The cave walls were too quiet.
Theo could hear every breath, every shift of cloth against stone. Rell hadn't moved for almost an hour now, his small form curled tightly against the wall. Nova sat beside him, arm draped protectively around his shoulders. Ayen stood just outside the mouth of the cave, her profile stiff against the dawn light bleeding through the branches.
Theo crouched near the center, hands busy with nothing—just rotating a broken compass between his fingers. He hated the quiet. Not because it was eerie, but because it gave his mind space to work. And lately, his thoughts hadn't been kind.
He kept seeing that drone—the scout that had passed overhead before. The way it hovered, still and too aware. He couldn't shake the idea that it hadn't just seen them, but… recognized them.
"Still nothing?" Nova asked quietly.
Theo shook his head. "No sound. No movement. Either we got lucky… or we're already surrounded."
She exhaled through her nose. "Comforting."
Outside, Ayen finally turned. "There's a trail. Half-covered. Old, but… not weathered. Someone's been here before. Maybe not long ago."
"Can you track it?" Theo asked.
She nodded. "Leads deeper into the mountain. Through a gorge."
He stood, brushing dust from his pants. "Then that's where we go."
Nova looked skeptical. "And if it's a trap?"
Theo's jaw clenched. "Then at least it means we're still on the right path."
Ayen returned to the cave, her eyes briefly flicking toward Rell. "He going to make it?"
Nova gave a small shrug. "He hasn't said much since last night. Just muttered in his sleep."
"I heard him," Ayen murmured. "Said the soil remembers. What the hell does that mean?"
Theo didn't answer right away. Instead, he knelt by Rell and gently touched his shoulder. "Hey. We need to move soon."
The boy stirred. His eyes opened—still fogged, like he hadn't fully returned from wherever he'd gone. "It's under us," he whispered.
Theo leaned in. "What is?"
Rell's lips trembled. "Memory. It's buried here. Old. Rotten. But alive."
Theo shared a look with Nova, and for once, even Ayen looked rattled.
They left the cave soon after.
The trail Ayen had found twisted through a narrow gorge, walls of granite rising like jagged teeth on either side. It was colder here, the sun struggling to reach through the thick canopy above. Moss covered the stone in patches, and the air smelled of iron and decay.
"I don't like this," Nova murmured.
"No one does," Theo said. "Keep close."
They walked in silence, the only sounds their footfalls and the occasional birdcall. It wasn't until they reached the clearing that things changed.
The path opened into a sunken glade. At the center sat a structure—small, round, and built from blackened stone. It had no door, only a low archway that led into shadow. Symbols lined its outer wall, etched in patterns that made Theo's vision swim if he looked too long.
"What is this place?" Ayen breathed.
Rell stepped forward, eyes wide. "It's an echo chamber."
Nova caught his arm. "Rell, slow down. What do you mean?"
He pointed. "They built these where memory leaks into the world. Places where time thinned. The Wardens used them to record what couldn't be written."
Theo stepped closer, drawn by something unspoken. The stone seemed to breathe beneath his fingertips—cold and ancient.
Then it hit him.
A surge of static behind his eyes.
—they're coming through the fracture—
—we failed the containment—
—reset parameters corrupted—
He stumbled back, grabbing his head. Nova was at his side in an instant. "Theo! What is it?"
He looked at her, panting. "I heard them. The original team. Researchers. From the first collapse."
Ayen's eyes narrowed. "You mean… from your timeline?"
Theo nodded slowly. "Somehow, this place… it holds the memory. Like Rell said. It's not just history—it's the raw imprint of what happened. The world trying to remember itself."
Rell knelt beside the structure, pressing his hand to the base. "It remembers pain first. That's always what comes back."
A chill ran down Nova's spine. "So what now? We sit around and listen to ghosts?"
Theo's expression hardened. "No. We listen, and then we find the fracture point. If this place was near the site of a memory leak, it means we're close to a threadline."
Ayen's eyebrows raised. "Threadline?"
"A point in the world where time's layers brush against each other," Theo said. "If I can reach it… I might be able to force a localized reset."
Nova's grip on his arm tightened. "Theo. Every reset takes something out of you."
He met her eyes. "And every delay costs us time we don't have."
Rell looked up at the sky. "They'll come soon. They can feel it when the past wakes up."
"Then let's get what we came for," Theo said, stepping into the dark of the structure. "Before the future does."