2026-11-03 01:33:28Ivarn waited until Belric was asleep.
Then he slipped out of the inn and walked back to the registry.
The streets were quieter now. The blue lamps still glowed, but most of the stalls had closed up for the night. A few demons drifted past with their heads down, not looking at him. Ivarn kept his own head down too. He didn't want to be recognized.
The registry office was closed, the door locked. But there was a light on inside.
Ivarn knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again, harder.
The door opened a crack, and the junior clerk from earlier peered out. His eyes widened when he saw Ivarn.
"You," the clerk said. "You're not supposed to be here."
"I need to see the record again."
"Absolutely not. The registrar said…"
"I know what the registrar said." Ivarn kept his voice level. "But I need to know if it was a mistake."
"It wasn't a mistake."
"How do you know?"
The clerk hesitated. His eyes flicked left, then right, and for a moment he looked like he wanted to slam the door in Ivarn's face.
"Please," Ivarn said. "I'm not from here. I don't understand your laws. But I saw my name on that screen, and a date. I need to know what it means."
The clerk was quiet for a long moment. Then he sighed.
"Fine. But be quick."
He pulled the door open and gestured for Ivarn to follow. The registry was empty, the lamps turned low. The clerk led him to a small back room with a single lamp, a desk, and the black book from earlier.
He opened the book, ran his finger down the page, and stopped.
"Here," he said. "Ivarn Merrow."
Ivarn leaned closer.
NAME: IVARN MERROW.
STATUS: DECEASED.
DATE OF DEATH: 847 YEARS BEFORE RECORDED BIRTH.
Ivarn laughed.
He couldn't help it. It came out of him in a short, sharp burst, the laugh of someone who has just seen something so absurd that disbelief is the only possible response.
"That's not possible," he said. "It's a mistake. It has to be."
The clerk didn't smile. "The Mortality Ledger doesn't make mistakes."
"It says I died before I was born. That's not a mistake, that's nonsense."
"The Ledger records every existence. Birth, life, ending. It has done so since the First Jurors established the laws."
"But I'm standing right here. I'm alive."
The clerk looked at him. "I know."
"Then how can I be recorded as dead?"
The clerk didn't answer. He looked down at the book, and his hands were trembling.
"Tell me," Ivarn said. "How?"
"I don't know." The clerk's voice was quiet. "I've never seen anything like this. Anomalies happen. Records get flagged. But not like this. This isn't a clerical error. This is something else."
"Something else like what?"
"I don't know." The clerk closed the book. "But I know what I have to do now."
He reached under the desk and pressed something.
A faint chime sounded somewhere in the building.
"What did you just do?" Ivarn asked.
"I'm sorry." The clerk's voice cracked. "I have to report this."
"Report what? That I'm alive?"
"That you exist." The clerk backed away. "The celestial authority will want to know. They always want to know about anomalies."
Ivarn's stomach dropped. "You're calling them? The enforcers?"
"I don't have a choice."
"Yes, you do. You could just let me leave."
"It's too late. The signal's been sent." The clerk looked at him. "I'm sorry."
The back door opened. Registrar Voll stepped through, followed by two armoured guards.
"Seize him," Voll said.
Ivarn backed away. "I haven't done anything wrong."
"Your existence is wrong." Voll gestured to the guards. "Take him to the holding chamber. The celestial authority has been notified."
The guards grabbed Ivarn's arms. He didn't fight. He couldn't.
They dragged him down the corridor, past the front desk, past the empty waiting area, and into a small room with no windows, one door, and a single lamp.
The door closed. The lock clicked.
Ivarn sat down on the stone bench. His hands were still shaking.
He didn't know how long he waited.
Minutes, or hours. It was hard to tell. The lamp on the wall flickered but never went out, and the silence pressed in on him like a weight.
He thought about Belric. Would he wake up and find Ivarn gone? Would he come looking? Would he even care?
He thought about the record, the date, 847 years before his birth. It didn't make sense. It couldn't make sense.
But it was real.
He'd seen it. He'd seen his own name written in a book that recorded the death of every living thing, and according to that book, he shouldn't be alive.
The door opened. Voll stepped inside.
"The celestial authority has responded," he said. "They're sending enforcers to collect you."
"Collect me?"
"Transfer you to their custody. They'll decide what to do with you."
"What does that mean?"
Voll didn't answer.
"Tell me what that means."
"It means they'll correct the anomaly." Voll's voice was flat. "Whatever that requires."
Ivarn's heart pounded. "Correct it how?"
"I don't know. I'm not celestial." Voll turned to leave. "But I've heard stories. None of them end well for the anomaly."
The door closed. The lock clicked.
Ivarn sat alone in the dark.
