Morning – A Lost Memory Resurfaces
Kael woke up feeling restless. The whispers, the missing house, the hooded figure—it was too much to ignore now.
He needed proof.
Dressing quickly, he searched his small home. If Hagan had existed, there had to be something left behind.
Then, inside a wooden chest under his bed, he found it.
A pipe. Old, slightly cracked, but familiar.
Hagan's pipe.
Kael's heart pounded. He remembered seeing Hagan use this while sitting near the well.
His hands trembled as he clutched it. So he wasn't going mad.
But if the world had erased Hagan, why was this still here?
Midday – The Test
Kael stepped into the village square, pipe hidden in his pocket. He needed to test something.
Spotting Simon, he walked up casually.
"Hey, Simon. Found this near the well." Kael pulled out the pipe. "You recognize it?"
Simon glanced at it, frowning. "Just an old pipe. Why?"
Kael kept his expression neutral. "It belonged to Hagan."
Simon blinked. Then, he looked confused.
"…Who?"
Kael's fingers curled around the pipe. "Hagan. The old man who used to live near the well."
Simon hesitated. For a moment, something flickered in his eyes. Like he almost… remembered.
Then, his expression blanked. "No idea what you're talking about."
Kael's stomach churned.
He repeated the test with Mara. Then Old Ben. Then two more villagers.
Every time, it was the same. Confusion. Hesitation. Then complete denial.
Something was very, very wrong.
Afternoon – The Changing House
Frustrated, Kael returned home. He needed to think.
But the moment he stepped inside, he froze.
Something was different.
His chair… it wasn't where he left it.
A table he never owned now sat in the corner.
And worst of all—
A door stood at the back of his house.
A door that had never been there before.
Kael's breath came shallow. Slowly, he approached it. His fingers brushed the handle.
Cold.
Too cold.
Then—
Knock.
Kael yanked his hand away. Someone was knocking from the other side.
His blood turned to ice. This door led to nothing. The back of his house faced an open field.
Another knock. Louder.
Kael staggered back. His instincts screamed at him to run—
Then, the knocking stopped.
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then, from the other side of the door—
"Kael."
A whisper.
A voice he didn't recognize.
Evening – The Forgotten Words
Kael didn't open the door. He couldn't.
Instead, he spent hours pacing, thinking, trying to make sense of everything.
Then, as he checked his belongings, he found something else.
A half-burned letter in his handwriting.
But it wasn't recent. The paper was aged, edges crumbling. It looked years old.
He stared at the words, written in his own hand:
"If you are reading this… that means you've forgotten again."
Kael's pulse spiked.
What?
He read on.
"Don't trust them. The village. The people. Something is missing. Something we lost."
The ink was smudged, burned away at the bottom.
But one word remained. A name.
A name Kael didn't recognize.
"Elyndor."
The moment he read it, his vision blurred. His head throbbed, memories pressing at the edge of his mind—
Then, footsteps.
Kael spun.
The hooded figure stood at his door.
This time, it didn't vanish.
Instead, it spoke.
"You're starting to remember."
To Be Continued…