The door slid open
Air heavy
Smelled like burnt paper
Like endings
Inside
Stacks of books
Millions
Towering
All blank
Kai stepped in
His footsteps echoed like they didn't belong here
"What is this place?"
Echo didn't answer
She walked to a book
Opened it
Empty
But she stared like it hurt
"These are all the memories they erased
Stories that never got to be written"
One book pulsed faint blue
Kai touched it
Pages flipped
Images flashed
Him as a child
His sister holding his hand
The fire
The men in masks
The vanishing
Then
Dark
Then
A different Kai
A version who ran
A version who fought
Echo pulled him back
"Careful
If you read too much
You become someone else"
Behind them
A whisper
The stitched clone
Now joined by another
Smaller
Smoother
Identical to Echo
It spoke
Same voice
Same rhythm
But colder
"You should have burned when they did"
Kai clenched his fists
His name barely glowing
The books began to tremble
And from the shelves
One candle lit itself