Seth, in the midst of sleep, is pulled into a nightmarish dreamscape. His erased past forces itself upon him—memories of the side story bleeding into his current existence. But this is not a normal vision. It is a prison of torment, a punishment, or perhaps… a warning. As he suffers through the horrors of what was lost, his fragile grip on reality begins to slip further into madness.)

  This chapter contains psychological horror, graphic nightmares, paranoia, and existential dread. The protagonist experiences distorted memories, haunting visions, and an unraveling sense of reality. Reader discretion is advised.

  ?? SYSTEM ERROR: ? Consciousness Disrupted. ? Unrecognized Memory Fragments Detected. ? WARNING: Host Mental Stability Critical.

  It started as a whisper.

  Soft. Gentle. Like a voice calling from the other side of sleep.

  Then came the shadows.

  They crawled in from the edges of his vision, slow at first, curling around his limbs, dragging him downward.

  Seth gasped—his body felt weightless and yet unbearably heavy.

  He could not move.

  He could not speak.

  He could not wake up.

  The world twisted.

  The air became thick, suffocating him like oil sinking into his lungs.

  Something was watching.

  Something was waiting.

  And then—

  The whispers became screams.

  ?? SYSTEM WARNING: ? Unstable Memory Reconstruction In Progress. ? Host is Experiencing Unfiltered Echoes. ? WARNING: Irreversible Mental Degradation Possible.

  The first thing he saw was a battlefield.

  No. Not a battlefield.

  A graveyard.

  Steel glinted beneath a sky of twisting black clouds, bodies littering the blood-drenched ground.

  Seth staggered forward, his steps unsteady. His boots splashed into something thick and warm.

  Blood.

  It reached his ankles.

  No. Higher.

  He took another step, and the blood dragged him down.

  Hands—**rotting, skeletal, familiar—**shot out from beneath the surface, clutching his arms, his legs, his throat.

  "You left us."

  A voice. A dozen voices. A hundred.

  Seth jerked his head around, but there was no one.

  Only the bodies.

  The faces of his comrades, twisted in pain, their eyes hollow and accusing.

  "You let us die."

  His breath hitched.

  "You let us be forgotten."

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  The voices multiplied, overlapping, drowning out his own thoughts.

  Seth clawed at his head, his nails digging into his scalp.

  "I… I don’t remember you."

  That was the truth.

  That was the horror of it.

  He didn’t know their names.

  He didn’t know their faces.

  He didn’t know what had been stolen from him.

  But they knew him.

  "You will remember."

  And then—

  They dragged him under.

  ?? SYSTEM FAILURE: ? Host Memory Core Overloaded. ? Attempting to Stabilize… ERROR. ? Host is Rejecting the False Present.

  Darkness.

  Suffocating. Endless. Cold.

  He was sinking.

  Deeper.

  Deeper.

  Deeper.

  Then—

  A pair of crimson eyes.

  Not his own.

  A woman.

  "Seth."

  The voice was soaked in sorrow, in fury, in something far worse than obsession.

  The world shattered.

  And suddenly, he was standing in another memory.

  ?? SYSTEM NOTICE: ? Reconstructing Final Moments of the Forgotten War. ? Memories Too Corrupted to Fully Restore. ? Proceeding With Partial Echoes.

  Pain.

  It filled his lungs, his bones, his soul.

  His legs were broken. His arms barely moved. His vision blurred with blood and exhaustion.

  He was kneeling in the center of a ruined battlefield, surrounded by the bodies of those who had fallen to protect him.

  He could barely lift his head.

  And yet, he could see her.

  Nyxara.

  Caged in golden chains.

  Her mouth open in a silent scream.

  Her eyes overflowing with fury and grief.

  She was reaching for him.

  But he was already dead.

  ?? SYSTEM WARNING: ? Host Stability Unrecoverable. ? FORCING EMERGENCY TERMINATION OF MEMORY SEQUENCE.

  Seth gasped awake.

  His body jerked, drenched in sweat, his chest heaving like he had just clawed his way out of a grave.

  His hands trembled violently, fingers curling into his palms as he gritted his teeth.

  His heart was pounding too fast.

  His breath was uneven.

  His mind was breaking.

  Because he remembered.

  Not everything.

  But enough.

  Enough to know that his past had been stolen from him. Enough to know that he had died before. Enough to know that something… someone… was still waiting for him.

  His entire body shook with a sensation he could not name.

  Anger.

  Despair.

  A deep, gnawing hunger for the truth.

  And then—

  "Seth…"

  The voice that had haunted him in the dream whispered from the darkness of the room.

  His breath hitched.

  Slowly, his gaze lifted.

  And there, standing at the edge of his vision, her crimson eyes glowing softly in the dim light—

  Was Nyxara.

  Watching.

  Waiting.

  Smiling.

  ?? SYSTEM FINAL NOTICE: ? The Past Has Resurfaced. ? The Present Has Begun to Unravel. ? The Future Will No Longer Follow Its Path.

  End of Chapter: Echoes of the Forgotten

  ?? Author's Note: This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and settings are purely imaginary. This novel contains dark themes meant to enhance the story and character development. Reader discretion is advised.