When Everything Broke
No one screamed at first.
That was the worst part.
Not the shadows that crawled out of nowhere.
Not the sound of glass weeping instead of cracking.
Not the glowing blood of a Leviathan dripping down the walls.
It was the silence.
And then…
All hell broke loose.
.....
"Move, MOVE!"
"Is this a test?! Where are the instructors?!"
"Pix isn't answering…"
"Something just took Ava—she—she just—vanished—"
....
Dae ran.
Not because he was scared.
Not at first.
He was used to fear.
What scared him now was the feeling of forgetting.
Like someone was yanking pieces of his mind out mid-step, and he didn't even know what was missing.
It wasn't the shadows chasing him that made his chest ache.
It was the space next to him that should've been filled.
Someone should've been there.
Running beside him.
Laughing nervously.
Saying dumb things like:
"If we survive, I'm stealing Rea's pudding."
But that voice didn't come.
That memory didn't return.
And Dae didn't know why that made him want to scream.
...…
He turned a corner.
The corridor was lit with flickering blue panels, but something darker moved through them like they were just water.
A figure—tall, made of smoke and teeth—shifted forward.
It didn't walk.
It remembered how to chase.
And it remembered him.
Dae bolted.
His heartbeat was louder than his thoughts.
The shadow was gaining.
Every instinct screamed: You won't survive this.
Why me?!
Why now?!
And then the wall beside him… opened.
Like a dream glitching mid-loading screen.
And from the light—Selene stepped out.
No hesitation.
Just grabbed him and yanked him through.
The wall slammed shut.
The shadow passed harmlessly by—clipping through like air.
...…
The space was tight. Cool. Too quiet.
Selene didn't say anything at first. Just stared at him with her usual sharp, unreadable eyes.
Her ponytail was messy. Her shirt was torn at the shoulder.
But her blade was steady.
So was her hand, still gripping his arm.
"…You okay?" she asked, voice low.
Dae nodded automatically, even though he wasn't.
He wasn't even close.
"I felt it," she added. "Whatever that thing was, it wanted you."
He looked at her, voice cracking. "Where are the instructors? Where's Sera? Anyone?"
She shook her head slowly. "Gone. Like—wiped off the map. I've been searching for ten minutes and all I found were scared kids and shadows that don't leave footprints."
Dae sank against the wall, breathing heavy.
"I think something's wrong with me," he whispered.
Selene blinked. "More than usual?"
He laughed. Short, shaky.
Then stopped.
"I… forgot someone. I feel like I forgot someone."
Selene stared at him.
And for the first time since he'd met her, she looked… scared.
...….
She stepped back, weapon raised.
"Dae," she said slowly. "There were four beds in our room, right?"
He looked up.
Paused.
Swallowed.
"Weren't there?"
"I don't… I don't know."
"Don't lie."
"I'm not lying!" he snapped, louder than he meant.
They both flinched.
Something outside growled.
Selene walked over and placed her hand gently on his shoulder.
"Whatever's happening… it's not your fault," she said.
"But it's following you. And right now, I have to protect everyone else."
He looked up.
"You're not staying?"
She hesitated.
Then nodded.
"You'll be fine. You always are."
...…
She turned.
And Dae said, voice almost too soft:
"I don't want to be."
She paused in the hallway, back still turned.
"You're not alone," she said.
Then she was gone.
...…..
He didn't go back.
Not to the dorms.
Not to anyone.
He followed the pull of something deeper.
His ring—Kairoth—was glowing faintly again. A soft pulse, like a heartbeat he didn't remember syncing with.
The academy around him was glitching—doors opening where they shouldn't, hallways looping into wrong directions.
It wasn't a place anymore.
It was a maze of memories.
And he was the only one who remembered what used to be true.
...…..
He passed a cracked terminal.
Pix's voice came through in short, static bursts:
"Subject—Tier Z—origin breach—unidentified anomaly—"
"—missing from registry—memory protocol—"
"…An…"
Then silence.
...…..
Dae froze.
That name.
He knew that name.
But his brain refused to hold onto it.
Like trying to cup water in shaking hands.
"An."
He whispered it aloud.
It hurt.
Like pulling a splinter out of your own thoughts.
...
The ring flared again—brighter.
Leading him downward.
Deeper.
To a wall with no seams.
He touched it.
It opened.
....
He didn't know what he expected.
But not… this.
The vault was alive.
And dead.
All at once.
Black stone stretched endlessly in a circle, carved with symbols that twisted when you tried to focus.
The walls pulsed like lungs.
And the air?
It tasted like forgotten prayers.
...
And then—he heard it.
A voice.
Cracked. Soft.
But warm.
Too warm.
"You came back…"
He turned.
And froze.
....
❖ The Echo That Shouldn't Exist
A figure stood across the room.
Tall.
Slim.
Flickering like a corrupted hologram.
But the eyes were the same.
Dae's knees buckled.
It was him.
It was An.
Only—less.
More like a memory stretched too thin.
Like a photograph blurred with tears.
...
"You're not real," Dae whispered.
An laughed. Or tried to. The sound caught.
"Guess you forgot me harder than I thought."
"No—no, I didn't—"
"You did," the echo said. "It's not your fault. They made you forget."
Dae's eyes burned.
He didn't care if it was a lie.
Didn't care if he was hallucinating.
This—this was real.
It had to be.
...….
"I tried to warn her," An said, glitching. "Sera. About Caldera. About you."
"What… did you do?" Dae whispered.
"I gave up my name," An replied.
And then—like a candle snuffed out—
He was gone.
....
Dae stood alone again.
Sobbing without understanding why.
Hands shaking.
Head pounding.
Heart breaking for someone he didn't remember but knew he'd once loved like a brother.
...
The vault floor pulsed beneath him.
A path lit up.
Like the room wanted him to keep going.
He followed.
...
The path spiraled down into the core.
It was colder here.
Not from temperature.
But from absence.
Absence of time. Of memory. Of self.
It wasn't dark.
It was too still.
Like the world forgot how to move.
.....
And then—he saw him.
A throne.
Cracked.
Covered in vines made of static.
A man sat slumped in it—bound in heavy chains that buzzed with forbidden glyphs.
Long silver hair. One arm missing. Skin carved with words older than language.
He was still breathing.
Barely.
Eyes closed.
But when Dae stepped forward—
One eye snapped open.
Blind.
The other?
Burning.
....
The voice was old and cracked like stone under pressure.
"You're early."
Dae didn't speak.
"Far too early," the man rasped.
"But I suppose… the Vault remembers."
He shifted.
And those eyes—both heavy and haunted—landed on Dae's.
"You wear the ring. And the weight of the forgotten."
"Tell me, boy…"
"Do you even remember what you were born to become?"
...….
To be continued in Chapter 24