Noah kept his expression neutral, but his mind was racing.
This woman—whoever she was—knew about the Forgotten Lands.
She knew about the Keepers.
And more than that—she knew they were already coming.
"Talk," Noah said, his voice quiet but firm.
The woman studied him for a moment, then exhaled, leaning back slightly in her chair.
"My name is Selene," she said. "And if you're here, it means you've seen something you weren't meant to see."
Noah didn't respond. He wasn't ready to trust her yet.
Selene seemed to expect that. She glanced around the tavern before continuing.
"The Keepers erase things," she said. "Not just people. Not just places. Memories. Histories. The entire existence of something."
She tapped her fingers on the table.
"They don't just kill. They make it so that whatever they erase… never existed in the first place."
Noah's breath slowed.
He had felt that power. The way the Keepers had tried to remove him from reality itself.
Selene watched his reaction carefully. "You don't remember where you came from, do you?"
Noah's jaw tightened.
"That's what they do," she said quietly. "They make sure there's nothing left. No witnesses. No records. No names."
She paused.
"And yet, you're still here."
Noah exhaled sharply.
"Why do you remember?" he asked. "If the Keepers erase everything, why do you still know about them?"
Selene's lips curled slightly in something between amusement and bitterness.
"Because I wasn't meant to exist either."
Noah's pulse quickened. She wasn't meant to exist?
He studied her more closely. There was nothing strange about her at first glance. A traveler, maybe a mercenary. She carried herself like someone used to moving unnoticed.
But now that he was paying attention—he could feel it.
Something off.
Something familiar.
Selene leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table.
"There are others," she said. "Scattered, hidden. People who should have been erased, but weren't."
She glanced toward the map hanging on the wall.
"This world isn't whole," she murmured. "It's been rewritten over and over. There are gaps in history, places that no longer appear on maps. People who remember things no one else does."
Her gaze met Noah's.
"And now you're one of us."
Noah sat back, absorbing her words.
If what she was saying was true… then the Keepers weren't just eliminating threats.
They were rewriting reality itself.
His name had been carved into the Gate of the Unseen.
And that meant something far worse than just being hunted.
It meant he had already been erased once before.
Selene sighed. "Look, I don't know who you were before this. Maybe you were just unlucky. Maybe you were always part of something bigger. But whatever you did in those ruins, the Keepers noticed you."
Her fingers drummed against the wood.
"And they don't let mistakes live for long."
Noah clenched his fists under the table.
"How much time do we have?"
Selene's expression darkened.
"Not much."
She tilted her head slightly toward the window.
"They've already found this place."
Noah went completely still.
He didn't move. Didn't breathe.
Then, carefully, he turned his gaze toward the tavern window.
Outside, the village was quiet. The sun had almost fully set, casting long shadows over the dirt paths. The watchtower stood in the distance, its wooden frame creaking softly in the wind.
At first, he didn't see anything.
Then—he noticed.
The way the shadows didn't move quite right.
The way the air seemed thicker near the edges of the village.
The way the light itself dimmed unnaturally.
The Keepers were here.
Not marching. Not attacking.
They didn't need to.
They were slipping into reality itself.
Unseen.
Unnoticed.
Erasing the village from existence one piece at a time.
Noah inhaled slowly.
"They're not coming for the people," he murmured. "They're coming for the town itself."
Selene nodded grimly.
"That's what they do."
Noah watched as it happened.
A distant house flickered.
One second, it was there—stone and wood, warm light glowing from the windows.
The next, it was gone.
Not destroyed.
Not burned.
Just… missing.
As if it had never been built in the first place.
And no one in the village noticed.
The people continued their work, drinking in the tavern, speaking in quiet tones.
None of them reacted.
Because to them, it had never been there at all.
Noah's stomach twisted.
How do you fight something that can erase the very idea of you?
Selene was watching him closely.
"Now you understand," she said softly.
Noah swallowed hard. "We need to leave."
Selene exhaled. "Agreed. But it won't be that easy."
She stood, adjusting her cloak.
"The moment we run, they'll know we remember."
"And if that happens…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
She didn't need to.
Noah pushed himself to his feet. His hands still tingled with the remnants of the sigil's energy. He didn't know how much power he could use again.
But he had no choice.
He was not going to be erased.
Selene led him toward the tavern's back exit. The building was old, with a narrow corridor leading toward the storage area.
She moved quickly, her footsteps silent.
"We head for the forest," she murmured. "If we make it past the boundary before they realize—"
The door disappeared.
Noah barely stopped himself from crashing into empty air.
Where the exit had been—only solid wall remained.
Selene cursed under her breath.
"They're cutting off escape routes."
Noah turned sharply, scanning their surroundings. His pulse was quickening. The tavern walls felt smaller. The air thicker.
Reality itself was closing in on them.
Selene grabbed his wrist. "We don't have time—"
The floor vanished.
Noah felt himself falling.
The tavern was gone.
The village was gone.
Noah hit nothing. There was no ground. No sky.
Just emptiness.
And then, in the distance—
A single white mask.
A voice.
Flat. Empty.
"You were never meant to be."
Noah's breath caught.
Then—
Everything shattered.