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Elara's POV
I don't remember falling asleep, yet when I opened my eyes again, the realm was different.
The echoing halls and breathing shelves had vanished. In their place stood a forest—dense, wild, impossibly vivid. Each leaf shimmered with otherworldly colors, and the sky above was streaked with purples and blues that did not belong to Earth.
I stood at the center of it all, the glowing book still gripped tightly in my hand. But now... it was open.
The pages had changed again.
This time, a story was being written across them in real time.
"The girl wandered into a forest that remembered everything—every breath, every death, every lie ever told within its roots."
The words were writing themselves. My eyes widened as the next line faded into view.
"And now, it remembers her."
The trees around me shifted. Not visibly—but I felt it. They had become aware. Of me.
I was no longer an outsider peering into a story. I was inside it.
A flicker of panic rose in my throat, but I swallowed it down. "Okay, okay... Think. It's a system. There are rules." I glanced down at the open book.
Suddenly, faint glowing letters shimmered in the air above it:
> [SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: INITIATING QUESTLINE - "The Forgotten Forest"]
OBJECTIVE: Uncover the First Memory.
REWARD: Page of Origin.
WARNING: All choices are permanent.
So it was a system. Just like in the games I used to read about—but far more real. Far more dangerous.
I moved cautiously between the trees, every step crunching against leaves that looked like gold foil. The silence of the forest was too perfect. Too still.
Then came a voice.
Male. Soft. Sarcastic.
"Either you're incredibly brave or incredibly stupid to wander into the Memory Woods alone."
I froze, spinning around to find a boy—no, a man—leaning casually against a tree trunk, arms crossed, watching me with unsettling amusement.
He had ink-black hair, eyes that shimmered silver under the strange light, and an expression that said he'd seen far too much and cared too little.
"Who are you?" I asked, my voice sharper than I meant.
"Me?" he smirked. "I'm your first bad decision."
He pushed off the tree and walked toward me with infuriating calmness. "Name's Kael. Forest Guide. Maybe. Depends how generous I'm feeling today."
My instincts screamed at me to run, but curiosity held me in place. There was something magnetic about him. Like a character torn from the pages of a villain's arc—compelling, dangerous, and painfully attractive.
Kael's gaze dropped to the book in my hands.
"Ah. So you're her. The Inkbearer." His smirk faded into a frown. "Didn't expect you to look so… breakable."
"Thanks," I muttered.
"Don't thank me yet. This forest eats souls like yours for fun."
Before I could respond, the ground beneath us trembled. The trees groaned in unison.
> [SYSTEM ALERT: FIRST MEMORY DETECTED]
LOCATION: Withered Clearing.
DANGER LEVEL: Moderate.
Kael swore under his breath. "Damn. It's starting already."
I turned to him, heart pounding. "What's there? What kind of memory?"
Kael didn't look at me. "Not what. Who."
And then, out of the trees, came the sound of footsteps.
Not human. Not animal.
A shuffling, broken rhythm.
And out stepped a boy. A teenager.
Pale. Hollow-eyed. Blood on his clothes. My heart stuttered.
I knew him.
But I'd never seen him before in my life.
His lips parted.
"Elara… you left me."
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End of Chapter 3