Story 996: The House That Remembers You

Draven awoke to the sound of whispers—soft, distant murmurs echoing through decaying wood and ash-drenched air. He was no longer in the Rootvault.

He stood before an old house, deep in the woods, its windows like hollow eyes watching him approach. Blood smeared the porch. The sky above pulsed red, flickering like a dying heartbeat. Behind him: silence. No Mira. No Elias. No Zara. No Forsaken Girl. Only the house.

It called to him.

Inside, dust blanketed every surface, but the place was warm… familiar. Portraits hung crooked on the walls—each one of people he recognized, but shouldn’t. His old squad. His family. Mira, younger. Even the Hollow Man, smiling in a photograph where no one ever smiled. This place wasn’t a memory. It was a lie built from truths.