Adriana stepped to the edge of the jagged typewriter keys. The grey mist of the Sea licked at her boots, and she felt a sudden, terrifying coldness a hollow craving that reached for her mind.
Inside her chest, the thousands of souls she had saved from the Museum district stirred.
She could feel their fear, their collective weight.
She was their ark, but she couldn't use their memories.
The toll had to be personal.
It had to be hers.
"I have to do it,"
Adriana said, her voice small against the roar of the static.
"Which one will you give?" Vaelen's echo asked, his tone filled with a profound, shimmering sadness.
"Your first day at the Lost and Found?
The taste of your favorite meal? The sound of the rain?"
Adriana reached into the "library" of her mind.
She didn't want to give up something trivial.
The Sea wouldn't accept a scrap. It needed a Root.
She found it
The memory of her mother's face.
Not the "Stay" message, not the holographic Weaver from the Archive, but the actual memory. The way her mother smelled like lavender and old paper.
The specific way she tucked Adriana's hair behind her ear when she was six years ago.
The warmth of her hand.
"Adriana, no,"
Caius said, realizing what she was doing.
"That's your anchor.
That's why you became a Weaver."
"If I don't give it,"
Adriana said, tears blurring her vision, "thousands of people will never have the chance to make new memories.
My mother sacrificed her soul to hide the stone.
I'll sacrifice the memory of her to save the people she protected."
She stepped into the Sea.
As her foot touched the grey surface, she screamed.
It felt like a part of her brain was being physically unspooled.
The image of her mother's smile began to pixelate, then blur, then vanish into the grey.
But as the memory dissolved, the Sea reacted.
The grey static beneath her feet crystallized into a solid, golden bridge.
The more she forgot, the further the bridge stretched toward the Great Spark of the Core.
Adriana walked, her heart breaking with every step.
Step 1: She forgot the color of her mother's eyes. The bridge grew ten feet.
Step 2: She forgot her mother's name. The bridge stretched into the mist.
Step 3: She forgot the feeling of being held as a child.
By the time she reached the center of the Sea, Adriana was sobbing, but she didn't know why.
There was a hole in her heart, a shape of a person she knew was important, but the face was a blank white canvas.
"Who am I walking for?"
she whispered, her voice cracking.
"You're walking for the city, Adriana,"
Caius said, walking close behind her, his hand on her shoulder to keep her steady.
"Keep your eyes on the Spark.
Don't look at the hole."
Suddenly, a shadow loomed out of the grey sky.
It was a Sentinel of the Void
a creature that looked like a massive, flying eye made of rusted needles and broken mirrors.
It didn't have a voice ,it emitted a high-frequency screech that vibrated the bridge.
"The trash is moving!"
the Pilot shouted from the shore, but his voice was already fading.
The Sentinel dove, its needle-limbs extended to shred the bridge and the "bio-organic data" walking upon it.