AKAKIZU (赤傷)

(Veilbound Order Series) There is a place between breaths, between moments, where the world thins. This is the Veil. Most never see it—only feel its touch in cold rooms and nameless dreams. When the Veil tears, the forgotten cross over: wraiths born of guilt, hollowed humans, memories that refuse to die. Few survive such encounters. Fewer remain sane. Those who do are gathered by the Veilbound Order, an ancient force that seals the tears and delays the end of all things. Their power is bought with loss. To stand at the threshold, you must forget something you love—and live with the silence it leaves behind. ╔══ ⟁ ━ ◈ ━ ⟁ ══╗ AKAKIZU ╚══ ⟁ ━ ◈ ━ ⟁ ══╝ They tried to make me a weapon. Project Shikon: Artificial seers. Orphans carved open by sigils and Veil exposure. Most died. Some went mad. Only two of us survived. Me...and Hana. She kept me human, held my hand when the pain got unbearable–told me she’d open a flower shop someday. When the ritual burned into my chest, it rewrote itself: A cracked heart. I could feel everything—fear, guilt, hatred—all at once. The Order shut the project down quietly (as if it never existed.) Hana didn’t survive. Now I feel lies before they’re spoken, track people through emotional residue, feel other’s pain whether I want to or not. I don’t forgive the Order for what they did–But I stay. Because someone has to make sure it never happens again, and because if I leave, all this suffering would mean nothing.