Chapter 20: The Taking
The static chased them through the streets. It was everywhere coming from the alleys, echoing in the empty houses. It wasn't just following them.
It was spreading.
Kael gritted his teeth, still gripping his head. His breathing was uneven, his balance unsteady. " It's in my head"
Lyra pulled him forward. "Keep moving."
They ran until the sound thinned into a whisper, until they reached the town square.
And that's when they saw it.
A woman stood in the center of the square.
Her eyes were wide, her mouth trembling. She was trying to speak, but her voice
It was already gone.
A group of townspeople stood around her, their heads slightly tilted, their faces wrong.
Their mouths moved, but they weren't speaking. Their lips formed her words.
Her memories.
Lyra and Kael froze.
The woman's breath hitched. She reached for the townspeople, shaking them. "No please give it back"
One of them smiled.
And spoke with her voice.
"Did I do something wrong?"
It was perfect. The same tone, the same pitch. But it didn't come from her.
She stumbled back, her fingers trembling. "Stop"
Another one stepped forward.
"Stop" they repeated, mimicking her voice exactly.
Tears welled in her eyes. "I don't want to forget."
A third voice, from a different mouth "I don't want to forget."
And then
She twitched.
A horrible, sudden jerk, as if something inside her had just snapped.
Her body went rigid. Her lips parted, but no sound came.
And then
Her eyes emptied.
Not like death. Not like a person fading away.
One moment, she was someone.
The next
She was hollow.
The other townspeople laughed—not their own laughter, but hers. They spoke with her voice, shared her words. And she…
She just stood there.
A person without a self.
Kael staggered back. "Gods…"
Lyra clenched her jaw. The static hummed in the distance, crawling closer again.
They needed to move.
Now.
She grabbed Kael's wrist, yanking him toward the shadows. The last thing she saw before they disappeared down the alley—
The hollow woman smiling.
But it wasn't her smile anymore.
It belonged to someone else.