The Place That Should Not Exist

Noah's world shattered into silence.

There was no pain. No impact. No sensation of falling.

Only emptiness.

It was as if the entire concept of reality had been stripped away, leaving only him—floating, weightless, nowhere.

The white mask hovered before him, featureless and unblinking.

And then, it spoke.

"You were never meant to be."

Noah's breath hitched. The words didn't just reach his ears—they etched themselves into his mind, rewriting reality around him.

His memories flickered—not his own, but the very sense of his existence.

The world tried to forget him.

And for a moment—he almost let it.

No.

Noah clenched his fists.

His body felt far away, like it was fading, like he was dissolving into the void. But somewhere deep inside, the sigil still pulsed, still burned.

He wasn't gone. Not yet.

The Keepers weren't just trying to erase him.

They were trying to rewrite the world without him.

Noah forced himself to move.

His mind rebelled—there was no space, no ground, no sky. But he moved anyway.

And the moment he did—

Something snapped.

A pulse of resistance. A force pushing back against the erasure.

And suddenly—he was falling.

Noah hit the ground hard.

His breath ripped from his lungs as he tumbled onto cold stone. Dust swirled around him, thick and choking.

For a moment, he simply lay there, gasping. His body ached, but he was whole.

He was still here.

Slowly, he pushed himself up, blinking against the dust. Where—

His heart stopped.

He was in a city.

Not a ruin. Not a village.

A massive, abandoned city, stretching into the horizon. Towering spires, arching bridges, streets paved with obsidian stone—untouched by time.

But there were no people. No signs of life.

As if the entire place had been forgotten.

Noah's pulse quickened.

He wasn't supposed to be here.

A whisper curled through the air.

Noah turned sharply, eyes scanning the empty streets.

Nothing moved.

But he wasn't alone.

He could feel them.

Not living beings.

Memories.

Faint, fading echoes—traces of a people who had been erased.

For a brief moment, he saw shadows moving through the city—ghostly figures, flickering like candlelight. Walking streets that no longer remembered them. Speaking words no one could hear.

And then—they were gone.

The silence returned.

Noah exhaled slowly.

This city hadn't just been abandoned.

It had been wiped from existence.

And yet—it was still here.

A place that should not exist.

A place for the forgotten.

A sound.

Noah turned—and barely dodged the knife.

Steel flashed past his face, burying itself into the stone behind him. He rolled away, instincts kicking in.

A figure landed in front of him, cloak billowing in the dust-filled air.

Selene.

Her eyes were sharp, her stance rigid.

"Prove it's you."

Noah's breath was still unsteady. "What?"

Selene didn't lower her weapon. "You disappeared. If the Keepers replaced you, I need to know."

Noah clenched his jaw.

She was right to be cautious.

The Keepers didn't just erase things. If they had wanted to, they could have rewritten him.

"Say something only you would know," Selene ordered.

Noah exhaled sharply.

"You asked me to sit at the tavern," he said. "You said the Keepers would be here soon. And then we tried to run."

Selene didn't move.

"The door vanished."

Her grip on the knife tightened.

"Then the floor disappeared."

Silence.

Finally, Selene lowered her weapon.

"It's you."

She let out a breath—one that carried more exhaustion than relief.

"I wasn't sure if you'd make it."

Noah ran a hand through his hair, still trying to process everything. "Where are we?"

Selene's expression darkened.

"A place the Keepers failed to erase."

Selene led him through the empty streets.

The city stretched far, its buildings vast and towering—but completely lifeless.

"This was once a capital," Selene said. "Before history changed."

"What do you mean, changed?" Noah asked.

Selene gave him a sharp look.

"I mean, there was a time when this place was still on maps."

She gestured to the empty streets, the untouched stone.

"When people still lived here."

"And then one day… they didn't."

Noah's stomach twisted.

"The Keepers did this?"

Selene nodded.

"They erased the city, the people, everything. Wiped it from the world. And for most people, it never existed at all."

"Then why is it still here?"

Selene exhaled.

"Because something in this place refused to be erased."

Selene led him toward the center of the ruins. The streets gave way to a massive courtyard, where a structure loomed in the middle—an obsidian monolith.

Its surface was covered in sigils.

Not like the ones from the ruins.

These were older.

More powerful.

Noah could feel them humming—resisting.

"This is why the city is still here," Selene said.

"The Keepers tried to erase it, but something in this place… fought back."

Noah stepped closer to the monolith.

His fingers brushed the stone.

And the moment he touched it—

It reacted.

A deep, resonating hum filled the air. The sigils flared, shifting under his touch.

And then, in his mind—

A word appeared.

Not spoken. Not written.

Simply placed inside him.

"Sanctuary."

Noah's pulse pounded.

Selene stepped back. She had seen it too.

"What does it mean?" Noah whispered.

Selene swallowed.

"It means this place is more than just ruins."

She turned to him.

"It's a message."

"A warning."

"And maybe…"

Her voice dropped.

"A way to fight back."

Noah took a slow, steady breath.

The monolith had spoken to him.

It had recognized him.

And now, everything had changed.

The Keepers would come again.

And this time, he wouldn't just be running.

This time—he would be looking for answers.

Because whatever was hidden in this city…

It was something the Keepers had failed to destroy.

And that meant it might be the only way to stop them.