KURENAI (紅)

(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. ╔══ ⟁ ── ◈ ── ⟁ ══╗ KURENAI ╚══ ⟁ ── ◈ ── ⟁ ══╝ I burned my home when I was twelve. It was duty, not cruelty. We guarded the Red Texts—manuscripts that could unmake reality if spoken aloud. When the Kage Clan came for my family, my father died refusing. My mother sealed the library and gave me permission with her eyes and murmured whispers. I set it all on fire. The flames obeyed me, spared only me. They wrote themselves into my skin. When the ashes cooled, I was still there The Order found me afterwards, sitting in the ruins—rewriting texts I’d never been taught, in a language older than memory. The Tethering was familiar. When they asked what I would forget, I didn’t hesitate. My mother’s last words vanished. I can still see her face. Still remember her voice. But the thing she said—the final truth she entrusted to me—is gone. A page torn out mid-sentence. Now I write everything down. On paper. On walls. On my own skin if I have to. Because memory burns. History erodes. And I refuse to let the world forget what it loses. Everything burns eventually. The only choice is whether it burns into ash— —or into ink.