Chapter 28: The Echoes of the Forgotten

Elias felt his breath catch as the presence in the void stirred. It wasn't just watching—it was waiting. A force older than time itself, whispering through the fabric of the dream. The air thickened, vibrating with an unseen energy, as if the world itself was holding its breath.

He turned to the figure beside him, the one who had led him to this moment. "Who are they?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

The figure's expression was unreadable. "They are the ones who built the first dream. The architects of what you call reality. And they have been waiting for you to remember."

Elias clenched his fists. "And now that I have?"

The void trembled. A deep resonance filled the space, a soundless voice pressing into his mind. You should not have awakened.

A sharp pain lanced through Elias's skull. He staggered but refused to fall. "You erased my memories. You tried to bury the truth. Why?"

Because the truth unravels everything.

The voice carried the weight of eternity, and Elias felt the enormity of what he had uncovered. He wasn't just a dreamer lost in a surreal illusion—he was something else entirely.

Something dangerous.

The void began to shift, its darkness twisting into form. Shadows melted together, shaping figures that were neither human nor entirely real. Their eyes, if they could be called that, pulsed with an unnatural light.

Elias took a step back. His heart pounded, his instincts screaming at him to run. But there was nowhere left to flee.

"You have a choice," the figure beside him said. "Return to ignorance, and they will let you go. Step forward, and you will face the truth."

Elias's hands trembled. A part of him longed for the comfort of unknowing, for the bliss of dreams without consequence. But another part—the part that had always questioned, always searched—refused to let go.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward.

The void shattered.

And the world as he knew it would never be the same again.