The road into Greenwood grew narrower with every passing mile.
The trees seemed to close behind them as though the forest itself were swallowing the path.
Ayan sat at the front of the wagon beside Mira, while Doctor Rowan and Maren sat behind them with Seraphine. The young woman remained unusually quiet, her fingers occasionally brushing the wooden bracelet Nessa had given her.
Every few minutes, Seraphine glanced down at it.
Then she would smile.
"What's this?"
Maren looked over.
"Your bracelet."
Seraphine touched the rough wood.
"I know."
She frowned.
"I mean... why do I have it?"
"You received it this morning."
"From?"
"Nessa."
Seraphine repeated the name.
"Nessa."
She smiled.
"She's a sweet girl."
A few minutes passed.
Then she looked down again.
"What's this?"
Maren stared at her.
"The bracelet."
"Oh."
Seraphine laughed softly.
"I suppose I forgot again."
Nobody corrected her.
Mira simply reached over and tied the loose string more securely around her wrist.
"There."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Seraphine smiled.
Then, after a moment...
"What is your name?"
"Mira."
"Right."
The conversation continued.
A few minutes later, the same question returned.
Mira answered every time.
No irritation.
No disappointment.
Just patience.
Ayan watched quietly.
The road ahead was becoming darker.
But something about their small group felt strangely warm.
Perhaps this was what Haven had learned.
When someone's memory could not hold the people around them...
The people around them held the memory instead.
...
By midday, they reached the first marker.
A stone pillar stood beside the road.
Half of it had been swallowed by tree roots.
An ancient symbol was carved into the exposed surface.
A circle surrounded by six petals.
Doctor Rowan stopped the wagon.
"This is it."
Mira climbed down.
She examined the symbol.
"The Hollow begins beyond here."
Ayan looked ahead.
Nothing appeared different.
The forest was simply forest.
Tall trees.
Thick roots.
Moss.
Fallen leaves.
Yet the air felt colder.
Not naturally colder.
The kind of cold that seemed to come from somewhere beneath the earth.
Seraphine stepped down from the wagon.
She looked toward the trees.
"I've been here."
Everyone turned.
Ayan approached.
"Do you remember?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"Then why did you say that?"
"I don't know."
She placed a hand against her chest.
"It feels..."
She struggled to explain.
"Like someone standing behind a closed door."
Ayan looked at the forest.
The Bridge pulsed once.
Mira noticed his expression.
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
He looked deeper into the trees.
"But something is here."
...
They continued on foot.
The wagon could no longer pass through the increasingly narrow trail.
Mira led them.
She knew the forest better than anyone.
Blue ribbons marked the safest path.
But as they moved deeper...
The ribbons became fewer.
Then disappeared entirely.
The trees changed.
Their bark grew pale.
Their leaves became thinner.
Eventually...
They found the first dead tree.
It stood in the middle of the path.
No leaves.
No moss.
No insects.
Nothing.
Ayan approached.
He touched the trunk.
Cold.
Not merely cool.
Cold enough that his fingers immediately began aching.
He withdrew his hand.
"What happened here?"
Mira shook her head.
"Nothing grows inside the Hollow."
Doctor Rowan crouched beside a patch of soil.
He examined it carefully.
"No nutrients."
Maren looked around.
"Then how are the trees still standing?"
Rowan didn't answer.
Because there was no obvious answer.
They continued.
More dead trees appeared.
Soon...
The forest became a graveyard.
Entire sections stood lifeless beneath the canopy.
No birds.
No insects.
No flowers.
Even the wind seemed unwilling to enter.
Seraphine stopped walking.
"Wait."
Everyone turned.
"What?"
She stared toward a dead tree.
"I hear something."
Ayan listened.
Nothing.
Then...
A faint sound.
Singing.
Very distant.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
Almost impossible to hear.
Seraphine's face went pale.
"That song."
"What song?"
Ayan asked.
She closed her eyes.
"I don't know."
The voice continued.
A few notes.
Then silence.
Seraphine whispered,
"My mother."
Doctor Rowan immediately looked around.
"Where?"
Seraphine pointed toward the trees.
"That way."
Mira frowned.
"There is nothing there."
"She's there."
Seraphine started walking.
Ayan caught her arm.
"Wait."
She looked at him.
"Someone might be trying to lure us."
"Then don't let go."
She held his hand.
Together, they moved forward.
...
They found the source of the sound beside an enormous dead tree.
A small stone shrine stood beneath it.
No flowers.
No candles.
Only a weathered wooden box.
Mira approached cautiously.
"Don't touch it."
Ayan looked at the box.
"Why?"
"Because nobody knows who placed it there."
Seraphine stepped closer.
The silver lily hairpin in her hair began trembling.
Ayan noticed.
"So did I."
The Bridge beneath his skin pulsed.
The box suddenly opened.
Not because anyone touched it.
The lid simply lifted.
Inside...
Rested a single piece of cloth.
White.
Stained with age.
