---
The book no longer opens when Kael touches it.
It waits — weighing him with every breath, as if measuring the cost of turning the next page.
All night, he tried to avoid its presence. But the ink still found him.
On the wall.
In his food.
In his skin.
It began subtly. A line across his shoulder blade when he undressed:
"Draft 3. Name unsalvageable. Sentence incomplete."
And then another, curling up his wrist like a tattoo:
"You are not the author. You're the edit."
He scraped it raw. It returned.
---
The Chapter Appears
When he finally dares open the journal again, the pages tremble like they remember his hands. But something is different.
The new page is narrower than the rest — like it was never meant to be part of the book.
It has no title. No ink. Only margins.
Kael leans in. And the margins shift.
Kael leans in. And the margins shift.
Not words.
Not written.
Just... pressure. As if reality itself was hiding text it didn't want him to see.
His eyes blur. His reflection in the inkwell twitches — but Kael doesn't move.
He blinks.
Now the page has a single line:
"You are inside the margins now."
---
The Forgotten Room
The bell in the archive tower rings once — though it is hours too early. Kael's candle gutters. Behind the shelf, he sees a door that wasn't there yesterday.
Iron hinges. Old script above the arch:
"Everything erased lives here."
He enters.
It's not a room.
It's a library made of things no longer remembered.
Books with missing titles.
Faces drawn and scratched out.
Diaries that only begin with "This is not the first time."
And pinned to a podium — a parchment glowing faintly — his name:
KAEL'ITH VARION
…followed by dozens of scratched-out versions.
One name beneath them all remains untouched:
"Quillborne."
---
The journal back in his study slams shut. But Kael isn't there anymore.
He doesn't know how. Or when.
He looks at the parchment again.
This time, beneath the word Quillborne, new ink bleeds out:
"The Hollow Scribe was the first to forget.
Now you will remember for him."
His skin begins to itch. No — not itch.
Write.
---