Deep. The floor of the Sea of Oblivion was the color of this.
It wasn't white. White was the color of the upper layers. At this depth, color itself ceased to exist. Yet it wasn't darkness, either; darkness contains black. Here, there wasn't even black. All that met the eyes were the outlines of where things ought to be. The air was so transparent that all sense of perspective and depth vanished.
"So, this is the Abyss."
Asahi’s voice rang out. It reached its mark, but it didn't echo. Without a wall to strike, the sound simply traveled away in a straight line forever. A voice with no return.
Kuon’s azure prosthetic eye flickered to life. He opened the Catalogue. Usually, the glow of the pages would illuminate their surroundings, but here, the light failed to scatter. The pale blue radiance clung to the surface of the parchment, dying out just inches away.
"The light won't reach. Oblivion is drinking it."
Kuon gripped the Catalogue tighter. His prosthetic eye blinked rhythmically. The characters on the pages were flickering, their arrangement beginning to fray.
"The Catalogue is acting up."
"The binding of the script is weakening. In this place, the very power required to maintain a record is being stripped away. We can't stay long."
Koyoi clutched the drawstring pouch. The Droplet inside was hot. It wasn't the gentle warmth felt while walking through the southern towns; it was a sharp, searing heat that felt like it was burning the fingertips.
And then, it happened without warning.
Something slipped out of Koyoi’s mind. It wasn't like a hole had opened; it simply vanished, as if it had never been there to begin with.
I can't remember my name.
Koyoi’s mouth opened. The throat moved. But no sound came out. The syllable that was meant to be spoken evaporated on the tongue. "Ko—" was as far as it went. What came next? Koyoi couldn't remember.
The pouch burned. Not metaphorically—a flash of heat so intense it felt like the skin was being scorched through the fabric. The Droplet pulsed as if it were boiling, hammering against Koyoi’s palm from the inside.
The name returned. Koyoi. My name is Koyoi.
Koyoi’s knees buckled, sinking into a crouch. Breath came in ragged gasps; sweat beaded on the forehead. The Abyss of the Sea of Oblivion was supposed to be freezing, yet Koyoi’s entire body was burning.
"Koyoi."
Asahi’s voice drifted down from above.
Koyoi looked up. Asahi stood there, hand still resting on the hilt of his sword, looking down.
"Are you alright?"
"—Yeah. I’m okay. For just a second, I forgot who I was."
Asahi’s gaze sharpened.
Kuon looked up from the Catalogue, the blue light of his eye flickering unsteadily.
"The very concept of a name is beginning to dissolve. We are in the deepest part of the Sea of Oblivion. In the upper layers, forgotten names merely sink. But here in the Abyss, the mechanism of 'naming' itself ceases to function."
"A mechanism?"
"A name is a marker attached to an existence. To maintain that marker, you need an Observer—someone to remember it. In the Abyss, there are no Observers. And so, the markers fall off."
Koyoi pressed a hand against the pouch. The heat of the Droplet was receding, but its pulse remained strong. It beat with a heavy, rhythmic intensity, as if it were standing guard.
"The Droplet told me. When I started to forget my name, it turned hot."
"It is a Droplet of God, after all. A fragment of a name. It reacts when a name begins to fade."
Asahi grabbed Koyoi’s arm and pulled them up.
"Stand up. If you stay crouched, you’ll sink."
"Sink?"
"Just a hunch. But this is the kind of place that drags down anyone who hits the bottom. You're better off on your feet."
Koyoi stood. The sensation in the feet was thin; it was impossible to tell if they were touching the ground or floating in the void.
Kuon started to close the Catalogue, then stopped.
"Wait. There is one line left... I can still read it."
The flickering blue light illuminated the page. Amidst the collapsing script, a single sentence remained intact.
"'The Sea of Oblivion is not a product of the Laws. It existed prior to the Laws.'"
Asahi knit his brows.
"You mean this place was here before the world had its rules?"
"Exactly. The Sea of Oblivion wasn't created by the Observers. Long before the system of 'The Laws' was woven into the world, there was already a place where names went to be forgotten. The Observers simply... utilized it."
"Utilized it?"
"They freeze names and sink them into the Sea. If left to natural oblivion, a name eventually vanishes entirely. The Observers used ice to preserve them, but once that ice melts, the result is the same."
Koyoi stared into the colorless air of the Abyss. A space without hue. A place where the concept of identity melts away. No one built this; it was a hole the world had possessed from the very beginning. If you don't call a name, it vanishes. If you don't remember it, it sinks. It isn't anyone's fault. It is simply how things are.
"Then... to keep from forgetting a name, we just have to keep calling it, right?"
Koyoi spoke the words aloud.
Kuon closed the Catalogue before the characters could distort any further.
"We’re leaving. If we linger in the Abyss, the Catalogue will break."
"Just a little longer—"
"No. Koyoi, your name vanished once. Next time, it might not come back."
Koyoi fell silent.
Asahi called out Koyoi’s name.
"Koyoi."
It was just a call. There was no meaning behind it, no request to make. He simply gave the name a voice and carved it into the air.
"—Yeah."
"As long as you can answer, you're fine. Let’s move."
The three of them began to walk back toward the upper layers. The air of the Abyss tangled around their ankles. It wasn't sticky; it was gravity. A silent, absolute pull that refused to let go of anything that had sunk.
Koyoi gripped the pouch, feeling the heat of the Droplet. It was still warm. The name was still here.
Looking back, the Abyss stretched out behind them, a transparent void reflecting nothing. How many names had sunk into that space? Even before the Observers began freezing them, how many names that were never called by anyone had dissolved there in silence?
Asahi called out again.
"Koyoi. Look forward."
"Right."
Koyoi turned back to the front. The white mist of the upper layers was coming into view. That whiteness felt like a relief now. White was a color. And where there is color, there is presence.
Kuon held the Catalogue close to his chest. The blue light of his prosthetic eye was stabilizing. Once they were clear of the Abyss, the script would return. The record was safe.
"Remember this," Kuon said as they walked. "The Sea of Oblivion is not our enemy. It is the structure of the world. Just as water flows to the lowest point, names sink if they are not called. Even if we defeat the Observers, the Sea of Oblivion will not disappear."
"It doesn't have to," Koyoi answered. "We just have to call the names. So they don't sink. So they aren't forgotten. We just have to keep calling them, forever."
Asahi let out a short, dry laugh.
"Forever is a long time."
"That’s why there are three of us. If one person forgets, someone else will remember."
The white mist swallowed them. The transparent air of the Abyss receded behind them, replaced by the familiar, blinding white of the upper Sea.
Koyoi traced the shape of their own name with their lips, without making a sound. Koyoi. It was still there. It hadn't vanished yet.
The Droplet pulsed gently. As if in response. As if to say, I remember.