Yuki and Kairi step through the chain fence. Behind them, the world hums like a dying machine
> Kairi
This zone is unstable
Last one to enter lost half her name
Literally
Could not remember how to say it
> Yuki
Sounds safe
> Kairi
Memory rot this thick means something big is inside
Maybe a sealed Echo
Maybe worse
They move quietly. Dust floats. The sky above flickers like an old tape
Suddenly
They hear it
A thump
Then another
Then twenty more
The ground shifts
The street in front of them bends upward
Like a jaw opening
A beast crawls out
Twelve limbs
Eyes made of blinking faces
Its skin is made from melted books
Old papers
Childhood drawings
Broken photographs
> Kairi
That is a Memory Beast
Pure Archive leakage
Born when too many lost memories gather in one place
> Yuki
How do we fight it
> Kairi
With something it cannot swallow
Something real
You ready
Yuki nods
Closes his eyes
The shard glows hot in his hand
His breath slows
The air around him shivers
He opens his eyes
They are glowing
> Yuki
Let's make it remember pain
Scene: Battle begins
The beast charges
Kairi vanishes in a burst of red light
Reappears behind it
Slices through one limb
Ink sprays like blood
The beast screams
But not with its mouth
Its scream comes from old radios
Phones
Whispers from nowhere
> Memory Beast
Yuki
You forgot me
You promised
Yuki throws a wave of Ember flame
It burns through a swarm of memory shards flying at him
Each shard tries to show him something
A crying girl
A funeral
His own hands covered in smoke
> Yuki's thoughts
Not real
Not mine
Not anymore
He shouts
The shard responds
Flames roar upward into the sky
The beast leaps
Its mouth stretches wide
A thousand forgotten voices rise with it
Kairi yells from behind
> Kairi
Finish it
Before it rewrites you
Yuki steps forward
Jams the shard into the ground
Light explodes
A memory field expands around him
Inside it
The air becomes real
Stable
The beast enters it
And begins to break apart
> Yuki
This is my memory
You do not belong here
The beast howls
Then vanishes
Like a dream at sunrise
Silence
Dust settles
The city breathes again
Scene cut: Later
Kairi wraps a bandage on her arm
Yuki sits nearby
Still gripping the shard
It is cracked now
But still warm
> Kairi
You synced again
That makes three times in under a week
> Yuki
It is getting easier
Or I am getting closer
> Kairi
Closer to what
Yuki looks at the sky
It is night now
But the stars flicker like broken pixels
> Yuki
To her
To the truth
To myself
Final scene: The masked man stands at a grave
No name
Just a symbol
A circle
Broken in the center
He drops a photo onto the soil
Yuki
As a child
Smiling
Holding hands with the hooded figure
> Masked man
You were not supposed to wake up