Chapter 107 — Red Leaves
Nobody crossed.
The doorway remained open.
Beyond it, red leaves moved gently through the distant forest.
It looked peaceful.
That was the problem.
Brook had learned not to trust peaceful things anymore.
Henry stood beside him.
"Okay."
Nobody answered.
Henry looked at Brook.
"Just saying."
"Don't."
"That place looks nicer than Shinokuni."
Brook glanced at him.
"Don't say that either."
Henry raised both hands.
"Fine."
Sera stepped closer to the doorway.
She studied the symbols carved around its edges.
"They're changing."
Hades looked at them.
"How?"
"The same symbols from the twelve."
Sera pointed.
"But they're rearranging themselves."
Crowley moved beside her.
"Can you read them?"
"Not yet."
The pale creature suddenly laughed.
Everyone turned.
It was still sitting against one of the pillars.
But something had changed.
It no longer looked confident.
Henry crossed his arms.
"What's funny?"
The creature looked toward the doorway.
"You don't understand."
"Seems to be happening a lot."
Henry's voice was casual, but his hand remained close to his weapon.
The creature pointed.
"The road doesn't open for visitors."
Brook looked at it.
"Then why did it open?"
The creature didn't answer.
Sera did.
"Because it recognized us."
Crowley looked toward her.
"What?"
Sera pointed to the door.
"Or something connected to us."
Brook's eyes moved toward the creature.
It lowered its gaze.
Brook noticed.
"So it is you."
The creature remained silent.
Hades stepped toward the doorway.
The air around him changed.
Brook immediately felt it.
"You're not going through."
Hades stopped.
Brook continued.
"We don't know what's over there."
Hades looked back.
"This is my city."
"And I'm telling you not to."
Henry quietly leaned toward Sera.
"Is Brook ordering a king around?"
Sera whispered back.
"Apparently."
Hades looked at Brook.
"You have a problem with authority."
Brook shrugged.
"You noticed."
Hades almost smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
"This doorway is inside my palace."
"I know."
"And something is waiting on the other side."
"Also know."
Hades turned fully toward him.
"Then why would you stop me?"
Brook stared at him.
"Because you don't know what's on the other side."
Silence.
Then Hades nodded once.
"Fair."
Henry looked surprised.
"That worked?"
Brook looked at him.
"Shut up."
A red leaf drifted through the doorway.
It crossed the threshold.
Then fell onto the stone floor.
Sera picked it up.
Hades immediately looked at her.
"Careful."
She ignored him.
The leaf felt warm.
She frowned.
"It's real."
Henry looked at her.
"You expected a fake leaf?"
"No."
"Then why say—"
"Henry."
"Right."
Sera looked toward the other world.
"There are people over there."
Brook activated Death.
He could see their lifelines.
They were waiting.
Not hiding.
Not moving.
Just standing beyond the trees.
Crowley looked at him.
"How many?"
"At least a hundred."
Henry swallowed.
"Are they armed?"
Brook narrowed his eyes.
"Some."
"What kind of weapons?"
Brook looked again.
"Swords."
Henry sighed.
"Of course."
The woman appeared again.
The one who had first met them at the border.
She entered the chamber quickly.
Then stopped.
Her eyes widened when she saw the doorway.
"Your Majesty."
Hades turned.
"Speak."
"There are disturbances throughout the city."
"What kind?"
"Words."
Sera looked at Hades.
"What?"
The woman looked around the chamber.
"Buildings are changing."
Brook frowned.
"Changing how?"
The woman swallowed.
"Words are appearing on the walls."
Henry looked at the doorway.
"That's probably bad."
"What words?"
Hades asked.
The woman hesitated.
Then looked toward the pale creature.
"Names."
The creature went completely still.
Brook walked toward it.
"What names?"
The woman answered.
"People."
Brook stopped.
The creature whispered:
"No."
Hades looked at her.
"Whose names?"
The woman took a breath.
"Everyone."
Brook activated Death again.
Lifelines filled his vision.
Not only in the chamber.
Through the ceiling.
Through the palace.
Through the city.
Thousands of lines.
But now—
names were attached to them.
Brook staggered.
Sera grabbed him.
"Brook!"
He pushed through the pain.
Every lifeline had a name.
Some he recognized.
Most he didn't.
Henry.
Sera.
Crowley.
Hades.
Then—
Kael.
Brook froze.
The pain hit him instantly.
His hand pressed against his chest.
Sera looked at him.
"What is it?"
Brook didn't answer.
He saw it again.
Kael's lifeline.
Not the entire thing.
A broken fragment.
A line ending abruptly.
Brook whispered:
"Kael."
Crowley turned.
"What?"
Brook looked toward him.
Then toward the empty air.
"I can see him."
Nobody moved.
Henry's face changed.
Brook shook his head.
"No."
He stared harder.
The fragment remained.
Broken.
Fading.
But there.
Crowley stepped toward him.
"Brook."
Brook's breathing became uneven.
"He died."
Crowley placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Brook."
"But I can see—"
"Brook."
Brook closed his eyes.
The fragment vanished.
When he opened them—
nothing remained.
His knees nearly gave out.
Sera caught him.
"Easy."
Brook pulled himself upright.
"I'm fine."
Henry looked at him.
