(Chapter 33:Mira's Pov)
The journey to the City of Lost Souls wasn't something I had expected to make, not this soon. But Caelyn insisted. He said it was the only way to understand the mark, to unlock the parts of my soul that had been buried deep within me. The part that had long been forgotten.
The air outside the safety of Caelyn's house felt different. The once comforting scent of the forest faded, replaced by the sharp tang of the city ahead of us. I had heard rumors of this place—tales whispered by those who dared speak its name, but nothing had prepared me for the weight of its presence. It wasn't just a city; it was a graveyard of memories, a place where the lost souls of the past wandered aimlessly, waiting for something they would never find.
Caelyn didn't need to say much as we approached. The atmosphere thickened, like a heavy fog pressing in from all sides, suffocating, choking the life from everything in its path. I could feel the weight of the city before we even set foot inside.
"This is where your past resides," Caelyn said quietly, his voice barely audible over the unsettling silence that stretched around us. "A place where the dead are not forgotten but are forever bound to the earth."
I swallowed, trying to suppress the unease creeping up my spine. "And the mark? How does this help me understand it?"
He didn't answer right away, his gaze distant, focused on the crumbling skyline ahead. "You'll see when we get inside. The answers you seek are here."
We crossed the threshold of the city, the eerie quiet amplifying each step we took. There was no movement, no chatter—just the faint whisper of the wind carrying the sound of something long past. As we walked, I couldn't shake the sensation that something was watching us, that the very air around me was alive, pressing down on my skin, seeping into my thoughts.
"Is it always like this?" I asked, my voice barely rising above the hushed whispers that seemed to echo from the shadows.
Caelyn's eyes met mine. "This city holds memories, Mira. The lost souls who linger here are those who failed to find peace. And the city never forgets."
As we ventured deeper into the heart of the city, the silence began to shift. Faint figures appeared in the distance—shadows of people long gone, their eyes hollow, their bodies translucent, flickering like the last remnants of a fading dream. Some stood still, frozen in place, while others drifted aimlessly, their faces filled with sorrow and regret.
I looked away, unable to keep my gaze on their sorrowful eyes. They weren't just spirits; they were the forgotten ones—souls who had been abandoned by time, never to find rest. And yet, something about them called to me, like a warning I couldn't yet understand.
"Do they... do they know what they are?" I asked, my throat tight with the weight of the question.
Caelyn's voice was low, almost a whisper. "No. They are lost. They have no memory of who they once were, no understanding of why they are here. Just like you."
I froze, my heart pounding in my chest. "What do you mean?"
He stopped walking and turned to face me. "The mark is not just a symbol of power. It's a connection to everything you've been. To the lives you've lived before. It binds you to the forgotten ones. The ones who have passed but whose souls remain tethered to the world of the living. You are like them, Mira. You are both cursed and blessed with the ability to remember, but the question is—can you?"
I stood still, the weight of his words sinking deep into my bones. The thought of being bound to this place, this city of lost souls, made my stomach churn. But I knew he was right. I had felt it, the connection—the tug of the past I couldn't fully understand.
As we continued our walk through the city, I began to notice something else—whispers. Low, indecipherable whispers that seemed to swirl around us like a cloud of smoke. They came from all directions, rising from the ground, from the air itself, from the very walls of the decaying buildings around us.
I shuddered, my skin prickling. "What are they saying?"
Caelyn's eyes narrowed, scanning the shadows. "The souls are speaking to you, Mira. They are trying to reach you. Trying to pull you into their world."
A chill ran through me. "Why?"
"They sense your mark. They know what it means. They want you to remember." He turned his gaze back to the path ahead of us, his jaw set in a grim line. "Some of them will try to help. Others... not so much."
I didn't ask what he meant by that. The last thing I wanted was to engage with the restless spirits around me, their hollow eyes and broken voices begging for something I couldn't provide. But as we moved further into the heart of the city, it became impossible to ignore the growing sense of dread.
We arrived at a large, crumbling structure at the city's center, its walls covered in strange symbols—marks I recognized, though I couldn't explain why. Caelyn stopped in front of it, his gaze fixed on the entrance. The whispers had grown louder, their voices now a cacophony in my ears, but I couldn't make out a single word.
"This is it," Caelyn said. "This is where your past will begin to surface."
I hesitated. My hand brushed against the mark on my wrist, the power within it stirring, responding to the city around me.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward, pushing through the threshold. The moment I crossed into the structure, a rush of memories hit me like a tidal wave—fragments of a life I had never lived, faces I couldn't recognize, names I couldn't place. It was overwhelming, like drowning in a sea of forgotten thoughts.
And then, in the midst of the chaos, I saw him.
Lorenzo.
His face flickered in and out of focus, a ghost from a past life. His expression was filled with regret, pain, and something else—something darker. The briefest flash of a memory pulled me closer, and I saw him standing at the edge of a battlefield, blood staining his hands, his eyes cold and distant.
He was not just a part of my past. He was my past.
The vision shattered, and I stumbled backward, gasping for breath. My head throbbed as though it might explode from the weight of it all.
Caelyn was at my side instantly, steadying me. "You saw it, didn't you?"
I nodded, still reeling. "I saw him. Lorenzo."
His grip tightened on my arm. "The connection between you two is more than you realize. And it's pulling you back. You're not finished with your past yet."
I looked back at the decaying structure, the whispers now silent. The city had revealed a piece of the puzzle, but it wasn't enough. Not yet. The journey was far from over.
And I had a feeling that the deeper I went, the more I would lose myself.