chapter 2

As they walked deeper into the glowing path, the air thickened, the lights around them dimmed, and a soft hum began to rise from the shadows.

Suddenly, Kaelen stopped. “The first echo lies ahead,” he said. “But be warned—echoes are not just memories… they are trials.”

Taking a deep breath that trembled at the edges, Enos stepped forward into the growing mist. The bridge of light beneath her faded with each step, and soon, the soft glow of the cavern was swallowed by a cold, silvery fog.

She turned back—instinctively seeking Kaelen—but he was gone. The mist had devoured everything behind her. There was no bridge. No crystals. No floating lanterns. Just silence.

“Kaelen?” she called out, but her voice sounded small and muffled, as though the mist itself refused to carry sound.

Panic scratched at her throat, but she forced herself to move. This is a trial, she reminded herself. I have to keep going.

Shapes began to form in the fog. Blurred outlines. Faint flickers. And then—suddenly—she was no longer alone.

She stood in the middle of a crumbling village, its streets lined with broken lanterns and empty homes. The air was thick with sorrow. At the far end of the road, a child stood motionless, staring directly at her.

Enos's heart dropped.

The child had her face.

As Enos crept closer, her footsteps silent on the cracked cobblestones, she realized something strange—her younger self wasn’t truly seeing her at all. The girl’s wide, glassy eyes were fixed on something behind Enos. Her lips trembled, and her small hands clenched into fists.

A sudden chill raced down Enos’s spine.

Slowly, heart thudding in her ears, she turned around.

Behind her stood a towering shadow—shapeless at first, but then it began to morph. From the mist, limbs emerged. Long and spindly. Its eyes—if they could be called eyes—were hollow voids, like holes torn in the world itself. The air around it crackled with grief.

It wasn’t just a creature.

It was a memory.

Kaelen’s words echoed faintly in her mind: “Echoes are not just memories… they are trials.”

The shadow took a step forward, and the ground beneath Enos trembled.

As the creature crept closer, its shape growing more defined with every step, Enos’s eyes darted back to the younger version of herself. Something had changed.

The trembling had stopped.

Her younger self now stood tall—unnaturally still—her expression eerily calm. In her right hand, a slender wand shimmered into existence, formed from light and smoke, its tip glowing faintly like the last ember of a dying star. Her eyes, once wide with fear, now gleamed with a strange power—an ancient fire Enos didn’t remember ever having.

The child raised the wand without a word.

The shadow stopped.

The fog rippled violently, and a deep groan echoed through the ruined village. The creature hissed, its form flickering like it feared what the girl had become.

Enos took a step back, caught between awe and fear.

Is that really… me? she wondered.

Or something I left behind?

Then, the child spoke—her voice layered, old and young at once.

"You gave me away when you chose to forget."

She turned her head slowly to face Enos, eyes blazing.

"Now take me back... or be lost to the echo forever."

Enos stepped forward, her heartbeat thundering in her chest—but her steps were steady now. The fear, the confusion, the weight of not knowing… it all led to this moment.

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