Embroidered with a silver lily.
And beneath it...
A name.
**Isolde Marr.**
Seraphine stared.
Her breathing became shallow.
"She was here."
Doctor Rowan examined the cloth.
"This belongs to the Lilies."
Ayan looked at Mira.
"Why would her name be here?"
Mira shook her head.
"I don't know."
Seraphine reached toward it.
Ayan stopped her.
"Are you sure?"
She looked at him.
"No."
Then she smiled sadly.
"But I think..."
"...I need to."
She touched the cloth.
The world disappeared.
For Seraphine...
There was only darkness.
Then light.
A woman stood before her.
Young.
Brown-haired.
Wearing the white robes of the Lilies of Valenne.
She was smiling.
"You're supposed to be sleeping."
A younger Seraphine laughed.
"I don't want to."
"You have work tomorrow."
"So do you."
The woman sighed.
"You're impossible."
Seraphine smiled.
"You like me."
"I tolerate you."
"You love me."
The woman rolled her eyes.
"Go to bed."
The vision changed.
The same woman was running.
Smoke filled the streets.
People screamed.
Seraphine was coughing.
"Seraphine!"
The woman grabbed her hand.
"Run!"
"I'm not leaving."
"You have to!"
"Mother is still there!"
"She told me to get you out!"
The woman's face was covered in blood.
"Please!"
Another change.
A road.
Rain.
Seraphine was sitting beside a tree.
The woman was kneeling in front of her.
"Listen to me."
Her hands were trembling.
"You may forget."
Seraphine cried.
"I won't."
"You might."
"I won't!"
The woman touched her face.
"If you forget..."
She placed a small leather pouch into Seraphine's hands.
"...remember one thing."
"What?"
"Your name."
Seraphine stared at her.
"Seraphine."
"Again."
"Seraphine."
The woman smiled.
"Good."
The vision began fading.
Seraphine reached for her.
"Isolde!"
The woman turned.
"Yes?"
"Don't leave me."
The woman smiled sadly.
"I won't."
Then the vision shattered.
...
Seraphine collapsed.
Ayan caught her before she hit the ground.
Her eyes opened.
She stared at him.
"Ayan?"
He froze.
She remembered.
For how long?
Seconds?
Minutes?
He didn't know.
She looked terrified.
"I remember her."
"Isolde."
"Yes."
She gripped his clothes.
"She saved me."
Doctor Rowan knelt beside her.
"What happened?"
Seraphine's breathing was uneven.
"We were escaping."
"The plague."
"Mother told Isolde to take me."
"She..."
Seraphine's voice broke.
"She knew she wouldn't survive."
Silence.
"She gave me her name."
Maren's eyes widened.
"What?"
Seraphine looked down at the cloth.
"She said..."
"...if I forgot my own name..."
"...I should use hers."
Ayan's heart sank.
The truth was finally becoming clear.
Isolde Marr had not simply disappeared.
She had given Seraphine the last thing she believed could protect her identity.
Her name.
Then...
She had stayed behind.
Seraphine's memories began fading again.
Her grip loosened.
"Ayan..."
"I'm here."
"Who is Isolde?"
Ayan swallowed.
"Someone who saved you."
She looked confused.
"Did I know her?"
"Yes."
"Was she kind?"
Ayan smiled.
"Very."
Seraphine closed her eyes.
"I think..."
"...I loved her."
Ayan's chest tightened.
"Maybe you did."
...
The wooden box suddenly moved.
Everyone turned.
Beneath the cloth was something else.
A small metal key.
And beneath it...
A folded piece of parchment.
Mira picked it up carefully.
There were only a few words.
**If Seraphine returns, take her to the spring.**
Doctor Rowan frowned.
"Who wrote this?"
Ayan looked at the handwriting.
He recognized it.
It was the same handwriting as the final note in Elena's records.
Elena Valenne.
But Elena had never written about a spring in the documents they found.
The parchment continued.
**The Memory Bloom does not cure the disease.**
**It awakens what the disease buried.**
**But awakening memory has a price.**
Ayan's eyes moved to the final line.
**If she remembers everything at once, she may lose the person she became.**
Silence.
Mira slowly folded the parchment.
Seraphine was sitting beneath the dead tree, staring at nothing.
She had already forgotten the vision.
Forgotten Isolde.
Forgotten the conversation.
Yet the wooden bracelet remained around her wrist.
Ayan looked toward the dark forest ahead.
The Memory Bloom was still somewhere beyond.
But now...
He understood the real danger.
They weren't simply trying to restore Seraphine's memories.
They were standing between two versions of the same woman.
Seraphine, the daughter of Elena Valenne.
And Isolde, the woman who had survived when Seraphine's memories could not.
If the Memory Bloom restored everything...
Which one would remain?
The Bridge beneath Ayan's skin pulsed violently.
For the first time...
It didn't feel like guidance.
It felt like a warning.
And somewhere deep inside the Hollow...
A flower began to bloom.