The Name Nox
Days had passed since Prostia's last visit. She came once more in the meantime, devoured her meat in silence, and vanished just as quietly. I had no idea what her goal was, but it didn't matter—my meat stocks were plentiful anyway. In the interim, I'd experimented with more dishes from Abysal's flesh, and I'd tried Ignar's meat with different spice blends too. Kar got a piece of Divine Realm fruit every day and occasionally shot me those shameless "gimme more" eyes.
Today, I was dead set on doing absolutely nothing. In my black bird form, I sprawled belly-down on a branch at the World Tree's summit. The sky stretched endlessly wide. A few clouds drifted lazily, and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves just right. Perfect. Kar was propped against a nearby branch, dozing off with little nods. We rested together every day lately, yet he still conked out at every opportunity. Was it weak stamina for a wyvern, or just a bad owner?
Probably both.
I spread my wings wide once, then folded them. Faint specks of light drifted between the feathers, shimmering even brighter in the sunlight—like gazing at the night sky in broad daylight.
Eh, it's pretty.
I stared at the light particles for a good while until hunger started gnawing at me. Opening my subspace, I checked the Ignar meat reserves—still plenty. Grilling it properly required fine fire control, and fingers were way more precise than wingtips. I shifted to human form.
Pfsh-!
I landed lightly on the branch and pulled out some meat from subspace. Mixing thunder and flame at my fingertips, I grilled with pinpoint control.
Sizzle-!
A rich, savory aroma rose up. Kar caught the scent, half-lidded eyes snapping open as he sniffed the air.
"...Master, having a meal?"
"Yeah. Want some?"
I tossed a grilled chunk his way; he fumbled but caught it with his forepaws.
"Thank you...!"
We ate in companionable silence. The morning atop the World Tree passed quietly under the blue sky and whispering wind.
Then I spotted frost settling on the leaves. She's back.Prostia descended in human form nearby. I offered her a piece of grilled meat; she took it wordlessly and began eating. By her third visit, no words were needed between us. Her hand moved without pause. Her face remained stoic, but the quickening pace was impossible to hide.
I found myself nodding approvingly at her. She must have sensed my gaze—mid-reach for more meat, she froze for the briefest instant, fingertip hovering over the chunk. No change in expression, but her ear tips tinted the faintest white, like frost. Then, as if nothing happened, she picked it up slowly, far more restrained than before.
Kar sneaked sidelong glances before quietly looking away.
How much time passed? Midway through stuffing my face, I felt eyes on me. Prostia was staring fixedly at my fingertips. Her translucent eyes lingered there in silence for a long stretch. Then she spoke.
"...Mana is leaking."
I tilted my head.
"Huh? Yeah?"
I glanced down. Sure enough, a faint wisp of mana seeped into the air.
"It's because you have no name."
"Name?"
"Make one now."
With that, she returned to her meat. No further explanation. That was her communication style. I pondered briefly.
Name... guess I could use my past life's.
Seemed simple, but dredging it up felt like groping through fog. Hadn't used it in ages, or maybe this life felt too natural now—either way, it wouldn't come.
I definitely had one, though.
"...Can't remember my past life name."
It was a mutter, but Kar reacted first.
"Pardon? Past... life?"
A clear expression crossed Prostia's face for the first time—exasperated? Amazed? Both? It was the first readable emotion on that inscrutable visage.
"...Past life."
"Yeah. Lived in another world, died, got reborn in this body. Had a name back then—what was it?"
Kar and Prostia both fell silent.
It took a while for the nest's atmosphere to thaw. Kar looked like he wanted to ask something, mouth opening and closing, but he swallowed it. Prostia just kept chewing steadily.
"Eh, just make a new one."
I wasn't fussed. Name's a name—pick one and done.
Michael knows I'm from another world. Wonder if he remembers it.
I pulled the communication orb from subspace and infused it with mana.
"Hey, fluorescent pigeon."
"You know I'm from another world, right? Can't remember the name—know it?"
"Past life name, you mean?"
"Yeah."
Papers rustled faintly from the orb.
"Gotcha."
"Nope."
Something clattered on the other end, followed by a brief groan that quickly steadied.
