The trees grew thinner.
The deeper Aaron walked into the Mourning Vale, the fewer leaves he saw.
Even the wind had vanished—as if the forest itself was holding its breath.
Then, finally, he saw him.
Ashen stood still at the center of a clearing, facing away.
Smoke drifted around his feet. His body swayed slightly, like a puppet not quite at rest.
"Ashen!" Aaron called.
No answer.
Aaron stepped closer.
> "You ran," he said. "Why?"
Still no reply.
Only when he was an arm's reach away did Ashen turn around.
His eyes were wide—and entirely white.
---
🕯️ The Memory Prison
Without warning, the ground beneath Aaron pulsed.
Runes flashed in a circle. The air turned cold.
A sharp pressure struck his chest—then darkness.
---
He opened his eyes.
But it wasn't the forest anymore.
It was a room made of ash, walls shifting like smoke, a mirror suspended in the center.
In it, he saw himself—but younger, maybe six years old. And… his mother.
She smiled gently, setting a flame on his open palm.
> "Do you feel that?" she whispered.
"That's not power. That's memory."
He reached for her—but his hand passed through.
A voice echoed behind him.
> "Memories are prisons when you don't know how to escape them."
Lucien.
Aaron spun around. Lucien stood beside Ashen, who floated midair, surrounded by glyphs.
> "What are you doing to him?!"
Lucien didn't flinch. "Teaching him what you won't. What you're too afraid to remember."
---
💀 The Revelation
Lucien waved a hand.
The mirror shattered—and the ash shaped itself into a scene.
A small cage. Inside it: Aaron. Younger. Afraid. Crying.
Two other children—one boy, one girl—burning alive outside.
> "You were there," Lucien said.
Aaron's breath caught. "No… I wasn't."
> "You were. You just chose to forget. Because remembering would break you."
Aaron fell to his knees. The ash tightened.
> "Ashen saw it. That's why he ran. He couldn't carry your weight and his."
---
🔥 Aaron's Defiance
But then—his flame ignited.
Small at first. Flickering.
Then brighter.
Aaron stood.
> "Maybe I forgot. Maybe I was weak. But that flame—is mine. Not yours."
He slammed his hand on the ash floor.
The world cracked.
---
Ashen fell from the air, breathing hard, and the smoke around them exploded outward.
Lucien vanished into cinders.
The forest returned.
Aaron caught Ashen before he hit the ground.
> "I remember enough," Aaron said, eyes burning. "Enough to never run again."
Ashen looked up, tears streaming silently.
"I saw what you were hiding," he whispered. "And I still came back."
---
The two of them sat in silence as the morning sun filtered through the black branches above.
Not all memories had to be pure.
Some… just had to be shared.