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> "You can hide the scars on your body.
But what about the ones time leaves behind?"
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🌑 Scene 1 — The Summoning
It was well past midnight. The dorms were silent.
Aric sat at his desk, still scribbling notes about Cassia's shifting behavior, Lena's hesitation, Darin's growing instability.
He was deep in calculation...
When the temperature dropped.
The flame in his lamp flickered.
And a voice — ancient, distant, layered like echoes in a cave — whispered:
> "You do not belong."
Aric froze.
Then the ink in his pen moved on its own, sliding across the page.
"COME."
The ink dried instantly.
His notebook snapped shut.
The wall behind his desk… cracked.
A door appeared. It wasn't there before. It didn't belong in this dimension.
Aric's heart raced — not with fear… but recognition.
> I've seen this door.
In the last seconds before I died.
The world between death and return.
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⚫ Scene 2 — The Forgotten Hall
He stepped through the door.
And entered darkness.
The air was thick, humming with memory. The walls pulsed like veins. Whispers danced through the fog.
Faces emerged in smoke — twisted, half-formed, screaming in silence.
Then the floor lit up beneath him in ancient glyphs — deathmarks.
> "So… the dead walks again," said the voice.
A figure appeared at the center of the void — cloaked in violet flame, no face, no shadow.
Aric didn't flinch.
> "Who are you?" he asked.
> "You already know," the entity replied. "I watched you die. I let you return."
> "Why?" Aric demanded.
> "Because your hate screamed louder than most.
It burned through time.
And I… I needed a vessel."
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🧠 Scene 3 — The Truth of Aric's Return
Aric's mind reeled.
> So my return wasn't just fate...
Someone — something — allowed it.
The entity moved closer, violet light dancing like memories.
> "You are marked now, Aric Vale. Not just by pain… but by possibility.
You have a task beyond revenge."
> "I don't care about tasks," Aric hissed. "I only care about making them suffer."
> "Good," the voice said. "Because suffering… is just the beginning."
The creature raised a hand — and fire exploded around Aric, forming images:
Lena, begging at his feet.
Darin, screaming in chains.
Myles, losing his mind.
And then — Cassia. Crying… because of him.
Aric stepped back. "Why show me this?"
> "Because this is what you become…
If you forget who you were."
Aric clenched his fists. "Then I'll remember every lie, every pain."
The voice smiled without a mouth.
> "Very well. Then remember this too—"
The fire carved three letters into Aric's chest — V.O.X.
He screamed.
The door behind him opened.
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😨 Scene 4 — Back in the Real World
Aric jolted awake — in his bed.
Sweating. Shirt torn. Chest burning.
He looked down.
The letters were still there.
V.O.X.
He looked at the wall. The hidden door… gone.
> Was it a dream?
Or a reminder?
No. It was real. And something has claimed me.
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🧩 Scene 5 — Cassia's Knock
A soft knock on his door.
He opened it.
Cassia stood there, eyes serious. "You okay?"
He blinked. "Why?"
She held up a piece of paper. "Someone slipped this under my door. I thought you'd want to see it."
It was a drawing. Of Aric.
Standing in a room of fire.
The letters "VOX" on his chest.
And the shadow behind him… wasn't human.
Aric's eyes widened.
> Someone else knows.
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🗒️ Scene 6 — The Notebook Update
Aric opened his book with trembling fingers.
New page.
> VOX Encounter Logged.
Power Source Confirmed: Unknown Entity
Memory Realm Exists
Marked: Physically
Witness: Unknown Artist
🛑 Trust Radius Compromised.
He wrote one more line beneath it.
> "I may have come back for revenge…
But something far bigger is coming for me."
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