"You're clearly not."
Brook said nothing.
The pale creature began laughing again.
Brook turned.
"What's funny?"
It looked at him.
"Your dead still speak to you."
Brook moved toward it.
Crowley stepped between them.
"No."
Brook looked at Crowley.
"Move."
Crowley didn't.
"We need answers."
Brook's jaw tightened.
Crowley looked at the creature.
"What is happening to the city?"
The creature smiled.
"The road is remembering."
"What does that mean?"
"It remembers every person who passed through."
Sera frowned.
"Passed through where?"
The creature's eyes moved toward the door.
"The twelve."
Brook looked at Hades.
"The sanctuaries."
Hades nodded slowly.
"Every protected place is connected."
Sera stared.
"Through the road."
The creature smiled.
"Yes."
Henry looked around.
"So all this time there was a way to travel between the twelve?"
Hades answered.
"There was."
Henry frowned.
"Was?"
The creature's smile faded.
"The road closed."
Brook looked at it.
"Why?"
The creature looked toward the darkness.
"Because something started walking."
The chamber went quiet.
Brook stared at the creature.
"Something started walking?"
The creature nodded.
"Across the road."
Henry looked at the doorway.
"That thing from before."
"No."
The creature's voice was quieter.
"Something older."
Hades's expression darkened.
"The Traveller."
The creature looked at him.
"You remember."
Sera turned.
"Who is the Traveller?"
Hades didn't answer.
Brook looked at him.
"Hades."
The King remained silent.
Then he spoke.
"A story."
Henry stared.
"That's not an answer."
"A warning, then."
"Still not an answer."
Brook almost smiled.
Hades looked at him.
"The Traveller is what existed between the twelve before the road closed."
Brook frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Hades looked toward the doorway.
"It means the road was never empty."
A voice came from the red forest.
"King Hades."
Everyone froze.
Hades stepped forward.
The distant figure had moved closer.
Brook could see it clearly now.
A man.
Tall.
Wearing a long coat made from animal skins.
His hair was tied behind his head.
He carried no visible weapon.
Brook activated Death.
One lifeline.
Powerful.
But human.
The man looked through the doorway.
His eyes stopped on Hades.
"You still live."
Hades answered coldly.
"So do you."
Henry looked between them.
"You know him too?"
Hades ignored him.
The man smiled faintly.
"I heard the road open."
Crowley stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The man looked at him.
"Someone who remembers you."
Crowley's expression changed.
Brook noticed immediately.
"What does that mean?"
The man didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at Brook.
Then Sera.
Then Henry.
His expression became curious.
"Three strangers."
He looked back at Crowley.
"And one ghost."
Crowley slowly raised his weapon.
Brook grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
Crowley didn't lower it.
The man smiled.
"Still quick to anger."
Hades finally spoke.
"Why are you here?"
The man's expression changed.
"To see what opened the road."
Hades looked toward the pale creature.
The man followed his gaze.
His eyes narrowed.
The pale creature stopped smiling.
For the first time—
it looked terrified.
The man whispered:
"You."
The creature backed away.
"No."
Brook looked between them.
"Who is he?"
The pale creature stared at the man beyond the doorway.
Its voice shook.
"He is not from there."
Brook frowned.
"Then where is he from?"
The man looked directly at Brook.
And answered himself.
"The same place the road came from."
Silence.
The red leaves continued falling.
The man stepped closer to the doorway.
His hand reached toward the border.
Hades immediately raised his hand.
"Do not cross."
The man stopped.
Then smiled.
"Afraid?"
"No."
"Then why stop me?"
Hades looked directly at him.
"Because last time you crossed a border, three thousand people disappeared."
Henry's expression changed.
Brook tightened his grip on his sword.
The man laughed quietly.
"They weren't supposed to be there."
Brook stared.
The man's eyes moved toward him.
Then toward the three Sources within him.
His smile slowly disappeared.
"Oh."
Brook's heart tightened.
The man took a step back.
"What?" Henry asked.
The man didn't answer.
He stared at Brook.
Then whispered:
"The road didn't open because of the forgotten word."
Brook frowned.
"Then why?"
The man looked directly at him.
"It opened because you arrived."
The twelve symbols surrounding the doorway began glowing.
One after another.
Brook felt the lifelines throughout Remus react.
Henry.
Sera.
Crowley.
Hades.
Thousands of people.
Then Brook saw something new.
A thirteenth line.
It stretched away from all of them.
Into the darkness.
The man on the other side looked at it.
And for the first time—
he looked afraid.
"No."
Brook looked toward him.
"What?"
The man's voice became almost a whisper.
"There were only supposed to be twelve."
The thirteenth symbol appeared.
The chamber shook.
The doorway began closing.
The man reached forward.
"Wait!"
But it was too late.
The red forest vanished.
The door slammed shut.
Darkness returned.
And carved into the stone where the doorway had been—
a single symbol remained.
Brook stared at it.
Nobody knew what it meant.
Except Crowley.
Brook turned.
Crowley's face had gone completely pale.
"Crowley."
Crowley looked at the symbol.
His voice barely escaped him.
"No."
Brook's stomach tightened.
"What is it?"
Crowley looked at him.
Then at the symbol.
And finally said:
"I've seen that before."
End of Chapter 107