---
[Scene Opens: Cliffside — Dawn over Crater's Reach]
The mountains rise like jagged scars across the horizon. Nestled within them, half-submerged in fog, lies the City of Echoes.
A city once bustling with trade and life. Now... nothing moves.
The only thing that remains?
Sound.
Or more precisely — its reflection.
Elara (reading from an old journal):
"They say once you enter, the city listens… and remembers."
Arav:
"Good. Maybe it remembers how to stay out of our way."
They descend the rocky path toward the fog.
The moment their boots touch the cracked stone of the gate—
"Boots… touch… cracked stone…"
The walls echo it back, three seconds delayed.
Arav glances at Elara. Elara doesn't speak.
But the city… keeps listening.
---
[Scene: Echo Street]
The buildings are made of white sandstone, with arches broken and windows empty. No birds. No rats. No wind. But every word they speak… returns.
Some warped.
Some louder than when spoken.
Some not spoken at all.
Elara (softly):
"Don't say anything unnecessary."
Echo (louder, distorted):
"...unnecessary… necessary… secrets…"
Arav (firmly):
"We stay focused. No distractions."
Echo (deeper tone):
"No distractions… but she's hiding something."
Elara stops.
Arav turns slowly.
Arav:
"That wasn't… what I said."
Elara doesn't reply.
The air turns colder.
---
[Scene: Memory Market]
They enter what once was a marketplace. Fountains stand dry. Statues are covered in black soot.
Suddenly, a thousand whispers rise:
> "You should've died in Iros."
"She's only with you because of guilt."
"You lied when you said you forgave him."
"He killed his own brother…"
Arav drops to one knee, clutching his head.
Arav (gritting teeth):
"Stop… get out of my mind…"
Elara:
"It's not in your mind. The city's reading our scars."
Arav:
"What is this place?"
Elara:
"It's not a city anymore… it's a mirror. And we're bleeding into it."
---
[Scene: The Core — The Echo Vault]
At the center of the city lies a temple — broken spires, and within it, a spiral stairwell descending into pitch-blackness.
The compass flickers, then dies.
The shard they seek lies below.
They descend.
Each step echoes… and with it, a memory.
> "Do you remember what it felt like to kill your father?"
"You never told her the truth about the night Zoran died."
"She thinks you love her. But do you even remember what love is?"
Arav (screaming):
"SHUT UP!"
Echoes (calmly):
"Shut up. Shut up. But the truth doesn't shut."
Elara touches the wall.
It feels warm. Like a pulse. Like it's alive.
---
[Scene: The Chamber of Voiced Sins]
At the bottom, they find it:
A circular room, carved in black obsidian, with six pillars. In the center floats the shard — blood-red, vibrating with soundwaves.
To claim it, one must speak their deepest truth aloud.
And the city will judge.
Elara steps forward.
Her voice trembles.
Elara:
"I let Zoran die. I could've warned him about the ambush… but I was afraid he'd blame me. So I let him walk into death."
Silence.
Then the echoes answer:
> "You were afraid… but you never meant to betray."
The shard glows faintly… but remains in place.
Arav steps forward.
He's shaking.
He closes his eyes.
Then — steel in his voice:
Arav:
"I killed my brother… not out of defense… but because part of me wanted it. I hated how he made me feel — powerless."
Elara gasps.
But the chamber doesn't scream.
Instead… the shard glows bright.
And flies into Arav's chest.
---
[Scene: Rebirth]
The power floods into him.
But unlike the last shard — this one doesn't just give.
It takes.
A memory vanishes.
His mother's face — gone.
He remembers her name, but not her voice.
Arav (choking):
"What… what did it take from me?!"
A whisper from the pillar:
> "To carry the weight of truth, you must let go of the warmth of lies."
The city starts to collapse.
The chamber shakes.
They run.
---
[Scene: Escape to the Cliffside]
They burst from the city just as it implodes in silence — a quiet collapse. No explosions. No screams.
Just… absence.
Elara clutches his arm, breathless.
Elara:
"What did you lose?"
Arav (hollow):
"My mother's lullaby. The way she looked at me when I came home with scraped knees."
Elara touches his hand.
Elara:
"We'll find new memories."
Arav:
"Not if this keeps happening."
They look ahead.
The next shard awaits in the Sea of Glass, beyond the Forest of Thorns.
---
[Scene: Elsewhere — The Hollow Table]
The same council watches the city fall.
A new figure joins the shadowed table.
Her face — veiled in silver chains.
New Figure:
"They passed the second trial."
Shadowed Leader:
"Then the third must wound deeper."
New Figure:
"I will make them forget each other."
---
[End of Chapter 28]
Next Chapter: Chapter 29 – The Forest of Thorns
> Where the trees cut not just skin… but soul. Arav and Elara must hold onto each other in a forest designed to sever all bonds.