Deep within the mist, there was an island.
Perhaps "island" was too grand a word. It was a rocky outcrop no larger than a few tatami mats, drifting soundlessly across the surface of the Sea of Oblivion. It moved upon a waveless expanse, a mere speck lost in the grey.
"Look," Koyoi said, pointing a finger. "There’s something there."
Kuon’s artificial eye narrowed, glowing a cold azure. He opened his Index, turning the light of its pages toward the rocks. As the pale blue radiance cut through the fog, a faint silhouette shimmered into view atop the stone.
It was not the shape of a person. Nor was it the shape of a plant. It was simply a place where the air wavered—like a heat haze dancing over the water, vanishing when one looked away and reappearing when the gaze returned.
"A god," Kuon said under his breath. "But it isn't frozen. There is no ice. No trace of its name being sealed."
Asahi squinted at the spot. "If it’s not frozen, is it alive?"
"No. It is fading, but in a way quite different from the Freezing."
Kuon leafed through the pages of the Index. The blue light caught on the fragments of text, but he found no entry corresponding to the god on that rock. No record of it existed at all.
"It isn't in the Index. This is a god that even the Chroniclers failed to write of. It wasn't sealed away by an Observer; it was simply... forgotten."
A pang of grief struck Koyoi’s chest. The gods they had seen in the southern towns had been trapped in ice. Their names had been stolen, their movements halted, but they had still existed there. If the ice were broken, it felt as though they might one day return.
But this shimmering distortion on the rock had no form to return to.
"I’m going to try."
Koyoi pressed a hand against the drawstring bag at his waist. The Droplet pulsed with a warm rhythm. As he prepared to step out onto the water, Kuon caught him by the arm.
"Wait. Do not enter the Sea of Oblivion directly. The names of those who step into these waters dissolve as well."
Koyoi stopped. The surface of the sea was tranquil, without a single ripple. That was what made it terrifying. It wasn't that you couldn't see the bottom; it was that the very concept of a "bottom" did not exist here. It was a place where, if a name sank, even the fact that it had sunk would go unrecorded.
He untied the bag and let a single droplet rest in his palm. The Droplet of the Water God. A tiny, luminous bead of water trembled between his fingers.
"Reach them," Koyoi whispered, turning his palm toward the rocks.
The droplet rose into the air, tracing a thin arc through the mist. But just before it reached the outcrop, it stopped. It tried to touch the shimmer, but there was nothing to catch. The droplet shivered, its light flickering uncertainly, before slowly drifting back to Koyoi’s palm. It felt cold.
"...It didn't work," Koyoi said, his voice cracking.
Kuon closed the Index and spoke quietly. "There is no form left. A frozen god has a core. Their name is merely wrapped in ice; if you release the core, they return. But a forgotten god has no core. It didn't melt. It evaporated."
Asahi stared at the rocks. The shimmer was growing faint. Even as the three of them watched, it was becoming indistinguishable from the air.
"Is it just going to vanish while we watch?"
"No," Kuon replied. "It was already vanishing. It only grew slightly more distinct because we arrived. By being seen, its existence was tethered, if only for a moment. But—"
Koyoi cut him off. They couldn't stay and watch forever. The moment they left, the shimmer would disappear entirely.
Asahi kicked at the ground. "The Observers sealed them in ice. A cruel thing to do, sure. But at least they’re still there inside the ice. The forgotten ones... they just cease to be. I don't know which is worse, but..."
"Ice can be broken," Kuon added softly. "Oblivion has nothing to break."
The three stood in silence, watching the rock. The distortion was now so thin it could barely be seen even with eyes strained. It was a phantom with the density of a breeze, yet there was no wind here. The Sea of Oblivion was airless. The shimmer didn't scatter; it simply, slowly, let go of the edges of its own existence.
Koyoi clutched the bag to his chest. The droplets inside pulsed quietly—the fragments of the gods they had gathered in the south. Those children had names. Their stolen names were sleeping inside the ice.
"What we're doing... it’s the right thing, isn't it?" Koyoi murmured.
Kuon turned back. The blue light of his eye illuminated Koyoi's face. "I am not talking about 'right.' We return the names. That is all."
"But... the god on that island has no name to return. It wasn't that the name was lost; the name was forgotten along with the god. We can only pick up the names that were frozen..."
Koyoi’s eyes welled with tears. Asahi placed a heavy hand on his head.
"We can't save them all. We knew that from the start."
"But still..."
"But the ones we can pick up, we pick up. That’s all there is to it, right?" Asahi’s voice was rough, but it didn't waver.
Kuon tucked the Index back into his satchel and turned his back on the rocks. "Remember this. Freezing and Oblivion are different. Freezing is an act of violence. Someone did it with intent, and therefore it can be undone. Oblivion... is no one’s fault. It is simply that no one remembered."
The three began to walk again. The rocky outcrop receded behind them, swallowed by the fog. When they looked back, the shimmer was gone.
Koyoi tightened his grip on the drawstring. The warmth of the Droplets seeped into his fingertips, and with it, a faint spark of resolve.
Pick up what can be picked up. Even just one more of the frozen names.
The island of the forgotten god dissolved into the depths of the mist. Unrecorded, unspoken. Only a faint silhouette remained in the memories of the three travelers—and perhaps even that would one day return to the fog. That was why they kept moving. They walked while there were still things left to find.