The trees twisted as they walked. Not in shape — in presence. The branches were crooked in ways that made no sense, and the light that trickled through them bent unnaturally, like it was being pulled into some unseen gravity. Even the birds didn't cry here. Not a single wing flapped overhead.
Tom kept his eyes on the path. His hand hovered near his blade, but even he could feel it — the unease wasn't something he could fight with steel. Kitty walked behind him, her steps light but not careless. She had changed since her awakening, but there was something quieter about her now. She didn't speak unless spoken to. She was listening.
Lucy walked near the back. Her thoughts hadn't let her go since the glyph on the tree spoke Velmorith's name. Not Renex. Not Kazakare. But him. The one whose whispers had not yet begun — but soon would.
Frank had taken the center again, leading the way with silent determination. The Abyss Walk wasn't marked on any of Susan's maps. That was the point. It was said to be a mental trail, a place where thought and memory bled into the terrain. And the closer they got, the more the world began to feel... thin.
Jack finally broke the silence. "Anyone else feel like they're not... alone in their head?"
Peter glanced at him. "Since when?"
"Since we left the Ridge," Jack muttered. "I keep thinking things. But they're not mine."
Susan looked sharply at him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean — I think a thought like, 'We're going the wrong way,' and I know I didn't think it. Like someone whispered it inside me and I just... accepted it."
Lucy stopped.
Frank turned.
"You too?" she asked.
Jack nodded.
Kitty's voice was steady. "It's begun."
Frank exhaled through his nose. "Velmorith's reach. It's mental, not physical."
Tom scanned the trees. "Then we can't hide from it."
Susan took out a strip of black glyph-tape and quickly wrote a seal symbol on it. "We can try this," she said, handing a strip to each of them. "Memory glyph dampeners. They might block shallow-level influence."
They pressed the seals to their skin — neck, wrist, temple — wherever it felt right.
Peter spoke softly. "Do you think this path leads to him?"
Frank answered, "No. Not yet. But he wants us to think it does."
Jack laughed nervously. "That's comforting."
They kept walking.
The path narrowed again until they passed under a black arch made of petrified wood. It wasn't naturally formed. It had been carved — etched with broken glyphs that looped and twisted into nonsense. No meaning. Just noise.
Lucy stepped beneath it and winced.
A sharp pulse ran through her mind — a flash of a burning room, but one she didn't recognize. A hand stretched toward her. Not hers. Not human. A name she couldn't pronounce echoed once and then was gone.
Kitty caught her before she fell. "You felt it?"
Lucy nodded slowly. "He's in the glyphs."
Tom helped steady her. "Let's move fast."
But moving fast didn't help.
Every few steps after that arch, someone would flinch. Not from pain — from memory fragments. Jack saw a city he'd never been to collapsing into snow. Susan saw her own hands covered in blood she couldn't explain. Peter stopped walking for nearly a full minute, just staring into the sky like something had stolen his voice.
By the time they reached a small plateau, the group was quiet again — but not because they wanted to be.
It was because they were afraid of what they might say.
Tom paced the edge of the cliff while Susan crouched and examined a ring of cracked stones at the center.
"This was a glyph altar," she said, "but it's been scrambled. Someone broke it on purpose."
Frank stood beside her. "To stop a ritual?"
Susan shook her head. "No. To trap it. The lines are reversed — it's a glyph maze now. If we stand in it too long, our memories will begin cycling."
Kitty stepped back instinctively.
Peter looked toward the trail. "We're being pulled in."
Frank nodded. "Velmorith doesn't want us to find him. He wants us to collapse before we even reach him."
Lucy crouched beside the altar. "Then we make a choice. Either we go around and risk walking through miles of exposed wood... or we go through and hope we don't lose who we are."
Tom looked at her. "You're willing to take that chance?"
Lucy's eyes glowed faintly. "If he wants us to forget, then we fight with what we remember."
Kitty stepped forward. "I'll go first."
"Kitty—" Susan started.
But Kitty was already walking.
She stepped into the altar ring. The glyph stones cracked beneath her feet, releasing a faint humming noise. Her eyes blinked once.
And then she froze.
Lucy held her breath.
But Kitty took another step.
And another.
She stopped at the center and turned to face them.
"I remember my brother's voice," she said softly. "He called me firefly."
The humming faded.
She stepped out of the circle. Unshaken.
Lucy smiled.
Frank nodded. "She anchored herself."
Tom stepped in next. The hum returned. He didn't speak for ten seconds. Then, suddenly—
"I remember my mother's singing."
The hum died.
Susan followed. "I remember the first time I held a glyph scanner."
Jack. "I remember the smell of the treehouse Frank built."
Peter. "I remember the sound of rain over steel."
Lucy stepped in.
Her heartbeat slowed. The humming began. But she was ready.
"I remember my name."
The hum shattered like glass.
She stepped out.
Only Frank remained.
He stood outside the ring, breathing slowly.
Everyone watched.
He stepped in.
The humming began.
He closed his eyes.
And then his breath caught.
He didn't speak.
Kitty stepped forward. "Frank?"
His hands trembled.
Then, finally—
"I remember..."
Silence.
Tom moved forward. "Frank!"
But Frank whispered.
"I remember... being him."
Everyone went still.
Frank stepped out, staggering, sweat on his forehead.
Susan asked, "You okay?"
He nodded slowly. "It was Renex. A flash. A face. A hand reaching. And a city falling."
Lucy whispered, "You're remembering your past life."
Frank said nothing else.
But his hands curled into fists.
They kept walking, quieter now.
The altar had been passed. But something else had been awakened. Not a demon. Not a weapon.
Just memory.
And Velmorith was listening.