The Ice Well of Shimosato was exactly where it had been last time.
Yet, it did not look the same. The ice lid had grown thin. The surface, which had been opaque during their last visit, was now translucent, revealing the layers beneath.
Faint glimmers of Names shifted restlessly under the ice.
"It’s melting," Asahi said, kneeling at the edge of the well.
"Not melting. Merely thinning. By visiting the three towns, we have weakened the well’s seal by one stage."
Kuon opened his Catalogue.
Referring to the new entries he had gained at the Sanctuary, he cast an azure light upon the surface of the lid. The radiance pierced the ice, illuminating the depths. During their previous descent, they had reached the bottom at fifteen fathoms. Now, he could see another layer below it.
Dark walls of ice continued further down.
"There it is," Kuon said, his gaze fixed. "The layer where the Stacking of Names is preserved. We're going down."
He shattered the lid.
It gave way far more easily than it had last time. Shards of ice tumbled into the well, striking the walls with a dry, clattering ring.
The three of them descended, using the same handholds as before. The path was familiar, yet the icy walls had changed. The light of the Names was more brilliant than it had been. The Names, which should have been completely frozen, were now flickering faintly.
They reached the floor at fifteen fathoms. On their last visit, this had been the deepest point—a floor of ice lined with the characters of Names.
But now, a corner of that floor had cracked. A draft escaped from the fissure, different from the surrounding chill. It was ancient air. Air from a space that had been sealed tight for thousands of years.
Asahi struck the edge of the crack with the scabbard of his greatsword. The ice splintered, and the hole widened.
Beneath the opening lay another chamber.
"Going in," Asahi said, leaping down first.
The sound of his landing echoed deep within the hollow. Koyoi followed, and Kuon descended last.
The ice in this deep layer was a different color altogether. While the upper layer had been white, the ice here was a bruised, blue-black. It was highly transparent, making the things entombed within clearly visible.
They were not individual Names. They were clusters of them. Dozens of Names were folded and crammed together inside single blocks of ice.
The characters overlapped, rendering them illegible. It was impossible to tell where one Name ended and another began.
"The Stacking of Names," Kuon said, adjusting his artificial eye.
The azure light cut through the blue-black ice.
"They didn't have the time to freeze them one by one. They were forced in all at once, by sheer power. In some places, the Names have actually fused together."
Koyoi pressed his hand against the icy wall. He felt no warmth.
The Names in the upper layers had still possessed a lingering trace of body heat, but the ones here were cold through and through. The immense pressure of being stacked and shoved together had crushed whatever warmth they once held.
"It looks... painful," Koyoi whispered.
"I imagine it is," Kuon replied. "For a Name, to fuse with another is to lose the very outline of one's self."
Kuon continued to scan the walls with his azure light. Clusters of Stacked Names were lined up by the dozens, the hundreds. It was a staggering number compared to the individual Names in the layer above.
"They were in a hurry. To process this many all at once... there must have been a significant reason."
Asahi tapped the wall lightly with his fist. The blue-black ice was dense; the sound it returned was dull and heavy.
"Probably a war. Between those who steal Names and those who protect them."
Kuon did not answer.
He continued to probe the deepest reaches of the wall with his artificial eye. The azure light eventually stopped at a single point.
"Here. At the very bottom of the stack, a single record is stored separately. It’s different from the others. It isn't folded; it’s a separate entry."
Kuon’s voice changed.
"It’s an Order. A record of the instructions given when the Stacking of Names was executed. It contains who, when, and for what reason these masses of Names were frozen all at once."
The light from his eye intensified as he focused on the record deep within the ice. However, the characters remained unreadable. The clusters of Stacked Names surrounded it, overlapping in a way that seemed to hide the record from view.
"Can you read it?" Asahi asked.
"Not from here. But I’ve pinpointed the location."
Kuon dimmed the light of his eye and inscribed the coordinates of the record into his Catalogue.
"If I cross-reference this with the original text in the main body of the Scripture House, I'll be able to read it."
Koyoi pulled his hand away from the blue-black wall. Only the cold remained on his palm. A coldness devoid of any warmth.
In the darkness of the deep layer, the clusters of Stacked Names gave a faint, rhythmic creak.