Chapter 14: The Town That Forgot Itself

Lena walked through the desolate streets of the town, its silence almost suffocating. It was as though the very air had forgotten how to make sound, a haunting stillness that made every step she took feel as though she were intruding on something long lost. The town, once bustling with life, was now nothing more than a collection of crumbling buildings, their walls hollowed out by time, their windows shattered like the broken memories of a past long erased.

The town had no name—not that it needed one. There was no need to mark it on any map, for it was forgotten by all who had once known it. And it had forgotten itself.

Lena paused in front of a dilapidated stone structure, its roof half-collapsed and its door hanging by a single hinge. There was something familiar about it, a sense of recognition that tugged at the edges of her mind. She approached cautiously, her boots kicking up dust as she stepped through the threshold.

Inside, the building was a ruin, filled with the remnants of lives that had once been. The floor was littered with broken furniture, tattered clothes, and forgotten trinkets. Yet, there was an odd stillness in the air here, as if the decay had been frozen in time, unwilling or unable to move forward. The smell of mildew and old wood filled her nose, and a shiver ran down her spine.

She stepped further into the room, her eyes scanning the broken remnants of the place. It was a home, perhaps once a place of warmth, a family's sanctuary. But now it was nothing more than a hollow shell, a forgotten dream. There were no signs of life, no sign that anyone had lived here for many years.

But as Lena's gaze fell on the far wall, something caught her eye. A single object lay atop a table—a small, weathered book. Its leather cover was cracked and worn, the pages yellowed with age. The title, once clearly legible, was now a faded blur. She felt an undeniable pull toward it, as if the book was calling to her, its contents meant for her eyes alone.

She approached the table slowly, her fingers trembling as she reached for the book. The moment her hand brushed against the cover, a cold sensation surged through her, as though the air itself had thickened, pressing against her chest. For a moment, she hesitated. What was it about this place? This book? What could she possibly find here?

But her curiosity, ever her guide, pushed her forward. She opened the book carefully, and as she did, the faintest whisper seemed to reach her ears. The sound was like the rustling of pages, but it was not from the book. It was as if the walls themselves were whispering, a soft murmuring that echoed through the room. Lena froze, the hairs on her neck rising as the whispers grew louder, more distinct.

"The town that forgot itself..."

The words came not from the book, but from somewhere deeper, as if the town itself was speaking. Lena's heart pounded in her chest as she read the first few lines of the book, her eyes widening with each word. It was a journal, written by someone who had once lived in this town. The handwriting was elegant but hurried, as if the writer had been desperate to record something before it slipped away forever.

"They came from the sky, those who walked between the stars. We thought we were safe. We thought we had time. But they came, and they took, and we could do nothing. They wiped us from the earth, from history, from memory. The Hollow Sky is not a force. It is not a hunger. It is a reckoning, a reminder of the things we were never meant to know."

Lena's breath hitched. The words were clear now, the meaning undeniable. The Hollow Sky was not just an entity that devoured—it was an eraser, a force that had the power to rewrite history itself, to unmake a people and leave only traces behind. She had read of the Hollow Sky's hunger, its power to consume, but this was different. This was something more sinister, something far darker.

The journal continued, and Lena found herself unable to stop reading, each line drawing her deeper into the town's forgotten past.

"The town that forgot itself... we were the first to fall. The first to be erased from the tapestry of the world. Our names, our faces, our memories—all gone. We were swallowed by the Hollow Sky, and we were forgotten before we even had the chance to resist. There is nothing left but echoes."

The journal spoke of a ritual, one that had been performed in desperation. The people of the town had tried to summon something—someone—to save them from the Hollow Sky's reach. They had drawn symbols on the ground, chanted words older than any language, and offered sacrifices in an attempt to call upon a force that could protect them. But what they had summoned was not salvation. It was the Hollow Sky itself.

"We thought we had called upon a guardian, a protector. But what we found was the emptiness beneath the stars. We were not chosen. We were consumed. And the stars... they moved, they shifted, and the world forgot us. The Hollow Sky has already begun to rewrite our fate."

The words began to blur, the ink smudging as if it were being erased from the very page. Lena felt her breath quicken, her vision swimming as the room around her seemed to warp, the walls distorting as though the very foundation of reality was beginning to unravel. The whispers in the room grew louder, the words twisting into something incomprehensible, as if the town itself were trying to speak through her.

"We are the first. But we will not be the last."

And then, as quickly as it had started, the whispering stopped. The room fell silent once more, the only sound the rapid beating of Lena's heart. She blinked, her hands trembling as she slowly closed the journal, the weight of its contents pressing heavily on her chest. The town that had forgotten itself, the ritual that had brought the Hollow Sky to this world—it was all too much. How had she not known? How had she not understood?

Lena looked up at the crumbling walls of the building, the weight of the past settling over her like a shroud. The town, like so many others, had been consumed by the Hollow Sky, erased from existence, its history rewritten. And now, the Hollow Sky was stirring again. The stars had moved. The fabric of reality itself was beginning to tear.

The truth had always been here, in this forsaken place, waiting for someone to uncover it. But it was not just knowledge that Lena had uncovered. It was a curse. A cycle that could not be broken. The Hollow Sky had already begun its work, erasing the town's existence, its memory, its name. And now, it was moving forward.

Lena closed her eyes, taking a steadying breath. She had to move forward too. There was no time left. The Hollow Sky was coming for her, for everyone. But now, more than ever, she knew what she had to do.

She had to stop it—before it erased everything.