💣Unsung Heroes: The Story of Vaelyn Hawthorne (VE-NUMB)

The Illusions We Live In, The Monsters We Become

In the glittering chaos of stardom, some lights burn too hot—and leave scars where they once offered brilliance. Vaelyn Hawthorne, once the magnetic lion-shifter guitarist of Hiraeth’s cult-favorite band Toad Biscuit, is remembered by many as a charming enigma. But beneath the swagger and supernatural power, Vee was silently unraveling. And when the curtain fell, he vanished, leaving behind broken friendships, shattered trust, and one burning question: what happened?

🦁 Born of Bloodlines, Bound by Shadows

Vaelyn wasn’t just born into privilege—he was born into power. The Hawthornes, an elite family allied with the mighty Fangs, were feared and revered for their terrifying bloodline ability, Oblivion’s Grasp: the power to trap others in immersive illusions, distorting time and reality.

For generations, this gift came with a price: Oblivion Madness, a degenerative mental condition caused by the overuse of these abilities. Vee scoffed at the warnings. Young, cocky, and brilliant, he believed he could master what had destroyed his ancestors.

He was wrong.

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🎤 From Best Friends to Bandmates: The Rise of Toad Biscuit

Vee and Rexar Fang were inseparable from childhood, raised in the same rarefied social circles and bonded by their love of rebellion, music, and chaos. What started as a joke became a sensation—Toad Biscuit, the genre-defying band that gave voice to a generation of outcasts.

Vaelyn’s onstage charisma was magnetic. Rexar was the fire; Vee was the storm. But behind the scenes, Vee’s grip on reality began to slip.

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🧠 When Power Turns Against You

The early signs were subtle—paranoia, auditory hallucinations, the urge to "fix" time. But soon, Vee began abusing his illusion magic in everyday life:

• Suppressing panic attacks with fabricated memories

• Skipping hard conversations by bending time perception

• Replaying moments of euphoria until he couldn’t feel anything at all

• Erasing mistakes to the point that truth became subjective

• Retreating into nostalgia, unable to tell what was real anymore

As Oblivion Madness tightened its grip, Vee’s mental state deteriorated into erratic behavior, isolation, and psychosis.

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🔥 The Fire That Ended It All

At Toad Biscuit’s final concert, Vee was barely holding it together. Haunted by voices, exhausted, and delusional, he triggered a pyrotechnic illusion meant to impress Rexar.

Instead, it caused a real explosion.

Three lives were lost. The venue burned. And Vee—mid-Blight and unable to recognize reality—vanished into the night.

The next morning, when clarity returned, he read Rexar’s frantic texts. Saw the news. And knew he could never return.

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🎧 From Vaelyn to VE-NUMB: A New Mask

Shamed and shattered, Vee disappeared. But music still called to him—this time, from the shadows.

Under the name VE-NUMB, he reinvented himself as a faceless underground producer. His new sound was darker, distorted, filled with glitching rage and sorrow. In it, listeners heard echoes of Vee’s pain, and the remnants of a voice that once lit stages on fire.

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💔 The Fallout, The Silence, The Haunting

Vaelyn never contacted Rexar again.

Rexar never got an explanation.

The world only saw the betrayal. But the truth was messier, more tragic: a boy who tried to outrun his family's curse, and lost himself in the process.

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🕯️ Why Vaelyn’s Story Matters

In a saga filled with monsters, magic, and metaphors, Vaelyn Hawthorne is one of Hiraeth’s most tragic and quietly heroic figures. He didn't save the world. He didn’t win the battle. But he fought every day against the war in his mind—and left behind haunting music that still speaks for the voiceless.

And in a world where many don’t make it to healing, Vee is still trying.

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💿 Explore VE-NUMB

🔗 Stream the latest VE-NUMB EP, The Porch Rot Prophecy
🔗 Watch his anonymous interview on Echo//Error Network
🔗 Unlock the VE-NUMB Easter Egg on houseofteeth.love — if you can find it.

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💀 “Monsters don’t want to be saved. But some of us write songs, just in case we’re wrong.”