It struck before any of them truly saw it.
A flicker—a blur—a ripple of darkness with the shape of a child and the weight of something much older.
Aarinen barely raised his arm before the blow hit.
Not claws.Not a physical strike.
A shock of silence slammed into his chest—the same kind that had erased the nursemaid.Not enough to kill,but enough to steal breath.
Aarinen flew backward into Saevel.They both crashed against the stair's wall.
Torren cursed, twisting as he slid down the steps.Rafi screamed continuously in a way that defied both air and dignity.Lirael flung a ward between them and the creature—a shimmering ring of runes that sparked like embers before dimming again.
The thing moved through it.
Not around it.Not breaking it.
Through it.
As if the ward was made of smoke.
"Down!" Lirael shouted.
Torren yanked Rafi flat to the stair. Saevel rolled aside, dragging Aarinen with her.
The creature landed where Aarinen's head had been a second earlier.
It looked childlike.That was the first horror.
Small.Thin.Bare feet.Torn dress.Hair falling over a face that flickered between shadows.
But its movements—too sharp,too fast,too wrong.
Saevel raised her dagger.
Aarinen caught her hand.
"Don't."
"It's attacking!" she hissed.
"It's not alive," he whispered.
The thing twitched—head snapping toward him with a crackling sound far too sharp for bone.
Its voice returned, warping between a child's whisper and an adult's resonance.
"Aari… why didn't you come?"
Aarinen felt his throat close.
Saevel stepped in front of him, dagger ready. "If that's a lie, it's a cruel one."
Lirael whispered, "It's not your sister. It is a memory corrupted by the Weaver."
Torren muttered, "Wonderful. Even memories want to kill us."
Rafi whimpered, "Why does fate hate me—"
The creature vanished.
Saevel reacted instantly, pushing Aarinen down.
A dark blur swept overhead—air cracking from the sudden displacement.
Torren stumbled forward and slashed at empty space.
Lirael shouted, "It's splitting!"
The creature reappeared behind them—but it was no longer one.
Two flickering shapes now.Both child-sized.Both wrong.Both mouthing hollow words.
"Late… late… too late…"
Aarinen forced himself onto his feet.
"No," he whispered.
One of the shapes twitched at his voice.
Saevel lunged and stabbed the other.
Her blade passed through it.
The thing didn't bleed.It didn't scream.It didn't react.
It fractured—splitting into vapor-like shards—and reformed behind her.
Lirael shouted, "Don't use steel! It feeds on contact!"
Torren swore and dropped his sword, kicking the creature away with his boot. "What do we use then?! Harsh language?!"
Rafi sobbed, "Maybe it's allergic to sunlight!"
They were underground.
Aarinen clenched the shard.
It pulsed violently.
The creature flinched.Both of its forms twitched toward him.
Aarinen realized—
"They want this."
Lirael hissed, "Of course they do. They're fragments—pieces of the lie tied to the Keeper's stone. They're drawn to it."
Torren shouted, "Then throw it!"
"No," Aarinen said.
The creatures lunged.
Saevel grabbed Aarinen and shoved him toward the lower stair. "Move!"
The creatures slammed into the wall where he had been, cracking the stone. Dust rained down.
Aarinen stumbled downward.
The staircase spiraled.The darkness deepened.The temperature dropped.
The creatures followed, no longer flickering child-shapes—but elongated, stretched, distorted.Faces blank.Limbs bending the wrong way.
Voices layered:
"Aari… come… stay… come back… stay…"
Aarinen felt something grip his ankle.
Not physical.
A memory.
A flash of a tiny hand holding his.A giggle.A promise.
Saevel's voice cut through it.
"Aarinen! Fight it!"
He blinked.The memory dissolved.The illusion shattered.
Torren shoved past him, ramming one creature with his shoulder. "Move!"
Rafi followed, screaming, "I hate tunnels! I hate shadows! I hate fate!"
Lirael held the back, glowing runes swirling around her fingers, forming a net of dim light.
Aarinen stumbled down the last steps.
The staircase opened into a vast cavern.
A cavern that should not exist.
