at the symbol.
The glow spread.
Words appeared.
Not physically.
In the air.
Crowley took a step backward.
Henry stared.
Hades's expression changed.
Sera whispered:
"I know this one."
Brook looked at her.
"What does it mean?"
Sera didn't answer.
The word remained floating.
Then disappeared.
The ground shook.
Brook felt the lifeline.
Pain.
He grabbed his chest.
Sera turned immediately.
"Brook."
He couldn't answer.
The sensation was different.
Before, the lifeline had been distant.
Now—
it was pulling.
Brook stumbled toward the fracture.
Henry grabbed his shoulder.
"Brook."
Brook pushed his hand away.
"Wait."
His eyes closed.
Darkness.
Stone.
A ruined hall.
Brook saw it again.
The woman.
This time—
he could see her face.
Shoyo.
Younger.
But unmistakably Shoyo.
Her clothes were different.
Old.
Blood covered one side of her face.
Her hand was against the massive door.
Someone stood behind her.
A man.
Brook couldn't see him clearly.
He was injured.
Barely standing.
Shoyo turned toward him.
"Go."
The man didn't move.
Shoyo's voice became harder.
"Go."
The man finally turned.
Brook saw something in his hand.
A sword.
The vision shifted.
Shoyo looked toward the door.
Her expression was afraid.
Brook had never seen Shoyo afraid.
Not once.
The door shook.
Something struck it from the other side.
Shoyo whispered a word.
The symbols ignited.
Brook felt the pain from beyond the door.
A broken lifeline.
Then—
Shoyo looked directly at him.
Brook's eyes opened.
He stumbled backward.
Sera caught him.
"What did you see?"
Brook stared at her.
"Her."
Sera's expression changed.
"Shoyo?"
Brook nodded.
Crowley stepped forward.
"What happened?"
Brook breathed heavily.
"She was sealing the door."
Hades stared.
Sera tightened her grip on Brook's arm.
"Was she alone?"
Brook shook his head.
"No."
Crowley frowned.
"Who was with her?"
Brook thought about the man.
The sword.
The way he could barely stand.
"I couldn't see his face."
Hades's expression became tense.
Brook noticed.
"But he had a sword."
Hades went still.
Crowley looked at him.
"What?"
Hades said nothing.
Brook stepped closer.
"You know who it was."
Hades finally spoke.
"The records mention a warrior."
Henry looked toward him.
"That's a little vague."
"He wasn't a king."
Crowley's expression changed.
"Then who?"
Hades looked at the fracture.
"The First Witch's protector."
Sera stared.
Brook felt something strange.
Not fear.
Recognition.
He didn't know why.
Sera whispered:
"She had someone with her."
Hades nodded.
"According to the oldest record."
Brook thought about the man.
The sword.
Something about him felt familiar.
Then he remembered something else.
Not from the vision.
From his life.
Rick.
Brook slowly looked at Sera.
She understood immediately.
"No."
Brook didn't answer.
Sera shook her head.
"Rick isn't that old."
Brook knew.
At least—
he thought he knew.
Henry looked between them.
"What's going on?"
Brook's voice was quiet.
"The man I saw."
Sera stared at him.
"He reminded you of Rick."
Brook nodded.
Henry looked at the others.
Crowley watched Brook.
Hades remained silent.
Sera immediately shook her head.
"It can't be him."
Brook looked toward the fracture.
"I know."
But he wasn't convinced.
The ancient symbols began glowing again.
Sera turned.
This time, she didn't hesitate.
She stepped forward.
Brook moved with her.
Crowley followed.
Sera stared at the writing.
Her lips moved silently.
Brook watched her face.
Then her eyes widened.
"What?"
She pointed toward the words.
"They're not calling Shoyo."
Everyone went still.
Henry frowned.
"Then what are they doing?"
Sera looked at him.
"They're responding."
Brook looked toward the fracture.
"To what?"
Sera slowly looked at Brook.
"To you."
His stomach tightened.
The symbols changed.
A single sentence appeared across the ancient stone.
Sera read it.
Her voice was quiet.
"The child of three deaths has returned."
Silence.
Brook stared at the words.
Crowley looked at him.
Sera looked frightened.
Henry slowly turned toward Brook.
"What the hell does that mean?"
Brook didn't know.
And somewhere far away—
in a small house hidden beyond the roads of Remus—
a man stopped sharpening a blade.
Rick.
He looked toward the horizon.
The blade remained still in his hand.
Beside him, Shoyo closed her eyes.
Neither had been in Remus.
But they felt it.
The old magic.
Awake again.
Rick looked at Shoyo.
"Brook?"
Shoyo opened her eyes.
For the first time in a very long time—
she looked worried.
"Yes."
Rick slowly stood.
"Should we go to him?"
Shoyo was quiet.
Then:
"We should have gone sooner."
The room fell silent.
Outside—
the wind moved through the trees.
And far beneath Remus—
something behind the ancient door opened its eyes.
End of Chapter 123