Rest in Peace, My Child

The front-line Hymn Formation was the first to be torn open.

The Canticle Bone Pillar mimicked the melodies of the Sacred Song Order, but its prayers had been broken into fragments of dying whispers.

A young Tear Knight stood at the edge of the shield wall, helping hold the outer passage beside the Condemnation Warhammer.

His shield braced the front rank. He had just blocked the bone claws of a Stitched Abomination when a familiar voice sounded beside his ear.

It was his elder brother's voice.

A few days earlier, his brother had died with the Vanguard Squad outside the twelfth Vein Bed.

Now that voice squeezed out of a face on the Canticle Bone Pillar.

The young knight looked over. A face with its mouth sewn shut by Grayblood Threads stared at him from the pillar's surface.

Half of it had rotted into the flesh membrane. It was no longer a whole face, yet its features were painfully familiar.

The young knight's movements faltered for a beat.

In that instant, dozens of gray-white veins shot from the pillar's base, slipped through gaps in the shield wall, and wrapped around his greaves.

The faces sang as they watched him. One voice separated from the discordant hymn and burrowed into his ear.

"Take me home—"

The young knight tried to draw his sword, but his hand trembled beyond his control.

The Grayblood Veins wormed through the seams of his armor, tightened around his bracer, and dragged him toward the pillar.

Two knights beside him tried to help, but several more Stitched Abominations lunged at them and blocked their way.

His boots scraped two furrows through the frozen ground. He felt certain that, in another moment, he would become part of the monster.

At the brink of despair, a black-gloved hand settled