The candle floated above the book
Its flame was silent
But the heat pushed Kai back
Echo stayed still
Watching it burn
"Once you light it
You can rewrite one memory
Only one
But the price is always real"
Kai looked down
The book under the flame was his
Name carved in light
Not letters
Feeling
Pages kept flipping
One stopped on the day he ran
The one he never told anyone about
The day he left his sister behind
He reached for the flame
Fingers shaking
But the clone spoke
"Erase the guilt
Erase the lesson"
Another voice
His own
From another version of him
Screamed from the pages
"If you change that
You're not me anymore"
Kai pulled his hand back
"No
If I change nothing
Then all this pain meant nothing"
The candle dimmed
Shifted
Floated toward Echo
She looked at him
Eyes glassy
"I never had a memory to burn"
"I was made of what others forgot"
She reached up
Let the flame rest on her palm
No burn
Just a glow
And for a second
She smiled
Then the walls cracked
Sirens
Flashing lights
The memory vault was collapsing
And someone was opening a way out
But not for both of them