Aria awoke to silence.
She was lying on soft grass, under a sky of violet clouds and golden stars that shimmered even though it felt like daytime. Trees with silver leaves rustled in a wind she couldn't feel. The air smelled like memories — sweet, heavy, and distant.
She sat up slowly, blinking at the strange light around her. This was no attic. This was another world.
Footsteps approached.
She turned quickly — and there they were again. The three younger versions of her brothers stood a few feet away, watching her carefully.
"You crossed over," said the youngest. His voice was no longer afraid — it was tired.
"This place is called the Realm of Forgotten Echoes," said the middle one. "It's where memories live... and sometimes, where they get trapped."
Aria stood. "Are you really... my brothers?"
"We are their echoes," said the oldest. "Fragments of their childhood selves — the parts they tried to forget."
Aria's heart clenched. "Why are you here?"
"Because of the curse," whispered the youngest. "The moment our parents died, we were torn apart — not just as a family, but in soul."
Aria stepped forward. "Why didn't anyone tell me? Why are you trapped here?"
The middle boy looked away. "Because pain makes people forget. And forgetting makes the curse stronger."
Suddenly, the sky above them darkened. A loud screech echoed through the trees, and a shadow swept across the ground like a tide of ink.
"They've found us," the eldest said grimly.
"Who?" Aria asked.
"The Shades," said the youngest. "Pieces of guilt... monsters made from the parts of our past that we were too afraid to face."
Without warning, the shadows surged toward them. Aria was yanked backward by invisible force, thrown into a spinning storm of wind and memory. She could see flashes — her brothers fighting as children, crying, screaming. Aidan breaking something in rage. Caleb curled up under a bed. Ethan running through fire.
Then, silence.
She landed hard on a stone floor.
Around her were towering walls made of mirrors — each one reflecting not her face, but different versions of her brothers: happy, angry, broken, lost. This place pulsed with emotion. It felt alive.
A voice echoed above.
"To free them, you must walk through their pain."
"To save their souls... you must face what they forgot."
Aria stood up, fists clenched.
She wasn't going back.
She was going to find them — the real them — and break this curse.
Even if it meant facing their darkest memories.
Even if it meant facing her own.