"Anchors?"
"Doesn't bother me."
"Too lazy—later ok?"
He sounded exhausted, yet insisted that hard—couldn't just ignore it.
"Fine, I'll think on it."
The orb's glow faded. Prostia had kept eating through it all but clearly heard everything. I peered at my fingertips. Mana still leaked faintly.
"...Gotta pick a name then."
Kar ventured cautiously.
"M-May I humbly suggest a few...?"
"Go for it."
"How about Corvax? Strong and dignified feel..."
"Too grandiose."
"Th-Then... Draeven..."
"Weird vibe."
"... Ebonar? Means black..."
"Too long."
"Shorten to Ebon..?"
"Still weird."
Kar scratched the branch gingerly with a massive paw, face screaming he hadn't realized name-suggesting was this tough.
Prostia swallowed and spoke.
"...How about Nox?"
"Nox?"
"Name containing night. Short, suits your current form."
Her gaze drifted to my hair. She plucked a strand; light particles flowed gently through the jet black.
Nox...
Not bad. Neither pompous nor flimsy.
"Nice. I'll go with that."
"Declare it. Aloud."
"Nox."
In that instant, the core deep in my chest pulsed faster than my heartbeat. Thump, thump-thump, thump-thump-thump. Accelerating throbs echoed through my body, shaking the branch beneath. I felt the pulse flow from my soles into the World Tree's trunk, roots, deep into the earth.
The World Tree responded, sending back its mana. Leaves rustled in unison with the flow. The tree vibrated from within. Twigs creaked, thick boughs hummed low, nest leaves lifted and settled on their own. Resonance spread across the entire tree. The tremor from the summit plunged to the depths and roots, rebounding through every fiber. Once, twice, thrice. As pulses quickened, so did the resonance.
Then—abruptly—it stopped.
Sound vanished. Wind, leaves, Kar's breaths. In the utter stillness, as if the world held its breath, the dispersed mana reversed. Everything—even what the World Tree had returned—surged back into my core like a massive tidal recoil.
Inner calm settled. The hazy drift now had clear boundaries.
Oh, it's set.
Nox. Felt new, yet oddly familiar.
Kar gawked around, mouth agape. The nest air, once subtly heavy, lightened; leaves still quivered faintly.
"A single name changes all this..."
Prostia silently took another bite. Even with the World Tree shaking wholesale, her pace never wavered. I grabbed more meat. Chewing, that word lingered on my tongue. Nox. Nox. Rolled it silently a few more times. The more I did, the less foreign it felt—like reclaiming something mine I'd briefly forgotten.
Then a faint telepathy whispered.
[...Nox.]
I'd been rolling it mentally, so "Yeah?" slipped out.
Prostia shook her head faintly.
"Nothing."
I tilted my head and eyed her.
"Hey, why Nox specifically?"
She paused mid-chew.
"...First time I saw the light flowing in your feathers, it reminded me of the night sky."
"That's it?"
"Enough?"
I thought a moment, then nodded. It was.
Reaching for more Ignar meat—maybe extra pepper?—I rummaged in subspace as a breeze swept by.
Nox. Spoken aloud just once, yet it felt like I'd always had it.
The same moment, near the World Tree's roots.
The entire elven kingdom shuddered. Ornaments rattled on palace walls, dust sifted from ceilings, market stalls tipped and fruits tumbled to the ground. Elves staggered, clutching walls.
Kaiel kicked open his office door.
"Earthquake?!"
But the ground wasn't shaking. The World Tree itself vibrated. A heavy pulse rippled from roots to trunk to branch tips, enveloping the whole tree—then halted abruptly.
Silence fell, but no one stirred. Kaelion Aetheris gazed up at the summit from the garden.
"...Something happened at the summit."
Kaiel rushed over.
"Your Majesty! We must dispatch a search party at once!"
Kaelion slowly shook his head.
"The summit is where the young god resides. We mustn't rashly offend."
Kaiel fell silent.
"We'll observe for now."
Even after Kaiel withdrew, Kaelion lingered in the garden, eyes fixed on the summit. In millennia, the World Tree that upheld this kingdom had never trembled so. Strangely, though, no unease stirred in him.