The forest was never truly dark after Kitty's awakening. Even though her wings of light had vanished, even though the clearing had dimmed and returned to quiet, something in the air remained different. The moss shimmered faintly as they walked. Glyphs pulsed quietly in the ground beneath them, no longer chaotic or wild, but strangely in rhythm — like the land was listening.
They moved carefully. No one said much. Kitty walked near the front now, not in pride, but in quiet thought. She hadn't spoken since she had landed softly from the air. Lucy watched her carefully. There was peace in her now — but also distance. Like she was still listening to the last words of a song only she had heard.
Tom kept checking the rear of the group, scanning for signs of movement in the trees. He didn't trust the calm. Peter was unusually alert too. The air ahead had begun to shift, and he felt it in his bones like a weight pressing against his ribs.
Susan stopped suddenly. "We're near something."
Frank raised his hand. Everyone froze.
Jack stepped forward. "More demon glyphs?"
Susan shook her head. "No. Not glyphs. Not exactly."
Lucy knelt by a tree and ran her fingers along the bark. "It's warm."
Tom walked ahead slowly, sword still sheathed but fingers resting on the hilt. "I don't like this."
Ahead of them, a clearing began to open — wide and unnatural, not shaped by forest but by force. The trees surrounding it were scorched, not by fire, but something deeper. Like their existence had been drained, not burned.
At the center of the clearing was a circle of stone. Black. Glossy. Unmarked.
Frank approached it cautiously. "This is... wrong."
Susan followed, her lens flickering wildly. "This is Monster Trio glyph residue. But it's not active."
Lucy stood near the edge, staring at the stones. "Then what is it?"
Peter whispered, "A memory pit."
Kitty turned. "What?"
Peter's eyes didn't blink. "I've heard of them. Pockets of sealed events. Where something happened so strong, the land holds onto it."
Tom crouched. "Then someone should remember."
Lucy stepped closer to the circle.
And the moment her foot crossed the edge, the world shifted.
Not violently — but suddenly.
The others watched as she froze mid-step.
"Lucy?" Kitty called out.
Lucy didn't move.
Inside her mind, she wasn't standing in the forest anymore.
She was somewhere else.
A ruined city. Black towers. Crushed symbols burned into the sky. Screams echoing from above. And standing on a platform of bone was a man — or what once had been one.
He was cloaked in a robe stitched with broken names. His eyes were glyphs, not pupils. And in his hand was a chain made of light — dragging a figure behind him.
Lucy tried to move. She couldn't.
The cloaked figure turned.
It didn't speak. It only looked at her.
And in her chest, something twisted.
The chain snapped.
And the memory pit ended.
She stumbled back, gasping.
Tom caught her. "Lucy!"
She shook her head quickly. "I saw... something. Someone. Cloaked in memory. Holding a person prisoner. And they were glowing — not like Kitty. They were... shattered."
Susan's eyes narrowed. "That wasn't from the past."
Frank agreed. "It hasn't happened yet."
Jack whispered, "Then why is it already written?"
Peter spoke quietly. "Because some memories travel forward."
The clearing dimmed again. The glyph traces pulled inward toward the black circle, and then faded completely. The stone cracked. Not loudly, but with finality.
Lucy looked at the others. "We're not alone. We've never been. Something is watching us. Not attacking. Not yet. But soon."
Tom looked over the group. "That's the third vision in two days. And three awakenings. The pace is accelerating."
Frank nodded. "We don't slow down. We reach the Ridge of Solace by dusk. If that place still stands, we can rest. Regroup."
Kitty whispered, "I don't think any place is safe anymore."
But they kept walking.
The next stretch of forest was narrow again, the trees forming high canopies that blocked most of the sky. The ground here was strange — soft, yet solid, with veins of silver running through the roots.
Lucy stayed near the middle. She hadn't said much since the vision, and Kitty didn't press her. She knew the look in Lucy's eyes. The kind that came from seeing something you weren't meant to understand yet.
As the day stretched on, the path twisted upward into a ridge, and when they reached the top, they saw it: the Ridge of Solace.
Or what remained of it.
Stone houses lay in ruin, the old glyph lanterns shattered, the watchtower split in two. A single tree still stood in the center — dead, but upright.
They approached carefully.
Susan ran a scan. "No signs of energy spikes. Just dust."
Tom searched the edges of the ruins. "There was a fight here. Recent. Not glyph-based. Blunt damage. Crushed walls. No fire."
Jack looked around. "Then what kind of weapon did that?"
Peter answered quietly. "A mind."
Frank found a broken shield carved with the symbol of the old rebel line — the group who once trained glyph-bearers to defend against corruption. He brushed dirt off the edges and stared at it.
"Gone," he said. "Another sanctuary fallen."
Lucy stood beside him.
And then she turned.
Her eyes locked on a stone plate lying beneath the tree.
It was cracked.
But the words were still visible.
She knelt and traced the letters.
They read:
"When memory burns, the heirs will rise again. The sealed flame watches. It always has."
Tom stepped closer. "Another echo?"
Susan frowned. "Or a warning."
The sun was starting to fall now, casting long shadows across the ruins.
Frank turned to them all. "We sleep here. Only one night. Then we move east. Toward the Edge of Origin."
Peter nodded. "It's the only way forward."
But Lucy didn't speak.
She was staring at the tree.
Because on its bark, hidden in the cracks, was a symbol she hadn't seen in years.
One that didn't belong to the demons.
Or the Monster Trio.
But to something older.
Something forgotten.
And far, far worse.