The footsteps didn't rush them.
That was the worst part.
They moved with the slow certainty of something that knew there was nowhere to run. Each step echoed through the corridor outside the room, heavy enough to make the dust tremble on the floor.
Aiden eased Liora behind him, his hand firm on her wrist. "Stay close," he murmured. "Whatever happens, don't answer if they speak to you."
"Speak?" she whispered.
Seren was already near the doorway, peering through the crack with narrowed eyes. "They don't always," she said. "Sometimes they just… correct things."
The temperature dropped.
Not suddenly, not dramatically just enough that Liora noticed her breath fogging in the air. The shadows near the doorway stretched, pooling unnaturally along the walls as a figure stepped into view.
It wore a long, dark coat. No insignia. No weapon she could see. Its face was there—but wrong, like her mind refused to settle on the details.
"Unauthorized memory access detected," it said.
The voice was calm. Neutral. Almost bored.
Liora's stomach twisted.
Aiden stepped forward. "She didn't access anything. Residual echo activated on its own."
The figure tilted its head slightly. "False. The subject interacted."
Its gaze shifted locked directly onto Liora.
Her head throbbed instantly, pain blooming behind her eyes like pressure building too fast.
"Do not look at it," Aiden snapped.
Too late.
Images slammed into her faces blurring, names unraveling, memories peeling away like paper soaked in water. She saw people screaming without sound, reaching for loved ones who no longer knew them.
The enforcer took another step forward.
"Memory contamination level rising," it said. "Correction required."
Seren moved.
In one swift motion, she hurled a small metal object at the floor. It shattered on impact, releasing a sharp pulse of light that made the shadows recoil.
"Run!" Seren shouted.
Aiden didn't hesitate. He grabbed Liora and pulled her toward the back exit just as the enforcer reacted. The air warped, the shadows snapping back into place like living things.
They burst into the alley, rain-soaked and gasping.
Behind them, the building groaned not collapsing, but sealing. The doorway they'd used blurred, its outline dissolving into brick and shadow as if it had never existed.
Liora stumbled, hands braced on her knees. "That thing it tried to erase me."
"Yes," Aiden said grimly. "Because now you're not just a witness."
Seren caught up, breathing hard but grinning faintly. "Congratulations," she said. "You've officially been noticed."
Liora looked back at the blank wall where the building had been, her heart still pounding.
Noticed meant hunted.
And somewhere deep beneath the city, something ancient had just shifted because for the first time in a very long while, a memory had fought back.