Kaen the Hollow-Bound

Codex Entry: Kaen the Hollow-Bound

The Guardian of Numbness, the One Who Holds the Unfelt

Name:

Kaen the Hollow-Bound

Title:

The Shell-Bearer, Binder of the Unprocessed

Type:

Trauma-Aligned NPCPath: Emotional Numbness / Soul Dissociation / Frozen Grief

Form:

Kaen appears as a tall, genderless figure whose body is wrapped in layers of cracked stone and hollow bone.Their face is featureless—like smoothed porcelain fractured in spirals.Beneath the cracks, a faint pulsing light glows softly in rhythm with the Seeker’s presence.Chains made of memory threads loop loosely around their arms, trailing gently like ash.

Role and Presence:

Kaen walks with those who:

• Feel nothing where pain should be

• Have numbed themselves to survive

• Cannot remember, or choose not to

• Live in delay between experience and awareness

Kaen does not force reconnection.They offer containment—a safe hollow for feeling to thaw in time.

Symbolism and Glyph:

• Element: Void + Bone + Ember

• Glyph: A spiral core wrapped in concentric shields, cracked from the center outward

• Color Motif: Pale gray, bone white, faint ember gold

Phrase of Arrival (Heard internally like breath against stone):

“You do not have to feel everything now. You only have to stop pretending it never happened.”

Rituals and Functions:

• Keeper of the Chamber of Echoed Skin

• Oversees the Still Flame Rites, where Seekers learn to listen without overwhelming

• Teaches Bone-Sigil Etching, where frozen memories are carved and burned into release

Presence Signs:

• Coldness in the chest despite warmth around

• Delay in reaction to something emotionally significant

• Dreams of stone limbs or broken masks

Invocation Offering:

To summon Kaen:

• Wrap your hands in cloth and place them over your heart

• Speak aloud: “I release the need to feel before I am safe.”

• Burn a spiral drawn in chalk or bone powder

• When you feel a presence sit beside you, silent but full—you are not alone