> Location: Outskirts of Thimora Basin – a minor village once visited during the Emberveil Reclamation
Objective: Locate subject "Mia Wen," age 13 – rescued from Astral Grounds suppression cell
Skycleave Intensity: 13% – Initial rewrite distortions detected
---
The First Trace
Jiang Han emerged from the flickering breach into farmland.
Sunset cast long shadows, but the color was… wrong. Slightly muted. Untextured. The breeze lacked warmth. Birds flew silently overhead, as if the sound had been removed.
Tian Xue followed closely behind him, glancing at her stabilization glyph.
"It's thin," she murmured. "Reality's holding… barely."
They passed the boundary stone of Thimora. It didn't say "Thimora" anymore.
Just:
> [ ~ ]
Nothing.
---
The Village
What they found wasn't empty.
It was normal.
Too normal.
Families tending fields. Merchants unloading carts. A boy herding goats through misty grass. But the expressions were flat, almost rehearsed—like an echo of what village life should look like, instead of the real thing.
Jiang felt something churn deep in his chest.
"I was here," he said. "We stopped the Sovereigns from taking five children. One of them was Mia Wen."
He spotted the schoolhouse. Remembered her face. Her trembling hands as she took her first free breath.
He pushed the door open.
She was there.
But…
She looked right at him.
> "Can I help you, traveler?"
---
Mia Wen
Thirteen years old. Same mismatched eyes. Same little hairclip shaped like a flamewing butterfly.
But no recognition.
Not even a flicker.
Jiang stepped forward slowly.
"Mia. It's me. Jiang. Do you remember the day the suppression band broke? The Emberveil Nexus? The boy with the burning sword?"
She tilted her head.
"I'm sorry, sir. Are you… from the city? You might want the upper road. This is just a village."
A teacher walked in behind her. Gave Jiang a polite but distant nod.
"We don't get many visitors. Please don't scare the children."
Tian Xue whispered, "She's fading."
---
The Flame Echo Attempt
Jiang knelt, desperate.
He drew a small glyph in the air—the memory thread, tied to that very moment. Su Lian had encoded them before the team left Emberveil.
A flicker appeared.
Mia… blinking through tears. Reaching out for his hand.
But now, the moment just hovered in the air, like a ghost.
Unanchored.
Jiang looked at Mia again.
Still nothing.
But then…
Her hand moved—slowly—toward her hairclip.
She touched it.
Paused.
And whispered:
> "Fire… wing?"
---
Reignition
Jiang grabbed the thread.
"Yes," he said, voice shaking. "You called it your firewing. You said it was like flying, finally, when we broke you out."
A single tear welled in her eye.
And the thread caught.
Suddenly—light.
Flame roared behind her eyes. The real Mia blinked, as if rising from deep water.
"Jiang?" she breathed.
He laughed in relief.
"Yes. That's me."
"I—I thought you were just a dream…"
Tian Xue stabilized the area with a grounding glyph. The world regained texture—color, scent, sound.
Mia looked down at her hands.
"I remember everything."
---
But Not Everyone Will
Outside, the rest of the village still moved like puppets.
Tian Xue looked grim.
"She remembered because the moment mattered. But if someone's memory wasn't deep enough…"
"They're lost," Jiang finished.
Not dead.
But rewritten.
And unless they could collect enough anchors—fast—
So would he.