The Chamber Beneath Silence
It was enormous—larger than any hall Aarinen had seen.The ceiling was lost in mist.The air shimmered faintly, as if vibrating.
The floor was smooth stone.In the center stood a circle carved with symbols that hummed in silence.
Torren gasped. "This is… this is an erasure chamber."
Lirael nodded."The Weaver used this place to cut threads."
Rafi fainted outright.
Saevel caught him with one hand. "Not now."
Aarinen stepped forward.
The shard pulsed like a heartbeat.
The entire cavern responded—a resonant hum rising from the stone.
The creatures crawled into the chamber behind them.
Still flickering.Still muttering.Still wearing Eryna's stolen voice.
Aarinen stepped into the circle.
The runes glowed.
The creatures shrieked.
The sound wasn't sound—it was silence sharpened into pain.
Saevel staggered, clutching her ears.Torren fell to a knee.Lirael held her ward with both hands, trembling.
Aarinen stood firm.
The circle continued to glow.The shard vibrated.The creatures writhed.
Aarinen understood.
"This place was used to erase memories."
Lirael nodded."And to create fragments."
Aarinen whispered, "Then I can use it."
Saevel grabbed his arm. "Use it? Aarinen, this place destroys minds."
"Not mine," he said softly.
Torren shouted, "We are NOT letting you gamble—!"
Aarinen stepped deeper into the circle.
Saevel's grip tightened. "Aarinen—"
He looked at her.
Not with stubbornness.Not with desperation.
With certainty.
"This place erased my memories."
Saevel's breath caught.
Aarinen raised the shard.
"So it can show them to me."
The runes flared.
Silence exploded outward.
The creatures shrieked.
The cavern shook.
The stone beneath Aarinen's feet glowed with the imprint of something ancient and terrible.
Aarinen closed his eyes—
And the world shattered.
The Memory Returned
Light flooded him.
Not gentle.Not warm.
Blinding.Overwhelming.
He saw—
A small girl with pale hair laughing in a field.Holding his hand.Chasing dragonflies.Calling his name with a voice that punched breath out of his lungs.
"Aari! Aari look!"
He saw—
Her hiding behind their mother's cloak.Peeking out to smile at him.Falling asleep on his shoulder.Tugging his sleeve whenever thunder frightened her.
He saw—
The day the cloaked figures arrived.
He saw—
Himself running toward the house.Too slow.Too late.
He saw—
His sister reaching for him.
He heard—
Her scream as she was pulled into the void.
And he heard—
His own voice, no older than six:
"I'll find you! I'll come! I promise!"
The memory dissolved.
The cavern returned.
Aarinen collapsed to his knees, gasping.
Saevel caught him instantly."Aarinen! Breathe!"
He did, trembling.
But something inside him was different.
Something had returned.
Not power.
Not magic.
Memory.
A piece of himself.
He whispered, voice breaking:
"I remember her."
Torren exhaled shakily."Finally."
Rafi blinked awake. "Did we die? Are we dead? Is this the afterlife?"
"No," Lirael said softly.
She pointed behind Aarinen.
"The fragments."
The creatures had stopped moving.
They hovered at the edge of the circle—shaking, collapsing, shivering into vapor.
His memory had undone them.
One whispered, voice thin, fading—
"…you found her…"
Then dissolved.
Aarinen stood.
Not fully steady.But steady enough.
Saevel helped him.
Lirael approached him.
"What did you see?"
He answered honestly.
"My promise."
Torren crossed his arms. "What now?"
Aarinen lifted the shard.
Its pulse had changed.
Stronger.Clearer.Purposeful.
"It points to the next fracture."
Rafi groaned. "There's a next one?!"
Aarinen nodded.
He turned toward the far end of the cavern, where a tunnel opened into deeper darkness.
"She is being held far from here," he said quietly."But this was her memory."
He looked at the empty air where the fragments had vanished.
"And now it belongs to me again."
Saevel touched his shoulder."We follow you."
Aarinen nodded.
He stepped toward the tunnel.
And somewhere, in the unseen depths of the Loom—
A pale thread glowed faintly.
Not in fading.
In hope.