The enforcers were coming, and he had no idea what would happen when they arrived.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 14 – THE BLACK ARBITER
The soldier turned.A man stood in the doorway.He was tall, though not towering. He wore dark clothing that looked expensive without trying to show it off. His skin was a pale grey, like ash. His hair was black. And his eyes were the only thing about him that seemed truly wrong: deep red, like embers buried under cooling coals.He didn't look like a monster. He looked like a banker. A very dangerous banker.He walked into the room without hurry, his boots silent against the black stone floor. His hands were empty. No weapons, no guards, no dramatic entrance. Just a man stepping into a room as though he owned it.The celestial soldier stiffened. His hand was still raised, the air still cold around his fingers. But something in his posture had changed, something that looked a lot like fear."Zevrakh Dreadmoor," the soldier said, his voice tight. "This is not your territory.""It is now." Zevrakh stopped a few feet away. "The human is under my protection.""He is under no one's protecti
CHAPTER 13 – RUNNING FROM THE HEAVENS
Ivarn didn't stop running until his legs gave out.He collapsed behind a stack of crates near the edge of the settlement. His lungs burned. His vision swam. His hands wouldn't stop shaking.He lay there for a minute. Then two. Then five.No enforcers. No hum. No cold air.Just silence.He sat up slowly. The alley was dark and narrow and empty. The blue lamps didn't reach this far.He checked his pockets. No money. No food. No water. Just the crumpled receipt from the break room vending machine."Great," he muttered.He had to get out of the settlement. The enforcers were still looking for him, and the celestial authority had already been notified. They would find him eventually.He moved.He kept to the side streets, the cramped alleys, the places where the lamps gave up. The settlement was waking up around him. Demons walked past without a glance. None of them looked at him twice.He found a gate on the northern edge. Two guards stood on either side, bored and half-asleep. They weren
CHAPTER 12 – THE DEVIL NOTICES
Far away from the settlement, in a palace of black stone, Zevrakh Dreadmoor sat alone in his study.The room was quiet. Shelves lined the walls, crowded with ancient books, rolled parchments, and broken artifacts from civilizations that had long since vanished. A single lamp burned on the desk, throwing long shadows across the floor.Zevrakh was reading.He did that often. Read. Studied. Searched. He had been searching for thousands of years, and he was no closer to the truth now than when he had started.The Mortality Ledger lay open on his desk. It was only a fragment of the original, damaged and incomplete, but it was still useful.He turned a page. Then another. Then another.Then he stopped.Something was wrong.The markings on the page were moving. Faintly. Subtly. It almost looked as though they were trying to rearrange themselves.Zevrakh leaned closer and traced the symbols with his finger.A disturbance. In the laws. In the Ledger itself.Someone had interfered with an autho
CHAPTER 11 – THE UNWRITTEN CLAUSE
Ivarn was fading.He could feel it, the edges of himself coming apart. His thoughts scattered like dropped papers. His memories slipped away one by one. He couldn't remember his mother's face anymore. He couldn't remember his sister's name.The enforcer's hand was still on his forehead, and the pressure was crushing him."The correction is almost complete," she said. "You will feel no pain."Ivarn didn't want to die.Not again.Not like this.He tried to focus, tried to think, but his mind was full of static.Then he saw something.A flicker. A gap. Somewhere in the middle of the enforcer's authority, the command pressing down on him, there was a flaw.A hole in the logic.She said he should be erased because he died before he was born. But his death was recorded. It had already happened. And if it had already happened, then erasing him now made no sense. There was nothing left to erase. The rule was trying to correct something that didn't need correcting.The logic didn't hold.Ivarn
CHAPTER 10 – THE FIRST JUDGMENT
The transfer point was a wide stone courtyard behind the registry building.Ivarn stood in the middle, flanked by two guards. His chains had been taken off, but his hands wouldn't stop shaking."Where are the enforcers?" he asked."Coming," one of the guards said.So they waited.The violet sky was dark. The cracked moon had already set. The only light came from the blue lamps along the courtyard walls and a single lantern hanging above a gate.Ivarn looked at that gate. Beyond it lay the street, then the settlement, then the Barrens.If he ran now, he might get away. The guards had weapons, but they weren't watching him closely. Their eyes kept drifting up toward the sky.He took a small step back.The guard on his left turned. "Don't.""I wasn't…""Don't."Ivarn stopped.A hum filled the air. Low and steady, like a swarm of bees somewhere far away.The guards straightened. The color drained from their faces."They're here," one of them whispered.Three figures came down from the sky
CHAPTER 9 – THE ONES WHO CORRECT MISTAKES
The holding chamber was small. No windows, just one door and a single lamp on the wall.Ivarn sat on a stone bench, his hands chained. The chains glowed faintly, enchanted probably. He'd tried pulling at them once. They'd only gotten tighter.The door opened. Registrar Voll stepped inside, followed by two guards."Stand up," Voll said.Ivarn stood."You're going to answer some questions. Honestly. Quickly. Understood?""Understood."Voll nodded toward the guards. They pushed Ivarn back onto the bench and took their places on either side of him."Where are you from?" Voll asked."Earth."Voll's expression didn't move. "I've never heard of Earth.""It's another world. Far away.""Another world." Voll's voice was flat. "You expect me to believe that?""It's the truth, though I know how it sounds."Voll studied him for a long moment. "Do you have any connection to forbidden magic?""No.""Any connection to ancient beings?""No.""Any connection to the Outer Silence?"Ivarn hesitated. "I d
You may also like
Sovereign of Chaos
Enigma Stone22.6K viewsThe Lord of Heaven: A Road to Eternity
Jajajuba18.9K viewsAlchemist In The Cultivator World
Ace23.4K viewsVINCENT MILES: AND THE FIST OF FIRE
Kurt Dp.19.2K viewsSOUL REAVER
Ittazura107 viewsTHE VOID BEAST
Moriyeba's pen 100 viewsTHE GIRL I LOVE WILL DESTROY THE WORLD
Author Mirazi 69 viewsThe Son-in-Law Who Spent His Way to the Throne!
Lila V20 views