The ground trembled beneath Adam's feet — not from an earthquake, but as though the very breath of the world was tightening. Above him, the sky was utterly black — no stars, no moon, as if light itself had been exiled from this place. Zira walked at his side, her breathing heavy, as though even the air resisted entering her lungs.
"This… isn't just an abandoned valley…" she murmured.
Before them stretched a deep ravine, littered with stone graves. They weren't aligned, nor ordered — they looked as if they had sprouted randomly from the earth. No names, no dates, no symbols… only pale, cold stones.
Labobo spoke, his voice resonating as though it came from the place itself:
"These are the graves of the exiled souls — those who betrayed their pact with Nemora."
Adam stopped, staring at one of the graves, then sank to his knees. Something was calling to him… something ancient.
"Did… you hear that?" Zira asked, tension sharpening her voice.
"I did." His own voice sounded deeper than usual. "As if someone whispered my name."
His hand touched the cold stone. Suddenly, a vision exploded inside his mind.
---
### Inside the Vision
He saw a woman… she resembled his grandmother, but she wasn't. She wore a cloak made of both light and shadow, her face half human, half glass-like transparency. She stood before Nemora's first gate, shouting at a towering being woven of broken words and suspended voices.
"I will not let you take everything!" she cried.
Then another scene flashed… a child ripped from his mother's arms. The same child Adam had seen himself as in earlier visions.
---
He woke drenched in sweat, Zira clutching his shoulder, her eyes wide with fear.
"Adam… who was she? The woman you saw? You kept whispering her name."
"Her name… it was never spoken aloud. But I felt it. She's tied to me. As if… she was the reason I am here."
Silence. Then Labobo, in a hushed tone:
"Perhaps… she is your mother."
Adam gasped, Zira stepped back.
"My mother died when I was born — that's what I was told."
Labobo swirled slowly in the air.
"Or that's what they wanted you to believe. What if your grandmother raised you, but wasn't your mother? And what if… your real mother was exiled here?"
Soft voices began to rise from between the graves — whispers, sobbing, moans. Zira gripped her sword, Adam staggered back.
"We don't have time to seek the truth alone… something has awakened," Labobo warned.
From the graves, gray bodies emerged — eyeless, faceless, each one carrying half-formed features.
"These aren't just spirits…" Zira readied her blade. "They're regret made flesh."
"And they're coming for us," Adam muttered, his heart pounding.
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### The Battle
The first wraith lunged at Zira with a broken sword — she parried swiftly, but another brushed her arm. She screamed.
"They don't kill… they drain memories!" she cried.
Adam felt it too when one came near — not pain, but a sudden hollowing. A memory from his childhood vanished, as if it had never existed.
"They want to erase us from ourselves… before erasing us from the world," whispered Labobo.
Adam raised the *Heart of Regret*, now glowing with fierce blue light.
"If they are regret… then I will return to them forgiveness."
He struck the earth with it. A ring of light erupted, forcing the creatures back — some dissolved, others slunk into their graves.
Zira collapsed to her knees, gasping. "I've never felt danger like that… not just to my body… but like they were trying to strip me out of myself."
Adam stood beside her, silent.
Then Labobo whispered:
"Perhaps it's time to return to your grandmother… or to whoever she truly was… and ask the hardest question: *Who are you, Adam?*"
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**End of Part Fifty-Three**
> 💬 *One cannot save the world without knowing oneself… for the greatest battle always begins within.*
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