A crow shrieked through the night sky, and its call was loud enough to rip apart the silence. It flew through the moonlight, its shadow covering the moon for a brief moment before vanishing into the night.
A boy woke up to a fit of violent coughing. Cold air rushed into his lungs, and his chest hurt. He sat up quickly, breathing heavily as reality hit him all at once.
He found himself in a forest.
Tall, twisted trees surrounded him on all sides. The night was too quiet, devoid of any sound of insects or wind or life. It felt wrong, like the world itself was holding its breath.
"…Where am I?"
His voice was weak.
He tried to get up, but his body felt strange. Heavy. Unfamiliar. Like it wasn't really his.
He looked down at his hands.
"…What's my name?"
He paused.
There was just silence.
No memory. No answer. No feeling of recognition.
Just emptiness.
A sense of panic began to rise within him. He clutched his head, focusing all his energy on thinking. "Come on… think…"
But there was just nothing to think about. No past. No identity. No face to associate with his own existence.
His breathing quickened.
"No… this isn't possible…"
A noise echoed behind him.
Step.
Step.
Step.
He froze instantly.
"…Who's there?"
He asked, turning around slowly.
There was just silence.
Then a figure emerged.
It was tall. Completely still. Wrong in a way he couldn't explain.
Its face wasn't dark or hidden. It simply didn't exist.
A chill ran down his spine.
"You shouldn't be here."
The voice was calm. Almost emotionless.
He took a step back. "What are you talking about?!"
The figure tilted its head slightly.
"…You were erased."
His heart skipped.
"…Erased?"
The word did not make sense. It did not feel possible. It did not feel real. It felt like a joke the world was playing on him.
But the figure did not move. It did not blink. It did not react. It just looked at him.
And then, something happened.
The air became thick. Heavy. Like it was pushing down on him, trying to erase him from existence.
"I exist!" he shouted. "I'm right here!"
The figure did not say anything.
"…No," it finally said. "You're being forgotten."
The world began to flicker.
For just a second or two.
The trees doubled. The moon broke apart. The sky turned into shards of glass.
And then, it stopped. Everything stopped. Went back to normal.
He stumbled back. "What… is happening?"
The figure raised its hand. "…Correction
process initiated."
Mist began to rise from the ground. Thick, cold, unnatural mist.
It began to crawl toward him. Like it had life. Like it had breath.
He took a step back. "Stay away!"
But the mist did not listen. It did not care. It wrapped itself around his legs. "No—!"
He tried to move, but it was as if time itself had slowed down. Like someone or something was redefining him, redefining his existence.
"You don't belong in this world."
The mist climbed further. Higher. Towards his waist. Towards his chest. "I don't even know who I am!"
And then, a voice. A voice that did not come from outside. A voice that came from within.
"…Observe."
His eyes widened.
The world changed.
The mist was no longer just a mist. It was defined. It was layered. It was fragmented, like it was composed of parts of something that was broken.
It was memories.
It was faces.
It was names.
All dissolving in it.
All being erased.
Instincts took over.
He reached out and touched it.
Time stopped.
Silence fell.
The pressure was gone in an instant.
The mist stopped in its place, and then it dissipated like dust.
The figure took a step back.
"…Impossible…" it said in a whisper.
He fell to his knees, breathing heavily.
The forest was silent again.
The figure was gone.
"…What just happened…?" he said in a whisper.
He shook his hand.
He didn't know how he felt. Something was different inside him. Something was added or subtracted.
He didn't know how to describe it.
Then he heard it again.
This time it was closer.
"…Observer."
He froze in place.
He turned to look at his shadow.
It moved out of sync with him.
Wrong.
Alive.
Watching.
For the first time, he understood something terrible.
This world was not trying to kill him.
It was trying to erase him.
And he had just… learned how to fight it.